How An Ear Cuff Can Change Your Entire Look
Precious Details: our fortnightly edit of trending fine jewelry and timepieces, plus expert styling advice
While almost all of us are brave enough to pierce our ear lobes once, it takes extra gumption to face the piercing gun for multiples up the ear – especially for cartilage placements, which can be trickier to heal. There are, however, ways to fake a fully loaded ear look. “An ear cuff is the perfect way to enhance your ear-styling without having to commit to getting another piercing,” says Edwina Hilton, fine-jewelry and watches buyer at NET-A-PORTER. “You can up your ear game really easily with a simple, plain-gold style, or add fun and color with enamel and precious stones – or even invest in a full-on diamond pavé look.”
The beauty of ear cuffs is indeed their versatility. “My team refers to them as ‘ear candy’, as there are so many design options; diamonds, diamonds and pearls, colored sapphires stacked with diamonds… The options are endless,” explains Diane Kordas, who founded her eponymous brand in 2000. “I love designing ear cuffs, as they are a cool way of adding understated glamour,” she adds. “The first piece of jewelry I put on in the morning is my single-diamond-row ear cuff; I feel naked without it.” Ear cuffs really do suit any look, too – day to evening, polished to playful, yet always pain-free. “The beauty of them is that they are easily worn without any piercings at all – just stack the cuffs along the outside edge of the ear as a finishing touch, without weighing down the ear,” Kordas suggests.
Mizuki Goltz, founder of Mizuki, similarly praises the chameleon spirit of ear cuffs, believing they add a certain je ne sais quoi to a styled-up ear. “Ear cuffs not only break the traditional mold of earrings, but they also add so much freedom of expression, as well as a playful flair,” she explains. “Their freshness and ease give them universal appeal – they really elevate an ear statement.” Specializing in pearl designs, Goltz describes her design DNA as “beauty with edge” and it’s easy to see why. The Tokyo-born, New York-raised designer plays with soft and spiky silhouettes, stacking pearl-and-diamond ear cuffs to accent long, linear drop earrings. “Consider sleek and simple looks: with a leather choker, it’s fun to wear a cascading pearl ear cuff, or pair a five-row diamond slider ear cuff with a classic pearl necklace,” she suggests.
Gaia Repossi, creative director of Italian fine-jewelry maison Repossi, is also drawn to the toughened aesthetic that an ear-cuff silhouette can give to dainty diamonds. “I was never attracted to chandelier earrings, so when I started designing my collections, I needed an earring that rose high above the neckline, elongating the figure with a surprising placement of diamonds,” she explains. Repossi has dressed many celebrities for the red carpet with a simple diamond ear cuff as a chic accent to an evening gown, and she admires how one lone piece can add a dash of punk elegance and bring glimmers of gold light to the complexion. “It’s far more modern and contemporary as an earring if we reconsider what femininity has become today; much more radical.”