The latest Dior high jewelry collection, Diorissima, presented in late May in Venice, seemed to be yet another confirmation of a trend that has been rising in recent years: the ubiquity of the ear cuff.
Although these pieces are, according to the jewelry historian Marion Fasel, “like a cuff that you wear on your ear, with an opening on one side that slides onto the lobe,” the term ear cuff has become a catchall label for adornments that extend beyond the earlobe.
These pieces include ones that trace the length of the ear; designs with one element at the top connected behind the ear to another on the lobe; and climbers that create the illusion of multiple piercings.
There were 19 models at the May presentation, dressed in Jonathan Anderson gowns for Dior, and almost all wore ear jewelry extending beyond traditional designs. Ear climbers, set with gem-studded blooms, swept from the lobe along the length of the ear; while cuffs, sometimes geometric and sometimes floral, nestled in the inner part of the ear and wrapped around the outer part.
The look has also enjoyed moments of glory on the red carpet. At the Cannes Film Festival in May, Cate Blanchett accessorized a black gown with a dramatic lace collar with a Louis Vuitton ear cuff from its recent Mythica collection.
That cuff, and the more classic earring, comprise a set called Whisper: two bursts of diamond-studded swirls, one of which dangles from the top of the ear while the other covers the lobe and is topped with an LV Monogram Star-cut diamond. The two elements are connected with a chain behind the ear.
An even more theatrical combination adorned Rihanna at the Met Gala in May. She paired two earrings by Glenn Spiro, each of which featured a pear-shape fancy brown-yellow diamond rimmed with white diamonds, with a double ear cuff set with inverted diamonds by Dyne of New York City.
“I was approached by Rihanna’s stylist, who was looking to make her look more modern, and these cuffs seemed an obvious choice,” Sarah Ysabel Narici, the founder and designer of Dyne, said in a video interview.
“Rihanna is one of the few people who can carry a lot of jewelry. She had worn them in the past and found them comfortable,” she added.
When it comes to designs by Valérie Messika, the founder and designer of her namesake Paris brand, the Calypso ear cuff worn by Kristen Stewart at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival has been a standout.
Ms. Messika said the cuff was conceived as two waves of pear-shape diamonds, one seemingly floating over the lobe and the other tracing the upper part of the ear. It was a design, she said, that exemplified her ambition to make diamonds appear as if they were held without metal settings.
“Unlike a traditional earring, an ear cuff has an edgy side. It is a little rock ‘n’ roll, a little offbeat, which suits my brand very well,” the designer said during a recent phone interview. “We were among the first to make ear cuffs because we wanted to make jewelry cooler, more relaxed, and less traditional.”
A Long History
Ear cuffs have existed across civilizations for millenniums, according to Nikita Binani, a head of jewelry sales at Sotheby’s London.
From ancient Egypt to classical Greece, jewelry was often designed to adorn the entire ear. “Elaborate ear jewelry has long held ceremonial and cultural importance,” she said, “particularly in India, with pieces decorating the entire ear through chains, cuffs and climbers.”
She pointed to creations from the 16th-century Mughal period in India, when ear adornments signified prestige and their gems were surrounded by what were called gold kundan settings rather than held with prongs. Ms. Binani also mentioned South Indian temple jewelry, still worn today for important religious ceremonies, which adorn the full length of the ear, including the upper cartilage.
Gaia Repossi, the creative director of Repossi, has a degree from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and a specialization in archaeology from Sorbonne University. She drew inspiration for the ear cuffs included in her family’s brand from the adornments worn by desert tribes across Africa, as well as from jewelry found in ancient civilizations.
Ms. Repossi, who has been experimenting with ear cuffs since 2007, said the style has since become a brand signature and is present in its core collections Antifer, Berbere and Serti sur Vide.
In a telephone interview, she recalled one of her earliest ear cuff designs for the Serti sur Vide collection, which took more than a year to perfect. “We developed very light and complex small clips that would support the construction of the earring and make it wearable,” Ms. Repossi said. “It was almost like an ear corset.”
All About the Fit
The question of fit is important, Stéphanie Sivrière, Piaget’s director of jewelry, high jewelry and watchmaking, said in a video interview.
“An ear cuff needs to fit perfectly for comfort, but also so that you don’t lose it when taking your scarf or hat off,” she said. “The pressure is important, as is the weight. Which is why, sometimes, it’s actually easier to create a high jewelry ear cuff with the full structure where you can balance the weight, than just a tiny hoop.”
Piaget has been making ear cuffs since the 1960s, Ms. Sivrière said, as they fit the brand’s aesthetic of asymmetry exemplified by its sets that feature an ear cuff and a more classic earring.
Speaking specifically of climbers fixed with a post to the lobe to sweep up the length of the ear, Anne-Eva Geffroy, Graff’s design director, said during a phone interview that there also are considerations beyond just fit.
“You have to calculate the weight, you have to calculate the position, you have also to take in consideration that we have a million different shapes of ear and it has to be kind of universal,” she said. “And this means calculating where to put the post, you go too much on the right, you fail. If you go too much on the left, you fail.”
Extra Piercings Not Needed
Customers, especially younger shoppers, have been the most enthusiastic about ear cuffs, said Beth Hannaway, the director of buying fine jewelry and watches at Harrods in London. “More established clients are also embracing them as a modern way to refresh their existing jewelry wardrobe without committing to additional piercings,” she wrote.
Tiffany Hsu, the chief buying and group fashion ventures officer at the luxury online site Mytheresa, echoed the sentiment, writing in an email about the increase in both brands offering ear cuffs and customers buying them. “They are very popular with people who enjoy experimenting with their style and creating curated ear looks,” she wrote.
For those who want to create such a look, but aren’t sure where to start, the London jeweler Robinson Pelham has created the Ear Menu, an online tool that lets shoppers visualize different combinations of earrings and ear cuffs.
The initiative has proved successful, according to Vanessa Chilton, the brand’s creative director, who said in an interview that “ear cuffs can be worn in tandem with traditional earrings, or alone, but either way help elevate a look.”
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