Ever wonder where those earlobe-adorning medleys of jewels, stones, and beads encrusted in ornate metals are derived from?  You might be surprised to know that earrings have been around for over five centuries. These dangling beauties originated in Byzantium but did not become popular in the West until the sixteenth century.  In the thirteenth century, earrings as we know them today were  flat in shape and style.  Throughout the years, as their use became more widespread and they became a symbol of status and beauty, their shapes and sizes morphed into beautiful little portable pieces of earlobe art.

Earrings: a symbol of status

Aside from their decorative use, earrings were also articles of function.  In the Middle East around 3000 B.C.E. earrings were worn as an indicator of one’s religion, tribal, or political association.  They were also a reference to an individual’s status in their community and were worn as a symbol of pride for those who possessed great authority and power, while being a brand of shame for those of inferior status, such as slaves.

Earrings out, bonnets in

Although earrings were more elaborate in nature and popular in use in the second century A.D., they began to lose their popularity during the Middle Ages in Europe as hats, wigs, and collars gained popularity.  Earrings did not come back into vogue until the seventeenth century, when Italian wives had their husbands purchase these small symbols of status and sophistication.  One century later, however, earrings once again lost their luster as bonnets became the new fashion trend.

20^th century flair, fashion, and glamor

The arrival of the 1900’s brought its own air of elegance.  As hairstyles became full of long locks piled up high, the invention of the clip-on earring manifested.  With the innovation of both the movie and modeling industry, earrings also became a fashion statement in their own right.  As movie starlets and super models lent their famous earlobes to these pieces of ear-glitter, more and more women, young and old alike, wanted to emulate their favorite movie star by wearing the same earrings, while at the same time creating their personal fashion style.

Men, pirates, and earrings

Men, on the other hand, had the choice of wearing a single earring; an option that dates back to Biblical times.  In later centuries, pirates and explorers alike made the earring a symbol of rebellion, adventure, and held it as a statement of refusal of their particular society’s strict norms and conservative ways.

Earrings as a means of expression

Even in the Middle Ages and Renaissance period, they used earrings the way we use them today.  Not only are they a fun and fabulous way to dress the naked earlobe, they are also a means of expressing oneself both personally and fashionably.