Statement earrings

Statement earrings are "earrings which invite attention from others by demonstrating bold, original, and unique designs with innovative construction and material combinations." They include one or more of the following design features:

 

Pair of starter stud earrings.

• Dangles

• Tassels

• Sparkles

• Bold or striking colors

• Hoops

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Stud/minimal earrings

 The main characteristic of stud earrings is the appearance of floating on the ear or earlobe without a visible (from the front) point of connection. Studs are invariably constructed on the end of a post, penetrating straight through the ear or earlobe. A removable friction back or clutch (a butterfly scroll) holds the post in place. A stud earring features a gemstone or other ornament mounted on a narrow post that passes through a piercing in the ear or earlobe and is held in place by a fixture on the other side. Studs commonly come in the form of solitaire diamonds. Some stud earrings are constructed so that the post is threaded, allowing a screw back to hold the earring in place securely, which helps prevent the loss of expensive earrings containing precious stones or made of precious metals.

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Hoop earrings

 Hoop earrings are circular or semi-circular in design and look similar to a ring. Hoop earrings generally come in the form of a hoop of metal that can be opened to pass through the ear piercing. They are often constructed of metal tubing, with a thin wire attachment penetrating the ear. The hollow tubing is permanently attached to the wire at the front of the ear and slips into the tube at the back. The entire device is held together by tension between the wire and the tube. Other hoop designs do not complete the circle but penetrate through the ear in a post, using the same attachment techniques that apply to stud earrings. A variation is the continuous hoop earring. In this design, the earring is constructed of a straight piece of solid metal, which penetrates through the ear and can be rotated almost 360°. One of the ends is permanently attached to a small amount of metallic tubing or a hollow metallic bead. The other end is inserted into the tubing or bead and is held in place by tension. One type of hoop earring is the sleeper earring, a circular wire usually made of gold with a diameter of approximately one centimeter. Hinged sleepers, common in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, comprise two semi-circular gold wires connected via a tiny hinge at one end and fastened via a small clasp at the other to form a continuous hoop whose fastening mechanism is effectively invisible to the naked eye. Because their small size makes them unobtrusive and comfortable, and because they are usually otherwise unadorned, sleepers are so-called because they were intended to be worn at night to keep a pierced ear from closing and were often the choice for the first set of earrings immediately following the ear piercing in the decades before ear-piercing guns using studs became commonplace, but are often a fashion choice in themselves because of their attractive simplicity and because they subtly call attention to the fact that the ear is pierced.

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 A drop earring attaches to the earlobe and features a gemstone or ornament that dangles down from a chain, hoop, or similar object. The length of these ornaments varies from very short to extravagantly long. Such earrings are occasionally known as droplets, dangle, or pendants. They also include chandelier earrings, which branch into elaborate, multi-level pendants.

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Dangle earrings

 

Traditional earrings

 Dangle earrings (also known as drop earrings) are designed to suspend from the bottoms of the earlobes. Their lengths vary from a centimeter or two to brushing the wearer's shoulders. A pierced dangle earring is generally attached to the ear with a thin wire passing through the earlobe. It may connect to itself with a small hook at the back, or in the French hook design, the wire passes through the earlobe piercing without closure, although small plastic or silicone retainers are sometimes used on ends. Rarely do dangle earrings use the post-attachment design. Some variants attach without piercing.

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Barbell earrings

 Barbell earrings get their name from their resemblance to a barbell, generally coming as a metal bar with an orb on either end. One of these orbs is affixed in place, while the other can be detached to allow the barbell to be inserted into a piercing. Several variations of this basic design exist, including barbells with curves or angles in the bar of the earring.

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Huggy earrings

 Commonly, stones are channel set in huggy earrings.

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Ear thread

 Or earth reader, ear string, threader, a chain that is thin enough to slip into the ear hole, and come back out, dangles. Sometimes, people add beads or other materials onto the chain so the chain dangles with beads below the ear.

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Jhumka Earrings

 They are dangling traditional bell-shaped earrings worn mainly by women of the Indian Subcontinent.

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Chandelier Earrings

 These earrings have an appearance similar to that of chandeliers. These are by women in the Indian subcontinent for special occasions.