Hoop Dreams
You snag them when dashing out the door in your tank top and denim. You run to them when a night on the town calls for a look as loud as the bass in a hip-hop song. You even spit shine them when taking the term "polished" a little too seriously. They're your hoop earrings and, without them, you'd have to get a lot more creative.
Whether you first saw hoops on the pages of pirate storybooks as a kid or in their larger-than-life status in any one of Mary J. Blige's videos, the charming accessory has undoubtedly become a life-long resident in your jewelry box.
Some women find satisfaction in their one, always-reliable pair of medium-sized gold hoops. Others require all metals, sizes and colors. It isn't uncommon to come across an earlobe lined with the circular earrings, either. Or a nostril, navel, eyebrow -- and unmentionables -- pierced with baby hoops.
Regardless of your preference, one thing remains: this piece of jewelry, no matter the context of the rest of your look, begs for selection as your earring of choice. Like a know-it-all in a classroom of shy kids, hoops have a fantastic "ooh, ooh, pick me!" quality about them. They agree with most any outfit but their popularity has just as much to do with their charisma as their amenable nature.
Sure chandeliers and door knockers enjoyed "life of the party" status but for how long? Both came in with a bang and left without saying goodbye as our faithful friend hoops over here kept entertaining her guests -- you.
Why then do hoop earrings seem like the Rodney Dangerfield of jewelry? Fashion experts continue to rave about diamond studs and pearls as the must-have, go-to, invest-in earrings but why do we rarely hear hoops mentioned in those spiels? The staple accessory still gets its own special treatment from those who really count. Like Aretha, we just want hoops to be given their proper dues when they get home. And that's exactly what you do each time you remove the earrings, replace them and return your favorite pair to its prominent position in your jewelry box. That's not just respect; it's love.
