A History of Earrings

Throughout history, both men and women have worn earrings for cultural, religious or aesthetic purposes.

The earliest evidence for earrings dates back to ancient Persia, where carved images show soldiers of the Persian Empire wearing an earring as part of their battle dress. Meanwhile, in the uncovering of Tutankhamen’s tomb, it was discovered that while the Pharaoh’s ears were pierced, there were no earrings inside the wrappings. From this evidence, it is thought that only Egyptian children wore earrings.

Biblical history also indicates earring-wearing, first noted in Exodus when the Isrealites demanded that Aaron made a god for them out of gold. Aaron commanded that everyone brought him their gold jewellery to make the god, which included their sons’ and daughters’ earrings.

Continuing on to ancient Greece and Rome, women of wealth and status wore earrings to show their social status, using pearls, topaz, garnet and sapphires.

In Europe, male earrings went through stages of being popular and out of fashion throughout the Middle Ages, until the 13th Century, when the Catholic Church banned the piercing of ears. This saw a shift in earring-wearing, seeing only pirates, thieves and lower classes continuing to wear earrings. Pirates wore a single earring to show that they had plundered a ship, and peasants used ear piercing to signify the only boy in their family, or a child who had been born immediately after the death of another child.

By the renaissance, earrings became popular again among the wealthy classes, and in the 1600s earrings were associated with poets – a portrait of Shakespeare painted in 1660 depicts him with a gold earring in his left earlobe.

The modern trend for costume jewellery began in the 1920s, when less expensive earrings became available in styles ranging from contemporary art deco to Egyptian style shapes. Flappers tended to wear clip on earrings at the time, as pierced ears were deemed unsanitary.

Ear piercing began to emerge again in the early 1960s, although this was largely done at home due to the lack of commercial market. This is shown in the film Grease (set in 1959), which shows Sandy getting her ears pierced by her friends at a sleepover. However, by the early 1970s earring manufacturers had cottoned on to this trend and started to host ear piercing events at department stores.

Today, earrings have become a jewellery staple. Here at Cuttings we offer a wide variety of classic earring styles, from ornate antique earrings, to timeless diamond studs and modern designs. Come and visit us in Margate or Ramsgate to see our current stock!