Dior Pre-Fall Menswear 2020. Courtesy of Dior.
When Kim Jones sent models down a graphic green runway for his Dior Pre-Fall 2020 menswear show in Miami last night, there were certain items that captured the imagination: the accessories, and in particular, the coffee bean shell single earrings that peeked out from under colourful bucket hats and knitted berets and dangled above classically tailored blazers with fabric boutonniere embellishments. The Dior designer, who recently won GQ’s Designer of the Year award, is no stranger to gender equality in the accessories department (earlier this year he created a menswear version of the French house’s iconic saddle bag). But with all the nonchalant South Beach walks, it is easy to forget that earrings have a coded and regulated history for men.
The whispered cliché of piercing choice as a sexual indicator—“left is right and right is wrong” — problematic as it may be is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to single earrings and their cultural signifiers. Many work and school dress codes still prohibit men from sporting piercings, which is what has given them their countercultural status among rock stars, rappers, punks, and minorities. While a set of pearl studs is one of the most conservative pieces of jewellery a woman can sport, a single earring on a man‚ be it pearl, diamond or gold, is a sign of nonconformity. While symmetrical piercing styles have a rich history of adornment, the singular earring lies at the centre of a web of socio-historical coding.
An engraved silver hoop on the right ear for Cossack men
The self-governing southern Russian population that emerged in the 14th and 15th centuries, known as Cossacks, used earrings to mark who was the provider for families. A piercing on the right ear indicated that a man should be spared from dangerous labour when possible, because he had mouths to feed.
A sign of slaves and prostitutes in Northern Italy
While earrings made of precious metals and stones were still popular among the nobility of medieval Italy’s coastal regions, in the north, it was a sign of servitude. Male and female slaves were known to have an ear piercing (women slaves could also have double or nose piercings). While among the local Jewish community it was a mark of prostitutes and outsiders.
Sailors and pirates finding any excuse to wear earrings
Earrings are almost inseparable form the pirate aesthetic, but there are many different theories about why they are worn. Some say they indicated a sailor had crossed a particularly dangerous patch of water, such as the cape of South Africa, while others prescribe to the myth that gold earrings prevented sinking. One of the more common stories is that the precious metal in the earring would pay for a proper burial if their bodies were washed up on foreign shores, while maybe the most interesting is that pirates wore earrings as a protest against sumptuary laws, which dictated that only nobility could wear certain types of jewellery.
And now?
While in late the 20th century, the idea emerged that an earring worn in the left or right ear was an indication of a man’s sexuality, things have since changed. Now, an earring in whichever ear is just a sign of very good dress sense, if the single Gucci pearl earring that Harry Styles sported at the Met Gala is anything to go by, or the slinky silver serpent that Lil Nas X recently flaunted. And now that the trend has got the Kim Jones stamp-of-approval, looks like it’s here to stay.