Guys Are Loving a Tight Little Hoop Earring

Last month, Chanel announced Jacob Elordi as the new face of Bleu de Chanel with a moody portrait that showcased the slim flirty hoop latched onto the Australian actor’s lobe. Like his dreamy Saltburn character Felix, who sports piercings on his ear and eyebrow, Elordi’s earring is a little wink that injects some potent swagger into his public image. (The accessory also adds some latent credibility to his prestige-acting chops—in his 2023 GQ cover story, Elordi said that he pierced his ears because Daniel Day-Lewis did.) There was a similar fervor around Paul Mescal’s snug hoop in last year’s Hamnet, in which the actor portrays (reportedly bi) William Shakespeare—who, according to costume designer Malgosia Turzanska, was believed to don a hoop in his day. Reporting about the Hamnet hoop in January, The Guardian cited one fan who was “begging my boyfriend to get a tiny hoop earring” after seeing the film. (Mescal incited a similar accessory-based thirst with his breakout role in Normal People, which had fans clamoring for their own version of his character Connell’s thin silver chain.)

In Hamnet, Paul Mescal’s William Shakespeare sported a tight little hoop—a historical nod to the Bard’s own earring.

Courtesy of Focus Features

It’s no coincidence that, amidst the little hoop’s rise, several massive jewelry brands have recently recruited famous men as ambassadors. In 2024, New York’s own David Yurman recruited eventual Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan to be the face of The Vault, the brand’s first-ever high jewelry collection for men. Jordan himself is a long-time fan of otic ornaments, wearing diamond studs, simple hoops, and flashy stacks in equal measure. He rocked a pair of icy cable huggers in his GQ cover last March. Meanwhile, Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie, in his months-long foray into extreme fame, penned a deal with the American jewelry giant, Tiffany & Co.; at the Met Gala last week, he punctuated his Saint Laurent ensemble with a pair of diamond-encrusted huggers from the brand. His co-star Hudson Williams, too, struck a partnership with Italian label Bvlgari, and dotted his ear with two chunky silver hoops at the Met. In a Variety story about the jewelry trend, Williams’s stylist, Anastasia Walker, said that “there is something kind of bad boy and free about” the little-hoop look. “Hoops have this feeling of being more casual [and] cooler.”

Aside from being a relatively low-cost form of body-mod, the hoop’s broadening appeal among men also feels like an honest departure from the performative-male-coded accessorizing of yore. Painted nails can be removed with acetone; pearl chokers and Chrome Hearts rings can simply be taken off at the end of the night. But rocking a piercing is pretty hardcore. It requires actual bodily commitment (plus a pinch of pain). And something about voluntarily puncturing your ear for a tiny flash of silver or gold—even if your boss might not approve—feels more sincere than the parade of experimental virtue signalers men have cycled through over the last decade.