Earrings: More than just a fashion accessory

A get-up won't be complete without accessories. Accessories enhance the total effect of clothes. For instance, a seemingly shapeless dress may look good once worn with an appropriate belt. Accessories are also used to emphasize the best parts of your anatomy. If you have beautiful long hair, for example, dangling earrings that will flow with your hair can be a plus. Among all the accessories, earrings are the most graceful and time-honored.

For thousands of years, humans have had a fancy for earrings. As history would have it, the oldest earrings that archeologists have unearthed date back to about 2,500 B.C., found in the royal graves of Ur in Iraq. Since then, earrings have frequently evolved from earplugs (earring worn inside a widely stretched hole in the earlobe) to the simple stud and down to the current Bohemian rage of beaded earrings.

Earrings are divided in two basic types - pierced and clip-on. Pierced earrings are worn with a wire running through the pierced earlobe. Simple studs, round hoops and dangling objects are examples of pierced earrings. Clip-on earrings have attachment mechanisms like a spring, to keep them on. There was a time when earrings were classified as to night wear or day wear. Now, though, as fashion continuously changes, this distinction has faded out.

Earrings are also the most celebrated of all fashion accessories. Earrings tend to signify special occasions, such as holidays or parties. Earrings are even common gifts for birthdays and any other celebrations like Valentine's Day. Thus, earrings are more than just decorative jewelry. Earrings are personal statements, too. If a lady wears elaborate or flashy earrings, wouldn't you think she belongs to the trendy type? Stud earrings, on the other hand, usually denote that the wearer is rather conservative.

Whether as accessories, gifts or personal statement, earrings are simply enjoyable and fashionable.