By Ava Shaffer
PIPPAS WORKSHOP / PippasWorkshop on Etsy
Have you ever been waiting in line at Trader Joe’s and see the person in front of you has tarot cards dangling from their ears? What about crayons, rubber ducks or even mini clay foods such as cosmic brownies? There’s a probable chance that the very stylish and fashionable person in the grocery line has partaken in a new earrings trend.
The social media platform TikTok has been known for creating new and eccentric trends ever since it first gained popularity; like the late summer trend of buying cheap multicolored wigs from Five Below and then having a photoshoot. Or singing to the bridge of “Drivers License'' by Olivia Rodrigo with the windows down in a car.
The newest trend has become popular around the LBGTQ community, and particularly
women identifying as queer.
Creators began purchasing or making earrings out of random objects and posting videos of them on TikTok. At the time, this was a signal that if you saw someone wearing quirky and bulky earrings, they were most likely queer. Most of the earlier videos of people posing with these earrings had captions with the lesbian flag colors in heart emojis as a subtle reference to their sexuality. Others, however captioned their videos by saying “I’m [insert sexuality] but here is my collection of lesbian earrings.”
The trend popularized, with hundreds of others branching out into the more outlandish realm of accessories. As of today, the #lesbianearrings hashtag on TikTok has over 108.8 million views.
So only queer women wear these earrings? Of course not!
Although this trend was started by queer women (and mainly is carried on by them) it’s a trend that anybody can participate.
It’s fashion, so there’s no reason people of other sexualities can’t join in on the fun of wearing goofy earrings to family dinners and receiving confused stares from their grandparents.
For example, the first time I wore my Fanta soda bottle earrings in front of my dad, he laughed very loud. He asked if there was actually soda in them, to which I replied no. But seeing as how creative and innovative the community of artists are who make these earrings, I wouldn’t be surprised to see actual soda in a pair of earrings soon.
AVA SHAFFER / UP Blog Writer
Perhaps one of the most impressive parts of the #lesbianearring trend is how quickly artists react to cultural phenomenons. For instance, only a few days after the Bernie Sanders at the 2020 Inauguration meme went around, there were already earrings of him circulating onEtsy and Depop.
JDELILA / JDelila on Etsy
Sure, sometimes these earrings are a little heavy and weigh down your ears. They might look silly, and some people just won’t get them. But they’re fun, bold and allow people to express themselves.
Isn’t that what fashion is all about?