People have worn mismatched earrings forever. It’s a handy and practical thing to do when you’ve lost an earring in a matching set but rather fancy the earrings. You can wear the remaining earring in one ear, and wear whatever you like in the other. 

These days, as a nod to the oh-so-popular asymmetrical trend, you can purchase sets of mismatched earrings that match in some way. The design of each earring in the set is deliberately different, yet the pair clearly belong together. Mismatched yet matching. The collection here provides good examples of the look.

Matchy mismatched earring sets can be delicate or chunky, large or small, studded or dangly, costume or fine, casual or dressy, and simple or complex. The visual effect is interesting, intentional and makes others do a double take, especially when the set is large and very visible.

Look at how well these celebrities pull off the trend. Twiggy’s architectural, colourful and graphic asymmetrical earring statement takes my breath away. WOW. Halle Berry’s refined, classic and delicate rendition is a more practical and pretty “everyday” option that matches her sparkly eyes. It also creates a fab juxtaposition with her spiky hair. Gwyneth Paltrow’s dressy ear bling follows the asymmetrical line of her hair and blends into her complexion. It’s interesting that she chose to wear the stud on the bare ear and the chandelier style on the side where her hair sweeps over her shoulder. 

TwiggyHalleGwyneth

Related to the matchy mismatched earring trend is wearing ONE statement earring with no earrings in the other ear. Jewellery designers are creating one-earring ranges precisely for this purpose. In this case, you can wear the solitary statement earring as the designer intended, or find a mate that matches from your earring capsule at home if that’s more your cup of tea. 

I don’t wear earrings at all, but I enjoy keeping up to date with what’s on trend. I love the matchy mismatched earring trend because it looks intentional, modern and fresh. Wearing one statement earring in your ear looks less polished somehow, especially when you can see the bare pierced hole in the other ear. It would also invite people – like my darling Dad – to let you know that you’d lost the other earring. That said, it’s been very fashionable for men to wear one earring for decades. I guess I’m simply more accustomed to seeing men wear one earring than women. But I’m sure it will become the new normal before long, just like it’s become the new normal for men to wear a pair of earrings these days. 

Over to you. What do you think of the matchy mismatched earring trend, and would you wear the look? What do you think of wearing one statement earring and leaving the other ear earring-free?