Oversized earrings are the fashion accessory of the moment. On catwalks and red carpets everywhere you can’t avoid seeing celebrities like Kate Beckinsale, Kate Winslett or Michelle Obama, sporting elaborate pairs of earrings that dangle far below the jawline.
Now doctors have decided to speak out about this growing trend, warning that whilst they make attractive womens gifts, oversized earrings can cause permanent damage to your earlobes. The number of cases requiring serious cosmetic surgery to repair damaged ears has risen alarmingly of late.It seems that our earlobes aren’t equipped to deal with seven pounds of heavy metal hanging off them! Who’d have thought it!
Although this story has been picked up by a lot of newspapers I highly doubt it will change things in the fashion industry. The risk of needing cosmetic surgery on a damaged ear is unlikely to put off the fashion icons and trendsetters. Hollywood actresses and models are in and out of their plastic surgeon’s office on a monthly basis anyway. Anyway, their enormous bank balances aren’t exactly going to notice the cost of surgery. They will still show up on TV and in glossy magazines with supersized designer 7-inch drop chandeliers which weigh a ton, but look glamorous. And while they do, fashion conscious young women and girls are always going to follow suit and buy the high street equivalents. If anything, the controversy is likely to make them even more popular with rebellious teens as they gain notoriety.
The extreme side of all this is the fashion for “lobe stretching” amongst rebellious teens both male and female.You might have guessed from the name that this practice actually sets out to squeeze and pull your piercing using progressively larger “plugs”. You end up with a huge dangling ring of flesh to show for it. Hey, if that’s what floats your boat who am I to question it. But what happens five, ten years down the line when you grow out of that scene? You end up with permanent harm done to your ears, and most people won’t have the means to get them “fixed”!
My feeling is that all this is going to come back to haunt us as our generation grows up and takes stock. Will we all be looking back on these oversized accessories and ludicrously stretched earlobes and shaking our heads in disbelief? Will giant earrings be one day be consigned to the dustbin of fashion history, along with massive Kate Moss style bug eye sunglasses? Me, I would rather look back and laugh WITHOUT the deformed ear, if its OK with you. If you want to buy me a present, Id prefer some spa gift vouchers for one of those nice long spa days that will make me look beautiful the natural way.