Culture & Style
By Jill Newman. Updated June 20, 2025
Mismatched Earrings Trend: How To Wear Based on Your Ear Piercings
Mismatched earrings are the ultimate trend for self-expression. From red carpet looks to everyday piercings, here’s how to wear them your way.
Courtesy of Ana Khouri
Scarlett Johansson rocked the red carpet at the 2020 Academy Awards in striking mismatched earrings with diamonds, a look that gave the classic pear shaped diamonds an edgy appeal. Designed by Anita Ko for Forevermark, the diamond earrings featured exceptional pear shaped diamond drops—one resting on a single row of round diamonds, and the other, hanging from a loop of diamonds—with a total carat weight of 26.65.
Johansson wasn’t the only celebrity sporting the popular mismatched earrings trend. At Hollywood’s biggest event of the year, Charlize Theron wore a single large diamond stud earring on one ear, and three diamond studs with a simple gold bar on the other, while Cynthia Erivo turned heads in Piaget’s diamond ear climbers mixed with multiple small dangling diamonds and ear cuffs to show off multiple ear piercings.
Meet the Author
- Jill Newman is a jewelry authority, editor, and storyteller with over 25 years of experience, having reported from diamond mines in Africa, cutting workshops in India and Belgium, and ateliers around the world.
- She serves as Editor-at-Large for the Natural Diamond Council, with additional bylines in The New York Times, Town & Country, Elle Décor, and Robb Report.
Red Carpet to Real Life: The Rise of Asymmetrical Earrings
The mismatched earring trend isn’t just for red carpet events, it’s a great way to express your individuality and style any day of the week. Mismatched earrings are having such a big moment that jewelry designers and brands are now selling asymmetrical earring sets and single earrings. The bonus to this trend: if you’ve lost a favorite earring, you can still wear the single earring without its mate.
Asymmetrical and mismatched earrings started getting attention over the past few years when models began strutting down the runways at Balenciaga, Dior and Chanel wearing a mishmash of large statement-making earring styles. Then Meghan Markle made it an everyday look by mixing her ear climbers with stars and geometric stud earrings.
How to Wear Mismatched Earrings Based on Your Ear Piercings
Mismatched earrings are a hot trend right now because they give you a cool girl feel while conveying your own individual style.
“Mismatched earrings are a hot trend right now because they give you a cool girl feel while conveying your own individual style,” says celebrity stylist Cristina Ehrlich, who observes that the trend gives people an opportunity to get creative with their own pieces and add to their collections. “Chances are, if you’re mismatching two of your favorite earrings, you’ll be the only one with that combination.”
Depending on the type ear piercings you have, the trend is a cool way to creatively wear a pair of earrings on one ear if there is room, while rocking one statement earring on the opposite ear for an edgy look.
Designers Leading the Mismatched Earring Movement
Jewelry designer Valérie Messika’s style signifier is asymmetrical earrings. The chic designer is always seen wearing a mixture of earring styles including diamond studs, drop earrings, and diamond ear climbers. The Messika collection offers sets of small and large diamond ear climbers and long and short diamond drops. Known for what she calls “breaking the codes” of traditional jewelry, the Paris-based designer creates large diamond earrings in sleek and modern settings with hardly a trace of visible metal.
From simple studs and hoops to playful charms and symbols, mix match earrings is a way for women to tell their own stories. “It’s a means of self-expression and a way for women to feel a little edgy without committing to something as permanent as a tattoo,” says Alysa Teichman of Ylang23, which has a shop in Dallas and a robust online business. “Our clients (both in-store and online) are obsessed with bringing out their individuality through piercings, and we are here to take part in that joy!”
How to Build a Mismatched Earring Collection
Teichman suggests you start building your look with mismatched earrings pieces you love and add on styles, from personal charms and diamond-studded sticks to geometric shapes depending on your mood. “The mismatched earring trend looks good on literally everyone,” she says. “We have seen women in their 80s get pierced at our store, and they look and feel amazing.” Teichman’s top picks for little earrings are Maria Tash and Pamela Love, and she gravitates towards Sydney Evan, Alison Lou, Jennifer Meyer and Celine Daoust for mismatched stud earrings. “We also love Irene Neuwirth‘s single earrings, which elevate any look.”
Wearing mismatched earrings to show off your ear piercings is a way to add a sense of playfulness, edginess or glamour to your personal style, and it’s a trend that is here to stay because, as Teichman notes, women are just beginning to discover all of the look’s creative options.
