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From what era are bamboo earrings?

1 Answer
The mid- to late 1980s and early 1990s were a particularly strong era for bamboo earrings, which is a name frequently given to big, bold hoop earrings (they're also called "door knockers"). While Black female recording artists such as Salt-N-Pepa, MC Lyte and Roxanne Shante popularized the trend during those years by donning hoops in music videos and on the red carpet, artist-activists Nina Simone and Angela Davis wore hoops decades earlier. In the Black and Latino communities, hoop earrings have long been associated with strength. Their symbolism as indicators of identity stretches back thousands of years, including to ancient Nubia. On view in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Ancient Near Eastern Art gallery is a pair of simple gold hoops from Mesopotamia dating to 2,600-2,500 B.C. that experts agree is among the oldest known examples. Shop a range of hoop earrings from some of the world's top sellers on 1stDibs.
1stDibs ExpertNovember 8, 2023