1950s small hoop earrings set with diamonds in 20k gold and platinum.

Each hoop has a cluster of small diamonds in gold, its dangle with a rose cut tear drop diamond in platinum.

This 1.2cm hoop drops to a whole 2.6cm length, but it is really dainty, the traditional ‘hoop and stud’ allure of Straits Chinese earrings.

These earrings are circular hoops that wear like ear studs, with the look of hoops with minimal swing, compensated with a drop (to swing!), that we call a ‘bao’ (treasure).

It’s that complicated, because the idea of wearing hoops that cannot swing too much is endearing.

It’s also the Chinese obsession of western style tailored to meet local attitudes, but it has grown to be so lovely it deserves a genre all on its own. There’s nothing like it in modern jewellery, that feels substantial, solid, yet so gossamer.

These ‘huggie’ style hoops have a spring lever back mechanism that’s very tedious to replicate, making them feel like modern contraptions even when some were made over or close to 100 years ago.

Delicacy in Chinese jewellery is very hard to replicate, it is usually too feminine, or too convenient. Neither of which, these huggie ‘no-swing hoops’ are small but have ideological meanings in the culture of ‘Chinoiserie’.

This pair is just a little bigger than the other pair of huggie hoops.