I have a couple of theories about why this style is suddenly ubiquitous. One reason is the general shrinkage in the size of jewelry this year. Not everything has gone wee, but lots of designers are making smaller examples of their work to create some price friendly options in an environment where gold gave everyone a jump scare when it peaked at around $5,500 an ounce in January and continues to hover in the heights of the $4,000 an ounce range.

Another reason for the surge of the style is the ongoing popularity of multiple ear piercings. One of the easiest and tidiest ways to decorate all those holes is with matching small slender hoops. For a while now, charms have been being added to the accessories. The newness is the elevation of the look.

Any number of COUTURE designers are focusing their attention on the style. When designed by super talents like BIJULES, BY PARIAH, HARWELL GODFREY, JADE RUZZO, MARIE LICHTENBERG and SPINELL KILCOLLIN the pieces make an impact.

Bijules

A one-time Junior Olympic volleyball player and lifelong sports fan, Bijules designer Jules Kim turned her love of sports into the clever and fun Shoot it Hot pearl collection. Among the pendants and studs in the line is a full series of little hoops with charms of pearls decorated like balls for several sports and one team that had a historic year.

Yes, sports fans there is a pair of freshwater pearl Knicks Hang Hoops with the team colors of blue and orange where the lines on a basketball would be. There are also facetted pearls for tennis and golf. Carved pearls cover soccer, volleyball and basketball. All in, it is a winning collection.

By Pariah

The London based founder of by Pariah, Sophie Howard, has a deep understanding of how to add just enough flourish to minimalist pieces to make them interesting and elegant. When it comes to her little hoops with big charms, she does all kinds of tiny tweaks.

For example, she sets oval-shaped stones in an east-west direction and mounts them in a gold frame or a cobbled pavé pattern of gems. Sophie’s intentionally tight palette of soft sophisticated pastel egg-shape gems creates a collection of earrings that are easy to wear every day and stylish enough to polish off a look to perfection.

Harwell Godfrey

Lauren Harwell Godfrey doesn’t look at little hoops with big charms as a small thing. She has included the silhouette as a primary part of at least her last two collections. And she goes really big on the charms.

For last year’s 1975 collection, she dropped giant diamond disco balls as well as colorful “Agnes” Granny Squares from the little hoops she calls huggies. I co-sign with the update on the use of the term once reserved for chubby small hoops in the early1990s. It’s a great way to describe small slender hoops that hug the earlobe.

For her latest Go West line, Lauren added Super Nova star charms and spurs as in spurs for a cowboy boot as well as gems in frames designed with western flair to her huggies.

Jade Ruzzo

Jade Ruzzo gives her hoops a distinctive shape by taking the specially sculpted links she uses in chain necklaces and transforming them into part of her small hoops with big charms.

This elegant, cohesive detail subtly identifies the pieces as part of her collection. It also makes the jewels matchy-matchy in a modern way. If you choose her chain necklace and earrings, it creates what was once called a demi-parure and is actually still named that. It’s just the term is a little lost in jewelry language, because the concept is rarely executed these days. I like the idea of bringing back coordinated jewels.

Marie Lichtenberg

The fabulous French designer Marie Lichtenberg tells stories of love and luck through the motifs in her collection. And her little hoops with big charms are no exception. The meaning of her heart and horseshoe charms is clear. The spade she swiped from a deck of cards, may be a reference to gambling or luck. Alternatively, it could represent a regal air or signify that the wearer “chooses war today” in the playful sense of the modern expression.

Each of the little charms is masterfully made. There is a bit of chunkiness to the styles and details like grooves in the goldwork and matte and shiny finishes.

Spinelli Kilcollin

Since the launch of the Spinelli Kilcollin label 16-years ago, founders Yves Spinelli and Dwyer Kilcollin have been carefully overseeing the collection handmade in Los Angeles of carefully crafted circles. The circle defines their signature rings with an international cult following. And it has rolled into their little hoops with charms.

The small hoops are threaded with tiny circles hugging pendants set with a various gems. There are diamonds, and emerald-cut emeralds and ruby hearts. I recognize that these gems are not big in size. But they have huge charm, which makes them fit perfectly into this story.