Unless you’ve spent the past five years living under a rock, you’ll know that an earring exists for anything and everything. I’ve seen rubber duck earrings, Shrek earrings, and even earrings for different types of pasta. Given how easy they are to work into an outfit, earrings have become a great vehicle for self-expression.

While plenty has already been said about jewellery and its sentimental, visual, and benefits for self-expression, jewellery is rarely spoken about as a conversation starter. I first discovered this perk when wearing my silver plane earrings aboard a Ryanair flight. It turned out that the person next to me worked in aviation, and we soon began talking about the airline in depth for the entire flight. This is possibly one of the nerdiest examples out there but consider: if you’re wearing earrings starring a niche interest, your favourite album, or your favourite DVD, it could be an opportunity to make connections in the strangest places.

“Consider how fun it could be to go out for an Italian with pasta earrings, or to Gardies with cheesy chip earrings”

Conversations can also start around how suitable your earrings are to the situation. I once found a pair of wheel earrings that I have worn to events at St Catharine’s College ever since. They’re a hit with the boat club! Although these earrings were entirely unrelated to Cambridge, they had meaning to my college community and acted as a sort of ‘inside joke’. When attending formals at other colleges, I like to wear my wheel earrings and have a little laugh to myself about how, no matter what I’m wearing beyond my jewellery, I’m always representing my college.

My favourite — and possibly my silliest — earrings are my wine and cheese earrings. I purchased these the day before going to my friend’s work at a dairy, where we enjoyed a nice lunch of (can you guess?) wine and cheese. We took a good few photos with my earrings in the frame, and I felt as though I was expressing my love for the meal in front of me! Consider how fun it could be to go out for an Italian with pasta earrings, or to Gardies with cheesy chip earrings (I’m sure they exist). It seems silly, but sometimes we have to search for joy in the smallest places.

“You might have a pair of CD earrings that represent your love for alternative music, Playbill earrings to represent your love for the ADC, or maybe something sport-related”

Of course, you can also use earrings to display your affiliation with student societies. You might have a pair of CD earrings that represent your love for alternative music, Playbill earrings to represent your love for the ADC, or maybe something sport-related — the possibilities are endless. Again, these earrings can then become conversation starters or just a little inside joke for you to enjoy. Earrings rarely disrupt the rest of your outfit.

Where dress codes are strict, suiting your earrings to the occasion elevates your outfit without disrupting your outfit. Maybe you’re at an interview, where your colourful jumpers have been swapped out for white shirts, but your personality is still shining through in your rain earrings that reflect the weather outside. It’s important to make sure your earrings are still subtle enough to look smart in this situation, but, if played right, you could use earrings to show your personality and connect with your interviewer.

Despite their small size and apparent ubiquity, earrings are often underrated as vehicles suited to every occasion in the literal sense. I’m sure many of us have a stash of earrings of different sizes and styles, but do you have beer earrings (’beer’ings) or vodka earrings for your next Wednesday Revs? Do you have train earrings for your next trip back home? Do you have earrings representing your favourite part of your degree to wear to lectures? It sounds a bit silly and a bit nerdy, but what’s life without a bit of fun? If fun can be found in such a small place, why not go for it and start suiting your earrings for every occasion? The more niche, the better.