Posted By Pia Sooney on Sep 16, 2013 | 1 comment

By Lori Ferraro

So, I have a confession to make.  I have always been, and forever will be . . . an earring junkie.

Look at my current collection, which has recently been pared down:

My collection has always required a “rack” “holder” or an “over-the-back-of-the-closet-door-vinyl-thingy” that I had back in the 80s.

In the little pockets of the over-the-door-vinyl-thingy (I think that was the technical name for it) you could find a million pairs of these, in every color of the rainbow:

All the cool girls wore these earrings.  And I did too.

These earrings varied wildly but typically included bright colors, a glossy finish, and were often hammered or folded enamel in geometric shapes.  They could be purchased in mass quantities at stores like Contempo Casuals and Lerner New York and fit every 80s girl’s budget.  And, because an 80s girl needed lots of choice, they usually came on a little card where you could get a few different shapes in the same color. So, when I wore my favorite all-teal outfit, I had the choice of teal squares, teal triangles or teal hoops. I chose the hoops.

I would lay out my earrings on the floor with the rest of my crime-scene-dead-body outfit the night before school. Making the right accessory decision was crucial . . . if I wore my red and white striped shirt, I was going to wear my shiny red squares. And when I wore my lavender shirt, I was going to wear my giant lavender rectangles. Or maybe the triangles?

This was hard work.

I also remember having them in various shiny colors that were a curly corkscrew shape like this:

But my FAVORITES were an iridescent white pair that were shaped like lightning bolts. Honestly, I still think about those earrings today. They were a glowy white, and I wore them a lot.

I lost one of the two and gave the remaining one to my boyfriend, Alan. How romantic, I know. He had longish, curly hair (a perm) and I loved seeing that little shimmer of bolt peeking out from his blonde, curly locks.

My “go to” earrings today are no-brainer-kind-of-boring silver hoops. They’re pretty, light and go with everything. There’s just one thing that they’re not.

Lightning bolts.