BROOKLYN

 
 

YVETTE

Hoops have been in my life since I was a baby girl and have been wearing them since. This past year with Covid in place and having no reason to dress up. Life was just draining me dry to the core. The moment I was able to step out and experience the NYC Spring vibe. I grabbed my Gold leather, Seville Michelle door knockers got my fly coordinated outfit together, and bam that power of the gold round bamboo was emanating throughout my body. The grounded feather-light feeling of my walk let the hips sway with that strong bounce from the vibration shifting like the chakras activating my big ass hoop earrings. Hoops dressed up or down will give you the superpowers like iron hits the blood.

SABIN

I am a Bronx native, the home of Hip-Hop, and hoop earrings is an essential fashion statement in Hip-Hop. Black women rock it with attitude and class!

AMY

I grew up in the 90s and even though they are only earrings, they were my signature and continue to be. Taking the train all the way to The Colosseum in Jamaica to trade in old for new – they crushed so easily, it was practically a weekly thing to have to trade them. Hoops so big you had to throw them over your shoulder to turn your head. Had to be careful and keep the clasps loose in case someone tried to rip them out of your ears (which did happen to me on several occasions unfortunately). These are the trademark of my 90s teen years – the style and the nostalgia have me still wearing them today.

SARAH

I am always fascinated by the question of what hoops mean to a certain person. In my personal experience, hoops was just a staple to have that was started with my mom and her sisters. I never gave it much thought until I was older and how integral to your womanhood hoops really are.

suleky

I love hoops because my first pair were when my grandmother gifted them to me! She had old photos of her in Dominican Republic with her gold hoops!  I saw so many women in my family wearing their favorite door knockers and the bigger the hoops the bigger the sass! I loved seeing my mom wear different shapes like the number 8 or the thin skinny ones. I was never a fan of the white gold ones but yeah I loved mine! I still wear them, at some point I stopped because I felt it was too much to wear to my corporate jobs but then I got them in smaller sizes lol - I love my gold hoops. 

OLIVIA

The first time I fell in love with hoops earrings was when I saw Jody Watley’s video for Lookin for a New Love in 87. I thought she was so strong and beautiful. I knew as a young girl that I wanted to embody her look when I grew up.  It was then that I started wearing neon hoops, skinny hoops, large hoops basically any kind of hoop I could get my hands on. As a teenager I had to wait for my mom to buy me my first pair or real gold earrings when I graduated HS, that was my gift. I remember feeling like the shit once I had them. She was a single mom in between jobs and so I really appreciated it. I had to be careful with those large hoop earrings because they were hollow and would crush easily. Eventually one of the earrings got crushed and I’d crush the other to match. Plus I figured they were less likely to get stolen crushed up like that since that was also going on at the time. Ultimately those crushed hoops gave me leverage, even though I did not have that much money, I had the gold and that allowed me to trade them in to get the new gold jewelry that I wanted. I remember how pricey real hood hoops were so imagine my reaction when I came back from Cali where I lived for two years, back to NYC for Christmas break, winter of 1992 and my whole crew of girls had on huge gold earrings. They had all the different sizes and styles. I never felt more broke. I couldn’t understand how they were all able to afford them! When I asked how much they were they all went along with the story, telling me anywhere from $400 and up. That went on for a few days and then they finally told me about and took me to the spot on W 14th street where they got the knock offs earrings. It was knock off city for me from then on until this very day!  I still have scars from my early days of hoops because I used to wear them clubbing and my ear holes constantly ripped while dancing because of how heavy they were. The tears were painful but it wasn’t ever enough to stop me from wearing them again. I’d just give my ears a few days to heal and it was back to business. 


TEJAL

What Hoops mean to me is having this super power of divine feminine Jefa (boss) energy that is scaled across the cultures I hold as a womxn who is multi-cultural and womxn of color! I channel my inner Goddess-Diosa self and can take ON ANYTHING! Whether working my platform creating inspirational videos or content to hype up my brightdoll souls to love themselves-bodies and more. This appears as well when empowering my scholars who I counsel as a Therapist and Social Worker in Higher Education! 

SOPHIA

CHRISSY

KAMILAH

NATASHA

SHARA

MARIAM

NATALIE