Small earrings are polite. Big earrings are a decision. We are, on balance, in favour of decisions.
The trick with a large earring is to give it room: hair back or up, a collar that sits low, and nothing competing at the neck. Then let the rest of the outfit be as plain as you like. A denim jacket, a white tee and jeans will carry a pair of six-centimetre hoops without blinking.
Our muse, who has worn the same carved curls since the second century, swears by a single oversized hoop on one side and nothing on the other. "Symmetry is for buildings," she says. We photographed her against a wall painted half blue, half pink, looking down, backpack on, as if she had somewhere to be. She did not.
If you are new to the big earring, start with a light one. Resin and hollow metal weigh almost nothing and read exactly as loud as you want them to.