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To ear or not to ear: Mescal inspires another fashion craze
The Guardian
|January 31, 2026
While Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet has been nominated for eight academy awards, including best picture, for some it’s a tiny silver hoop earring worn by Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare that steals the show.
The barely there hoop has fixated people online. “Begging my boyfriend to get a tiny hoop earring too” reads one post. “I cried for over half of Hamnet but Paul Mescal’s slutty little earring made me feel conflicted,” reads another.
Mescal sent viewers of the BBC drama Normal People into a frenzy over Connell’s chain, a thin silver “Argos chic” necklace and also thrust short shorts into the mainstream. Now the so-called Mescal effect seems to be coming for lobes.
This story is from the January 31, 2026 edition of The Guardian.
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