Meghan Markle's Stacked Earring Trend, Shopped

Look closely at any kitchen scene in With Love, Meghan and the ear tells its own story: not one earring but two or three, mixed in size and finish, catching the light every time Meghan turns to the camera. The stacked earring trend she has helped popularise is not about buying bigger jewellery, it is about buying more of it, worn together with evident thought rather than left to chance.

That distinction matters, because it makes the look far more copyable than it first appears. You do not need a jewellery box the size of Meghan’s, and, as it turns out, you do not necessarily need the ear piercings either.

Here is how the stack actually works, piece by piece, and how to build a version of it with whatever your own ears are currently offering.

The layering principle behind Meghan’s stack

Court & Capital has previously catalogued the individual pieces in Meghan’s With Love, Meghan jewellery box, from Cartier heirlooms to indie studio finds (see every piece of jewellery she wore in the show). What that piece-by-piece list does not fully capture is the method behind how she wears them at the ear specifically: rather than a single statement earring, Meghan typically combines two or three pieces at once, varying scale and shine rather than repeating the same shape twice.

A small stud sits closest to the face, a slightly larger hoop or knot takes the middle position, and a third, often the most textured piece, finishes the look furthest from the lobe. The effect reads as considered rather than accidental, each piece doing a distinct job instead of competing for attention. It is a formula lifted more or less directly from the professional ear-styling world, where stylists talk about varying “weight” across a stack rather than matching pieces for symmetry.

The Anine Bing pieces doing the heavy lifting

Three Anine Bing designs recur across the stacks Meghan wears on the show: the Chunky Diamond Hoops, a solid 14k gold design with pavé diamonds and a removable ball charm; the Double Knot Earrings, a gold-plated cable-link pair that retailed at $230; and the Link Drop Earrings, a chain-style design that adds movement at the bottom of a stack. None is a fine-jewellery showstopper on its own, which is rather the point.

Worn one at a time, any of the three would read as a pleasant but unremarkable everyday earring. Worn together, or alongside a finer stud from elsewhere in Meghan’s rotation, they do the work of filling out a stack without a single piece needing to shout. For the full breakdown of where these sit among the show’s Cartier and independent-studio pieces, Court & Capital’s flagship jewellery edit covers the catalogue in detail; this piece is about the technique of wearing several of them together.

The no-extra-piercings trick

Here is the detail most coverage of Meghan’s earring stacks misses: she has not obviously undergone extensive new piercing to achieve it. Long before the Netflix series, Meghan was photographed on a 2019 royal tour of Morocco wearing illusion studs by the Canadian jeweller Ecksand, designed to sit along the lobe and mimic the appearance of a second or third piercing without one actually being there. She has also repeatedly worn Shaun Leane’s Talon earrings, a design that fastens either side of the earlobe from a single piercing point, again suggesting more jewellery than piercings are actually in play.

This is, in effect, the earring-industry equivalent of the “ear jacket”: a front stud paired with a decorative back element that frames the lobe from behind, so that a single piercing carries the visual weight of two. It is a genuinely useful trick for anyone whose actual piercing count lags behind their stacking ambitions, and it is a large part of why Meghan’s look photographs as more elaborate than it structurally is.

From two lobes to a full curated ear

Meghan’s approach sits at the accessible end of a much bigger jewellery movement. The “curated ear” or “ear stack” trend, built around multiple deliberate piercings rather than illusion pieces, has become one of the defining jewellery stories of the past few years, with piercing studios reporting steady demand for consultations that map out an entire ear rather than a single hole. The classic build starts at the lobe, adds a second or third lobe piercing for balance, then moves up the rim with a helix or forward helix piercing, before a conch stud or hoop anchors the centre as a focal point.

Flat-back studs, rather than traditional butterfly-back earrings, have become the professional’s preference for this kind of dense styling, because they sit flush against the ear and stay comfortable when several piercings are close together. Titanium and 14k gold are the two materials piercers recommend most for new cartilage piercings, both for lower reaction risk and because they hold their shine through the longer healing period cartilage requires compared with a standard lobe.

Building your own stack, one piercing at a time

If you are starting from a single lobe piercing on each ear, the sensible order mirrors how most curated ears are actually built over months rather than in one sitting. A second lobe piercing, spaced roughly two to three millimetres above the first, gives you the instant option of two studs or a stud-and-hoop pairing. From there, a helix piercing on the upper cartilage adds height and a different plane for a small hoop or stud to catch the light from, without needing a third hole in the lobe itself.

A conch piercing, set in the shell-shaped hollow at the centre of the ear, works well as a later addition, since it anchors a stack with a slightly larger stud or small hoop once the surrounding piercings are already established. Piercers generally advise leaving several months between each new piercing, both to let earlier ones heal fully and to judge how a stack is building before committing to the next hole, which is exactly the patient, additive approach that separates a well-composed ear from one that simply has a lot of metal in it.

Getting the look without a single needle

For anyone unconvinced by cartilage piercings, Meghan’s own approach offers a genuinely workable template. Two or three earrings in a single lobe piercing is possible with slightly smaller hoop sizes threaded through together, provided the piercing has a little give; a stud paired with an ear jacket or a hugging “climber” style earring achieves a similar layered effect from one hole without doubling up. Several independent and mid-market jewellers, including Astrid & Miyu and Otiumberg, sell dedicated stacking sets designed around exactly this single-piercing approach, pairing a plain stud with a textured hoop or huggie sized to sit comfortably alongside it.

The principle carried over from Meghan’s stack still applies here: vary the scale and finish rather than repeating the same earring twice, and let one piece sit closest to the face while a second, slightly bolder piece finishes the look. It is a considerably lower-commitment way to test whether the layered style suits you before booking in for any additional piercing at all.

Day-to-night: when to dial the stack up or down

A full stack is not always the right call, and part of what makes Meghan’s version work on screen is that she varies its intensity with the setting. In relaxed kitchen scenes, the stack tends toward its fullest, three pieces mixing metals and textures without much restraint. In more formal appearances, she typically pares back to a single, finer pair, letting a stacked look stay a considered choice rather than an everyday habit that reads as fussy in the wrong context.

That same instinct translates well beyond the show. A dressed-down day calls for the full stack; an evening event or formal office setting generally photographs better with one or two pieces removed, leaving the strongest single earring to do the work alone. Treating a stack as adjustable, rather than fixed, is arguably the most transferable lesson in the whole trend.

The appeal of a stack over a single statement piece

What makes the stacked earring look endure, on Meghan or anyone else, is that it rewards accumulation over a single big purchase. A stack is built gradually, piece by piece, in a way a single showstopping earring never quite allows, and it can be edited endlessly without ever feeling finished. That is a rather comforting way to think about jewellery, and possibly explains why the trend has outlasted several other passing style moments since the Netflix series first put it in front of a wider audience.

Frequently asked questions

What is the stacked earring trend Meghan Markle wears in With Love, Meghan?

It refers to wearing two or three earrings together rather than a single pair, varying their size and finish, an approach Meghan uses repeatedly throughout the Netflix series, often mixing Anine Bing pieces with finer studs from elsewhere in her collection.

How many earrings does Meghan Markle wear at once?

Typically two or three per ear, combining a smaller stud closest to the face with a mid-sized hoop or knot design and, occasionally, a third textured piece, rather than matching a single pair throughout.

Do you need multiple ear piercings to copy a stacked earring look?

Not necessarily. Meghan has been photographed wearing illusion studs and ear-jacket-style earrings that create the appearance of extra piercings from a single hole, a technique anyone with standard lobe piercings can borrow.

What is an ear jacket earring?

It is a two-part earring: a front stud paired with a separate decorative element that sits behind or around the lobe, so a single piercing appears to hold two earrings at once. Shaun Leane’s Talon design, which Meghan has worn, works on a similar principle.

What Anine Bing earrings did Meghan Markle wear in With Love, Meghan?

The Chunky Diamond Hoops, the Double Knot Earrings, and the Link Drop Earrings recur most often, usually worn stacked with other pieces rather than alone. Court & Capital’s full jewellery edit from the show covers where these sit among the rest of her rotation.

How do you start building a curated ear stack?

Most piercers recommend beginning with a second lobe piercing for balance, then adding a helix piercing on the upper cartilage before anchoring the centre with a conch stud, leaving several months between each new piercing to let earlier ones heal.

What is the difference between an ear stack and a curated ear?

An ear stack usually refers to layering multiple earrings within one or two piercings, while a curated ear describes a fuller arrangement across several distinct piercing points, from lobe to helix to conch, built up over time.

Is ear stacking still a trend in 2026?

Yes. Piercing studios and jewellers report continued demand for both multi-piercing curated ears and single-piercing stacking sets, and the look Meghan wears throughout With Love, Meghan has kept it firmly in the current conversation.

Details of jewellery design, pricing and piercing guidance are drawn from contemporary reporting, jeweller and piercer listings current as of 2026, and may be revised as new information or availability emerges.