What to Know About Kamala Harris’ Controversial Debate Earrings

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s “disaster” of a debate with Kamala Harris Tuesday night, his campaign and supporters offered up an assortment of aggrieved talking points. ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis had ganged up on him—and gone easy on Harris. The fact-checking was uneven, and unexpected. The topics discussed—and omitted—were all wrong. And Harris had also engaged, allegedly, in some James Bond-worthy tech shenanigans, wearing “smart audio”-enabled earrings to communicate with her debate team as the night played out.

Appearing at the debate in a safe, dark pantsuit and ivory pussybow blouse, it was Harris’ choice of accessories that stood out. The chunky gold and pearl-adorned earrings—which she has donned previously, and wore again on Wednesday morning to a ceremony marking the anniversary of 9/11 in New York City—are a design from luxury jewelry brand Tiffany’s “HardWear” collection, a press representative confirmed to the Daily Beast Wednesday.

The collection “embodies an enduring resilience and ability to be free,” per Tiffany’s website. A pair of “HardWearDouble Pearl Hinged Earrings in Sterling Silver” retails for $800. The design is not currently available in gold, however. And, perhaps most importantly, it does not offer any wearable tech capabilities.

Attacking designer bling as the purview of out of touch “elites” might feel like an obvious line of attack, but the MAGAverse had a tin hat trend of its own to indulge: Misidentifying the Tiffany pieces as, instead, a pair of NOVA H1 Audio Earrings offered by German tech/design brand Icebach Sound Solutions.

Those earrings do incorporate wireless sound capabilities; Icebach “patented out-of-ear hearing technology called Directional Sound which is hidden in a freshwater pearl attached to a silver- or gold-plated clip,” the brand explained on its website. “The Directional Sound technology transmits sound from the pearl directly into your ear, allowing you to listen to music and make phone calls in a discreet way.”

Reached for comment by the Daily Beast, Icebach Sound Solutions’ managing director Malte Iversen asserted a “striking” resemblance between its design and Harris’, but could not confirm if she or her campaign had made a purchase. (In a later statement shared with the Beast on September 13, Icebach Sound said they had “come to the conclusion that these are not our H1 Audio Ear Rings.”) The NOVA H1 earrings are currently out of stock, Iversen said in an emailed statement, and Icebach is looking for investors to scale up production.

“While our product was not specifically developed for the use at presidential debates, it is nonetheless suited for it,” Iversen wrote in an email. “To ensure a level playing field for both candidates, we are currently developing a male version and will soon be able to offer it to the Trump campaign.”

Then, Iversen couldn’t help but get in one personal dig at Trump himself: “The choice of colour is a bit challenging though as orange does not go well with a lot of colours.”

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Mary Ann Akers, Matt Young