The curated ear: why delicate, decorative piercings are the new tattoos
Multiple piercings make a strong fashion statement, and are less of a commitment than getting inked. But do you know your antitragus from your conch?
Conch, rook, helix, daith: these words won’t mean anything to most people, but to an army of voguish women, they are immediately recognisable as the parts of the ear that can be pierced. Look around boutique gyms, co-working spaces for the creative industries and stylish bars, and you will see women – mostly in their 20s and 30s – with intricately pierced ears.
They may have four gold hoops hanging in a single lobe, diamond bars “stacked” along their cartilage, or a skull-shaped stud glimmering from their antitragus. They’re all fans of the “curated ear” – a craze for multiple ear piercings, in unusual placements – that has arguably replaced tattoos as the body adornment du jour. Although some men are also getting in on the act, this particular piercings trend is predominately led by young women, although reliable data on the subject is hard to come by. A 2008 study found that nearly half of women in England aged 16-24 had piercings at sites other than the earlobe (this included sites elsewhere on the body). By comparison, a 2015 British study found that 30% of 25- to 39-year-olds have at least one tattoo. According to the US piercing studio Infinite Body Piercing, the five most popular ear placements in 2017 were lobes, followed by the outer helix (the upper cartilage of the ear), tragus (the piece of skin immediately in front of the ear canal), conch (the inner part of the ear itself), and forward helix (the piece of cartilage above the ear canal, where the ear meets the face).