A carefully curated ear is our favourite way to accessorise. From conch to cartilage, you can never have too many jewels as far as we’re concerned.
If you’ve run out of places to pierce or need inspiration to update your current ones, artist Maria Tash, whose cult following includes everyone from Beyonce to Margot Robbie, has shared her piercing trend predictions for 2019.
Our favourite is the vertical lobe piercing, which involves “punctuating the earlobe with tiny studs that live in between and above existing piercings”.
The lobe heals quickly, Tash explains, which means adding additional piercings between first, second and third lobe piercings creates a great look. “We go a step further and style the progression with studs that ascend in size as they approach the first lobe [piercing],” she adds.
Tash says high lobe piercings – which ascend along the ear and can be seen in the image above – will continue to be popular this year and they look particularly good if the first piercing has a low placement. “The piercings should be spaced far enough away from each other and be exactly parallel so that look distinct and deliberate,” she adds. “Normally we do this piercing with a small metal or diamond stud so there is obvious spacing between the two placements.”
Typically lobe piercings take between size to eight weeks to heal according to the NHS, so you can mix and match styles in no time.
If lobes aren’t your thing – or you’re looking to have multiple new piercings this year – here are other alternative piercing Tash expects to prove pretty popular in the coming year.
The Tash Rook
The tash rook is the large piece of flat cartilage at the top of ear, situated above the traditional rook piercing. “It is wonderful place to put multiple piercings and also have room for large pieces of jewellery,” says Tash.
In terms of styling, she recommends wearing jewellery that speaks to a similar theme. Why not try a celestial theme with stars, moons and lightening bolts?
Repeating Elements
Use your piercings to create a story rather than just looking pretty. Tash recommends uniting different parts of the ear with an underlying theme. “An example is a flower whose petals fall off and land in different parts of the pierced ear,” she says.
Boys, Boys, Boys
There’s an increase in men getting pierced in general, as well as all around the ear, according to Tash. “We are seeing more and more men re-embrace this form of expression today with interesting and subtle jewellery accents in multiple lobe, conch, daith, and upper ear piercings,” she says. More of the same this year please, lads.
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