If 2026 is 2016 once more, the spontaneous woman who’s been dormant in me for a decade couldn’t be extra thrilled. I’ll set the scene: It’s a Wednesday night on the Decrease East Aspect, and my greatest good friend, Rochelle, and I are leaving our favourite dive bar. As I pocket a pen on the best way out, a neon-lit piercing studio catches Rochelle’s eye. She saunters in and asks for a lobe piercing. I comply with her lead with a tragus piercing, channeling Evan Rachel Wooden’s bravery in 13.
Little did we all know that Rochelle’s stacked earlobe and my tragus would nonetheless resonate a decade later, particularly when paired with up to date jewellery or a coordinating piercing. “With so many various metals and stones to select from, it’s exhausting to not need all the things pierced,” says Christine Swaim, a piercer at Oak & Poppy Tattoos and Piercings in Los Angeles. “The evolution of physique jewellery has actually modified the business, and every bit provides shoppers freedom of expression.”
No matter your ideas on the 2016 renaissance, piercing tendencies have continued to increase and evolve. Between the crimson carpet and your For You Web page, there’s no scarcity of inspiration in case your 2016 self gained’t shut up about getting a brand new piece. That’s why we turned to skilled piercers for his or her takes on the most popular tendencies proper now. The excellent news? There’s one thing for everybody to like, from delicate, barely there results to dramatic throwbacks.
Double tragus
Using the momentum from 2025’s stacked lobe development, Starr Ellis, a piercer and the proprietor of New York Metropolis’s 9 Moons Piercing, says the stacked aesthetic will transfer to the tragus. “Shoppers are loving stacked studs in areas that aren’t simply the earlobes, and a double tragus piercing is a enjoyable manner to do this in case your anatomy is fitted to it,” she says. “There must be sufficient of the small triangular or rhomboid construction in entrance of the ear canal (that’s your tragus) to have the ability to pierce and heal multiple stud.”
Incorporating mini hoops, which could be worn solo or stacked, can also be a well-liked strategy to styling your tragus, says Maria Tash, jewellery designer and founding father of Maria Tash Tremendous Jewellery and Luxurious Piercing in Los Angeles. “Shoppers usually level out the small hoops a lot of our workers put on, which is an possibility they hadn’t beforehand thought of, since most affiliate tragus piercings solely with studs,” she says.
As a result of the tragus space is vulnerable to swelling, Tash recommends switching to a mini hoop as soon as the piercing has absolutely healed, which might take anyplace from 6 to 12 months. “You will need to point out to your piercer that you really want your tragus piercing designed to put on a small ring when it’s healed, as this request can shift how the piercer angles the depth of the piercing,” she provides.
Paired nostrils
If a nostril piercing is a option to flatter the form of your nostril and draw consideration to your face, think about the paired nostril development a full highlight. “Nostril piercings permit for a stunning quantity of creativity, from paired and double placements to elegant, stacked configurations,” Tash says. “Plainly immediately’s trendy nostril piercing sees the entire aircraft of cartilage as pierceable, not simply the standard small space midway again on the aspect of the nostril.”
In response to Swaim, paired nostril piercings—whether or not two piercings on one aspect or one piercing on all sides of the nostril—have turn into more and more in style, with many purchasers choosing the ladder impact. “The ladder includes inserting a stud on all sides, with a sequence laying throughout the bridge to attach them,” she says. Relying on the thickness of the chain you choose, the end result could be as delicate or dramatic as you’d like.




