Of the few things my corner of the internet unanimously agrees on, it’s this: Zayn Malik is probably the hottest man alive. Hotter, since he got a nose piercing—first in 2015, then again earlier this year. “omg thank you zayn, he did this for me,” reads one of many thirsty tweets about the singer.
The current poster boy for men with nose piercings follows in the dashing footsteps of Tupac Shakur and Lenny Kravitz, the few male celebrities bold enough to get a nose piercing. But the risk (and pain, described as a sharp pinch) pays off.
“Men with no nose piercing, what is stopping you from simply piercing your nose? get to it thanks,” reads another tweet with over 2,000 likes. I tap on the heart button. Luckily for me, India has historically celebrated bejewelled piercings as a form of body modification. “Jewellery was a marker of celebration, identity and status,” notes Bhavya Ramesh, founder of the eponymous jewellery brand. “Kings, warriors and dancers all adorned themselves.” It was only under the influence of the British Empire, she says, that jewellery and piercings began to be seen as feminine. “What we’re seeing now is a revival: people reconnecting with the roots of adornment as self-expression beyond gender.”
In 1995, the first strains of this revival came from the unlikeliest of sources: Akshay Kumar, in a magazine photoshoot, pulling off a nose chain. Then Ranveer Singh followed in 2016. Aamir Khan’s 2017 nose stud—in addition to his pierced ears—only adds to what the internet fondly refers to as his ‘divorced lesbian’ look.
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Now, from social media’s favourite DILF Kanan Gill to director Bijoy Shetty, it feels like every cool guy is lining up to puncture their nostrils and septums. Shetty confesses he got his nose pierced seven years ago, at the age of 20, only because his sisters had too. “They were just badasses and people in my family were scared of them. I wanted to emulate that energy and feel more confident,” he shares.
“Women are definitely still a majority but men have also started checking the option, especially post Covid,” says professional piercer and tattoo artist J’son D’Souza, who set up J’vaire Mumbai, a piercing and fine jewellery boutique.
My group chat heartily supports this uptick, as do the many women who slide into my DMs when I put up an Instagram story asking to connect with men who have pierced noses. “Send him my way once you’re done with journalistic work,” a friend quips. I ask them: What makes men with nose piercings so irresistible? “It shows comfort in their own masculinity,” one replies on the group chat. “That they’re not afraid to be a little feminine,” another adds.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: vogue.in
