YoIt was a normal afternoon in the '90s and I was working a slow shift at my Saturday job. There I was, behind the Matalan boxes, waiting for my next customer to show up, when I felt it. My body was interrupted by a sudden sharp pain. A pain that, upon closer inspection, seemed to be coming from my abdomen. “Oh!” I screamed. When I looked down, it became clear: the magnet I used to remove security tags from blouses and bikinis was dragging me toward it by my navel piercing.
I am relieved to tell you that everything was fine. I did the rest of my shift with my body pointed at a slight 45 degree angle and never used the heart hanging belly bar to work out again. That day no navel was hurt. But imagine if a family with a large stroller had shown up before I realized what was happening, it could have been very different. Anyway, I thought the danger had passed, in the past, but it turns out I was wrong. Because it seems like belly button piercings are back. This week, Fashion announced his return, while last weekend sunday time, a mother lamented her 15-year-old daughter's desire to have one. “I didn't sleep very well last night,” she wrote after agreeing to the procedure. I don't blame her because, dear God, if we're going to relive any of our questionable choices from the '90s and '90s, let's not do it with the belly button piercing.
It's clear that the humble belly bar has risen from the flames like a phoenix in saline. Generation Z pop queen Billie Eilish has a pierced navel, as do her peers born to her since 2000, Ice Spice and Addison Rae. On a recent red carpet, Margot Robbie wore a dress with a navel piercing jewelry, nodding to the trend without risking infection, while Vanessa Hudgens appeared at the Oscars on Sunday night doing what everyone those with a navel piercing look on in fear (but are usually too young to care): she kept hers despite being heavily pregnant. Aid! They are everywhere.
Of course, fashion is cyclical; Not much, said Taylor Swift, “come[s] “It returns with more force than a trend from the nineties.” And the reason virtually every millennial woman ever got a belly button piercing is only because we were copying our cool pop stars too. Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, the female members of S Club 7… they all had shiny, shiny belly buttons, all of them.
Plus, it's probably fair to say that piercings are an undeniable rite of passage, destinations on a coming-of-age mission in which we feel the need to have shiny jewelry dangling from different parts of our bodies. As you grow up, you choose your fighter. To indicate that you are individually minded, but not in an intimidating way, there is the nose ring (I bought mine when I was 15). For the older, dirty guy, an eyebrow or lip piercing. For those who go too far, the tongue or septum piercing. And, of course, for the aspiring pop star, the occasional belly button piercing.
Now, I don't want to sound like an Old Man, but if there's one thing the older generation can be satisfied with—maybe even proud of—it's this: they made mistakes so the younger generation could learn from them. For example, in the eighties women got perms. Women in the nineties were in love with Tony Blair. In the 2000s, all hair was excessively slicked back. Everything was fine, no one was hurt, but I wouldn't recommend reliving any of these things. And that's how I feel about belly button piercing. Plus, of course, you could get hurt if you are working on a checkout at your Saturday job.
Margot Robbie's sewn navel piercing: a nod to the trend without the risk of infection
(Getty Images)
Interestingly, aside from my magnetic near-accident, I don't have many specific memories about my own belly button piercing. I don't remember when I got it done, or when I decided to take it off. Probably when it became clear that I wasn't going to become an international pop star who needed to expose my midriff on a daily basis, so all the unpleasant rubbing against my waist was pretty pointless and unnecessary. The only thing that I do What I do remember is how much one wanted it and for how long. So while it pains me a little to see a new generation go through the nonsense of nursing a bit of shiny metal in their belly buttons, I think I understand. Questionable decisions must and will be made, and no one can talk you out of them.
