Extreme is beautiful: history of piercings in fashion From symbol of rebellion to post-grunge designer obsession

Whether it is the punk subversion of Vivienne Westwood or the post-apocalyptic aesthetics of Balenciaga, fashion has explored subcultures by absorbing their stylistic codes, sometimes emptied of their original message of subversion, sometimes exploited as an ideological manifesto precisely because of their symbolic meaning. And if there is one sign that still today denotes belonging to a subculture, be it emo, punk or gabber, it is the piercing, the absolute star of Jean Paul Gaultier's latest fashion show designed by Olivier Rousteing during Paris Fashion Week, in which huge nostrils evoked the enfant terrible's iconic SS94 tribal catwalk. Septum, nostril, labret, smiley, cheek: there are so many of them and they can cover the most disparate parts of the body. In fashion, they not only adorn the ephebic faces of models, but can also become an applique on sweatshirts, sweaters, bags and hats, giving garments that post-grunge allure that designers of the calibre of Demna Gvasalia, Riccardo Tisci, John Galliano, Thom Browne, Alessandro Michele, Jonny Johansson, Martin Margiela like so much.

While much of the fashion industry turns to professionals such as J. Colby Smith, Kate and Laura Mulleavy adorned the models' eyebrows with rows of small hoop earrings for Rodarte's spring 2015 fashion show and Dries Van Noten presented his beauty look in Paris with fake piercings: a golden metal line traced in the centre of the lower lip to simulate a vertical labret. Among the designers who have preferred to re-position piercings from faces to garments instead, an honourable mention goes to Marni by Francesco Risso, an endless source of moccasins, mary janes, boots and from the last collection even silk shirts covered with thin rings, similarly Balenciaga has often used piercings such as the septum or nostril to decorate baseball caps and shirts. With the Y2K revival, on the other hand, fashion has rediscovered Galliano's Piercing bags for Dior, which today at retail have seen their original price double, a symbol of a time when the French brand had a dark and hardcore allure and the classic saddle bag covered in chains and metal seemed the perfect accessory for a metal concert.