成年女性用大耳环对付中年危机？
随便扫视一下年末的酒会现场，就会发现女嘉宾中正快速兴起一项流行时尚：珠光宝气的耳饰风尚!如今是自朋克时代以来多耳饰最风靡的时代。但这一次的时尚引领者，并非青春叛逆期的少男少女，而是成年女性。
Where men typically deal with mid-life by buying inappropriate vehicles, the older woman is increasingly facing 40 (plus) by decorating her ears with climbing rows of gold hoops and tiny, twinkling diamonds, such as Maria Black’s triple-hoop earring (pictured, £545, net-a-porter.com). At Love Hate Social Club, a studio in west London’s Notting Hill, 80 per cent of clients are in their 30s or older, and most declare themselves to be in the midst of a midlife crisis as they climb into piercer Nicole Mitchell’s chair.
男性通常以购买不合适的汽车来应对所谓中年危机，而越来越多的女性在不惑之年前后的应对之策通常是装扮自己的耳朵：穿戴金耳箍与闪亮的小耳钻，如Maria Black的三箍耳饰。在伦敦西部诺丁山(Notting Hill)的Love Hate Social Club美容室，80%的客户已过而立之年，多数人声称自己前往耳饰师尼科尔•米歇尔(Nicole Mitchell)处的原因是正逢中年危机。
“They all say they must be mad,” says Mitchell. “They haven’t had a piercing in 20 years. They’re very nervous. We have a consultation and talk them through it.” Despite their varying levels of self-conscious anxiety, her customers are bold in their choices. Helix rings, which perforate the cartilage just before it curves over the top of the ear, are popular. So too, incidentally, are nose piercings. The desired effect is a sophisticated brand of luxed-up rebellion: think of the jeweller and Fendi heiress Delfina Delletrez, who wears septum studs and piercings as insouciantly as her Fendi forebears might have once worn a string of pearls (Delfina Delletrez earring, pictured, £675, net-a-porter.com).
“他们都说自己肯定脑子不正常。”米歇尔说，“他们已有20年没给耳朵打过孔了，感觉非常紧张，我们通常会开导他们，解除其心理压力。”尽管她的客户有着程度不一的焦虑感，但都毅然决定给耳朵打孔。在上耳轮软骨处钻孔的螺旋式耳环(Helix rings)最受客户青睐，顺便说一下，鼻环也很受客户青睐。她们最期望的效果是打造奢华又叛逆的优雅时髦感：你们可以看看珠宝商与芬迪家族(Fendi)的传人Delfina Delletrez，她经常穿戴septum stud饰钉与耳环，坦然出入各种社交场所，这一点与其率性穿戴珍珠链的先祖如出一辙。
What is prompting so many women to turn to the needle? “Tattoos and pink hair are déclassé but us old ladies still need to feel hip,” explains Stacey Duguid, fashion editor at Porter magazine and columnist for The Pool, a fashion website. Duguid’s latest piercings were done by Maria Tash, New York’s doyenne of piercing, loved by Britney and Beyoncé, and now operating a small salon at Liberty in London. “I got six piercings in one sitting,” Duguid continues. The new piercings took her tally to eight, although a subsequent infection required one to be removed in A&E. She didn’t put it back in. “I was sick of sleeping on an inflatable pillow.”
到底是什么原因让众多女性如此青睐各种耳钉?“刺青与粉色头发早已风光不再，但我们成年女性仍需要与时俱进。”《Porter》杂志时尚主编兼时尚网站The Pool专栏作家斯泰茜•杜古德(Stacey Duguid)解释道。杜古德穿戴的最新款耳饰由玛丽亚•塔什(Maria Tash)设计，玛丽亚•塔什是纽约耳饰界的老前辈，“小甜甜”布兰妮(Britney Spears)与碧昂丝(Beyoncé)是其铁杆粉丝，如今她在伦敦Liberty百货店经营一家小型美容室。“我曾一次戴过6件耳饰。”杜古德继续说道。加上玛丽亚•塔什的最新款耳饰，她一次戴的耳饰数达到了8件，尽管随后引发耳部感染迫使她去急诊室摘取掉了一个耳饰。她没有再戴那件取掉的耳饰，“因为再戴上后，睡充气枕让我很难受。”
Mitchell says that her customers are excited about piercing again because for them it’s an experience. She conducts group piercing sessions and fits mother-daughter duos with matching studs. “It’s a nice activity for people to do together — it makes them happy,” she says. It is not just Mitchell’s willingness to placate jittery clients that attracts them to her salon — it is the jewellery she offers, too. Ungainly, industrial-style piercing pieces no longer have to be the norm. Mitchell works solely with gold, and prices at Love Hate go up to £1,250.
米歇尔说，自己的客户乐意再次戴耳饰，因为这是一种亲身体验。她曾给团体上过耳饰培训课，并给母女二人传授如何正确穿戴互搭型耳钉。“团体活动意义非凡，因为大家都乐在其中。”她说。顾客蜂拥而至米歇尔的美容室，并非只是她擅长舒缓前者的紧张心理，还在于其提供各种款式耳饰。难看的工业穿洞式耳环(industrial-style piercing，是两个耳洞用一根直的耳环连起来，通常是耳轮穿孔后，再在斜上面挨近脸的位置再打孔)不再常态化。米歇尔只用金耳饰，Love Hate Social Club提供的耳饰售价高达1250英镑。
At Maria Tash, piercings cost between £15 and £30, but the earring itself might set you back £500 (a selection is pictured below). It is the proliferation of subtle, wearable pieces that drives women to Tash’s studio. “We have so many clients who say the jewellery inspired the piercing,” she says. J Colby Smith, the piercing artist responsible for Scarlett Johansson’s punctured ears, agrees. He started out in the 1990s, when piercing was a subcultural symbol that hinted at the spheres of punk and rock. Back then, a thrice-pierced lobe was not a common sight outside the school gate. Today, he says, “the jewellery is getting better — it has [been] refined into something more delicate”. This is indicative of a broader social shift. Increasingly, women are buying jewellery for themselves. “Our older customers tend to buy themselves exactly what they want,” says Leigh Batnick Plessner, co-creative director of Catbird, a New York jewellery store. Clients include actors Liv Tyler and Michelle Williams, who love its microcosmic, thread-thin jewels. Laura Gallagher, who works in luxury PR, started wearing earrings again two years ago but has developed a passion for ear jackets, cuffs and climbers. “I now own around 100 pairs,” she says.
玛丽亚•塔什的美容室的耳朵打孔费在12-30英镑之间，但耳环本身价位可能高达500英镑。正是做工精巧的耳饰的风靡让女性客户纷至沓来。“太多客户说正是我们提供的精美耳饰让其前来打耳洞。”她说。耳钉艺术家科尔比•史密斯(J Colby Smith)对此颇有同感，他负责给影星斯嘉丽•约翰森(Scarlett Johansson)设计耳饰。他上世纪90年代进入此行，当时戴耳饰是亚文化标志——暗指朋克与摇滚从业者。那个年代，像Thrice乐队成员那样耳垂戴耳饰者在校门外实属凤毛麟角。他说，如今，“首饰越发精致——它们俨然已是美仑美奂”。这暗示着社会关系的剧变。越来越多的女性为自己购买首饰。“成年女性直接购买自己心仪的首饰。”纽约首饰店Catbird联合创意总监雷•普莱斯纳(Leigh Batnick Plessner)说，她的客户包括了 影星丽芙•泰勒(Liv Tyler)与米歇尔•威廉姆斯(Michelle Williams)，她们青睐精细小巧型首饰。奢侈品公关劳拉•加拉赫(Laura Gallagher)两年前又开始戴耳环，但也喜欢上了耳夹(ear jackets)、耳箍(ear cuff，无需打耳洞)以及打洞式耳夹(climbers)。“我如今有约100副各种耳环。”她说。
Brands have been quick to capitalise; jewellery, like clothes, now comes packed with sartorial possibility. Just like a tailored silhouette or a bold print, an asymmetric piercing can offer a tantalising insight into a personality. London-based jeweller Astley Clarke released a collection of mix-and-match studs shaped as stars, circles and half-moons. “Our lawyer was wearing our 14 carat Halo Hoops in the same ear and they looked amazing,” says founder Bec Astley Clarke. Diamond designer Jessica McCormack has conceived The Taster Menu, a mixed box of minute studs, earrings and hoops that can be worn in various combinations. In essence, this is self-mutilation at its most glamorous — a chic way to rage against the machine. “It’s less dangerous than a Harley-Davidson,” says Duguid, “and I’m too tired to have an affair.”
各大品牌都迅速顺势而为，首饰如今与服装一样，时尚风格千姿百态。与量身定制装以及醒目印花图案一样，非对称式耳饰也能深刻反映穿戴者的个性。伦敦首饰行Astley Clarke推出了星星、圆圈以及半月形的混搭款耳钉。“我们的专职律师在同一只耳朵上戴我们的14克拉Halo Hoop耳箍，效果美不胜收。”品牌创始人贝克•阿什利•克拉克(Bec Astley Clarke)说。钻石设计师杰西卡•麦科马克(Jessica McCormack)打造了The Taster Menu混合系列：它由任意组合的微型耳钉、耳环以及耳箍混搭而成。从本质上说，这是最富魅力的自残方式——算是以时尚方式PK男人把玩的各式车辆。“耳饰的危险性小于哈雷摩托(Harley-Davidson)。”杜古德说，“况且超负荷工作的我实在无暇搞婚外情。”
