Saltburn has only been out for a couple of weeks and its star Jacob Elordi’s eyebrow piercing has already destabilized societies. In Emerald Fennell’s thriller, set in 2006, Elordi’s character Felix Catton is something of a mid-aughts alpha hottie; a wealthy and handsome Oxford student with an alt-rocker haircut, strutting around campus in lopsided Abercrombie rugby shirts and immediately beguiling his classmate Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), who develops an unhealthy fixation on his new pal. The internet can empathize—it, too, has fast become obsessed with Felix, losing its collective mind over one thing about him in particular: the extremely of-its-time metal stud in his left brow.
The masses have been going feral over Elordi’s vertical eyebrow barbell. The much mused-over accessory is making people foam at the mouth and have sexual reawakenings. Fennell says she “fought so hard” to include the piercing in Saltburn, but she likely didn’t realize she’d tap into the resurgence of a trend that’s been dormant since the 2000s. Elordi somehow looks more handsome with those two silver orbs sticking out of his face cartilage—and he’s evidently not the only one seeing the benefits of the metallic appendage. Next time you’re taking a stroll outside, pay attention to people’s frontal arches: You may clock more men rocking brow jewelry than before. Our editors have been noticing more and more of them pop up around New York City. Could we be witnessing the return of the eyebrow piercing?
“I’ve definitely noticed an increase in people getting eyebrow piercings,” says Tabitha Lee of No Idols Tattoo & Piercing in New York. “They’re getting the old-school late ’90s kind of look, with the silver balls. It started a little bit before the summer.”
The professional piercer chalks the eyebrow stud uptick to the revival of 2000s-era fashion, which you’ve no doubt noticed via all the trucker hats and cargo pants on your timeline lately. “Even tribal tattoos are coming back. We’re seeing it a lot in streetwear too. There’s more baggy clothes, jerseys, oversized clothing.”
Y2K fashion, of course, has been enjoying a Neo-like resurrection for a while now, thanks to Gen Z excavating old trends on TikTok. Every new generation delves into the fashion archives of previous decades for inspo, and the turn of the millennium is now old enough to be considered vintage. Lee also credits the rediscovery of aughts-era music for contributing to the ’00s revival. “Certain artists are getting famous again on social media, and the youths are like who’s that? R&B artists like Asahanti and Mya. I’m seeing a lot of Sisqós running around; guys with the silver hair and the eyebrow ring.”
Avery Civil, owner of Toronto’s Yes Electric Tattoo, attributes the eyebrow piercing’s return to the resurgence of a different Y2K-era genre altogether. “Nu metal, baby!” he proclaims. “It's very Mudvayne and Jonathan Davis and all that stuff. It’s completely coming back right now. The new artist Kim Dracula, that guy is nu metal at its finest.”
Nu metal—the much maligned metal subgenre that rose to prominence in the early aughts—is undoubtedly enjoying a second life, with shows like Netflix’s Beef featuring needle drops from System of a Down and Limp Bizkit, and Zoomers sharing their aesthetic transformations before and after listening to Deftones. Teen angst is timeless.
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But there’s also an undeniable queerness to Elordi’s piercing that’s getting people so hot and bothered. Civil believes another reason for the adornment’s current popularity is its androgynous allure. He’s noticed more men asking for eyebrow piercings in recent months, but the majority of clients who’ve been requesting the style are non-binary. “I honestly think it's because it’s a very non-gendered piercing and it can be between either one,” he says. “It's something that a lot of people who don't sit with either gender find a comfort with.”
The eyebrow piercing has a relatively short history. It emerged in the ’70s as the punk movement started gaining traction and iconoclasts were experimenting with body modification to differentiate themselves from the normies. It experienced a revival in the late ’90s as a piercing of choice among nu metal and post-grunge bands (what up Staind!), as well as boy band members hoping to carve out individuality among their better-looking counterparts (see: Joey Fatone). By the mid-aughts, the trend was embraced by a surge of celebs (even Fergie!) looking to add an “edgy” twist to their personal style. The trend largely faded away during the 2010s, although Justin Bieber gave the internet a mini-stroke when he posted a selfie rocking a vertical stud in his right brow back in 2019.
“Eyebrow piercings used to be really popular back in the day. I used to do so many of them in the early 2000s,” says Robbie Milian of New York’s Refinery7, who’s had a horizontal brow stud himself since their mid-aughts heyday. “They died out for a long time; I hadn’t done any of them for many years.” He noticed requests for the look pick up again during the pandemic, when mask mandates made it one of the few facial piercings people could still get. Now, clients ask for it all the time. “There’s definitely been a major increase lately. I’ve been getting a lot of requests for eyebrow piercings, from men and women.”
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Heart Roberts, 23, got his vertical eyebrow piercing in the spring. The New York-based designer says the idea came about after his hand got caught in a sewing machine. “The pain was so excruciating that I thought, if I could take that, I could take anything,” he laughs. “I also loved the look of the eyebrow piercing. Having metal in your face is, like, such a cool concept to me.”
Roberts was inspired by gritty fashion editorials from the late ’90s and early 2000s. “It was such a big thing back then, getting pierced,” he says. “It was a big part of punk and grunge culture. I do classify myself as having a punk aesthetic. A lot of people are gravitating towards rock nowadays.”
He points to Doja Cat performing a nu metal version of her disco smash “Say So” at the MTV European Music Awards a few years ago, Playboi Carti stuffing “Whole Lotta Red” with punk and metal aesthetics, and Lil Uzi Vert covering System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” on this year’s Pink Tape. Grimes, Demi Lovato, and 100 gecs have also recently incorporated nu metal elements into their sound in various ways.
Roberts says the aggro vibes of the mid-aughts resonate with his generation because they reflect the tumultuous state of the world. “I think a lot of people are in a darker time,” he says. “You know, the economy is shit, everyone's kind of at war, and a lot of people feel like they have to fight. Hustle culture is giving people a dark feeling. There’s like a dark renaissance happening, where a lot of people are gravitating towards the dark aesthetic because not everything is peaches and cream right now.” His eyebrow piercing is more than just a personal statement; it’s an outward expression of the many challenges characterizing contemporary existence (i.e. Everything is fucked, everybody sucks).
Of course, there’s also just the plain, stupidly obvious fact that eyebrow piercings look hot on dudes, and more people are recognizing this. It takes a certain amount of self-assuredness to rock one. In the end, it can add just the right amount of bold, break-the-ranks energy to a guy’s look.
“When you see someone with an eyebrow ring, you're like, ‘Oooh bad ass,’” says Lee. “If you have a really pretty face and it complements it, you're like 'Oooh, they're pretty and they have a facial hair piercing? Damn.’ It really takes a lot of balls and confidence. It’s such a statement.”
