Opinion

Angsty Teens and their Piercings in Mapso

By: John Bell

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"These questions make me feel like an angsty teen," Sidney Ha, '18, said when asked about their piercings.

Ha’s emotional response might be warranted as Ha is in the minority 14% of Americans who have a body part other than their earlobe pierced. Besides their earlobes, Ha had their septum pierced, which is the area that divides the two nostrils. “I thought the septum was most convenient [because] it was easy to hide by flipping my ring up if I didn't want to wear it all the time, and if I ever decided I didn't want it anymore, I could take it out without visible scarring,” Ha said. Ha highlights the impermanence of piercings as an appealing aspect of the fashion statement; “I just feel like piercings are temporary if you want them to be, kind of like dying your hair, so I thought there would be no harm in getting one just for fun.” Other forms of self-expression such as tattoos are permanent, which are less popular than earlobes piercings with the American population representing these body modifications at 20% and 83% respectively.

"Septum Piercing" - Photo credit to Pinterest

How others perceive a person can be shifted when their appearance is altered by accessories such as piercings. Piercings can have different connotations depending on the person. Meredith Olin, ‘18, said that she wouldn’t get a nose piercing “because my mom really hates them and [I am] also worried about if it makes me look unprofessional.” Students with piercings have learned that some adults in particular have negative opinions towards piercings; “I feel like overall younger people didn't really care, but there were definitely adults and some people our age who made minor comments or told me they thought it was ‘gross’,” Ha said. Sophia Rothstein, ‘18, has three lobe piercings in each ear, a cartilage and tragus in one ear, a “snakebite” (more commonly known as a lip-ring), and a septum piercing. She had the a similar experience with adults. “I think older people see me differently. I feel like they think it's unappealing. I get comments like ‘you would be much prettier if you didn't have them’,” Rothstein said.

"Snakebite" - Photo credit to Healcure.org

Females outweigh males disproportionately when it comes to who has piercings; woman make up 72 percent of the pierced population, which means 28 percent of the population is male. Elijah Navlen, ‘17, has one piercing in his nostril and plans to get a traditional one in the near future. Navlen decided to get a piercing because “[he] always thought they looked really neat and thought it’d fit [him] really well.” Regarding the fashion of piercings Navlen said that “you should have complete control of your looks and the notion of a defined 'aesthetic' is really just saying you’re limiting yourself to one look only.” Crossing the boundaries of what’s expected of you takes place in one’s sense of fashion and self-expression. When asked about what his experience is like as a male with a piercing, Navlen said, “It feels incredible to break down any gender norms no matter how small. I know for someone like my dad, who is incredibly hyper Masculine, it was a tough change, but honestly any [sort of] gendered clothing/body [modification] are just stupid stereotypes meant to keep [you] from looking fly as hell.”

Although fashion barriers are being broken, not everybody is as ready to disregard social norms as some people at CHS; Navlen said, “I think personally, knowing that I'm more of a personality in MAPSO, people kinda expect something like this from me, but outside of my own circles, I most definitely get some looks when walking down the street.”



Sources:

Statistics - http://www.statisticbrain.com/body-piercing-statistics/
https://www.creditdonkey.com/tattoo-statistics.html#who
Other information - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_piercing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_septum



Festival Fashion

By: Anna Curran

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Photo credit: Anna Curran

Governors Ball is a music festival that takes place on Randall’s Island, an island off of Manhattan, every year in June. It is a three day event (although attendees can attend as many days as they please) that features many headlining artists as well as smaller bands and singers. Due to its close proximity to Maplewood and South Orange, many Columbia High School (CHS) students decided to attend. Along with the music, festival fashion, as of recent years, has become a large component of the festival itself.

Festival fashion is rooted in the ultra-popular Californian music festival ‘Coachella’. Stores like Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Pacsun (just to name a few) offer collections of clothes identified under the category of ‘Festival Clothes’. Most of these clothes consist of short lengths and bohemian style; due to the fact that most of these festivals occur in the hot months of spring and summer. Many of these Coachella styles have transferred over to being Gov Ball fashion as well. Not to mention, that particular music festival is more than a month prior to Gov Ball; allowing time for East coast festival-goers time to observe popular styles and use as inspiration.

“At Gov Ball, I saw a lot of girls wearing similar outfits - tight crop tops with ripped jean shorts.”  says Nina Martin ‘18, explaining that she saw a consistent theme among many of the female attendees outfits. She adds, “Also, [I observed] that a lot of girls had long straight hair.” As for the male concert go-ers, there also was a common trend. “I saw a lot of guys in basketball jerseys,” Lillian Engelhard ‘19 shares.

Festival fashion is different from everyday fashion because it is more out of pocket. “Some of the strangest outfits I saw were people wearing bathing suit tops as shirts” says Olive ‘19. She goes on to explaining that some people were wearing strange outfits that you wouldn't see on a daily basis.

Fashion magazines and writers have also caught onto the rising popularity in festival wear. In April of 2017, Vogue released the article “What to Wear to a Festival.” In the article, the writer goes into detail six styles that are ‘on trend’ to wear to festivals this year. Many of the styles were high fashioned and expensive pieces aiming to fit the style. For example, “Forget the ironic slogan cap; this summer, windswept hair needs little adornment other than a fisherman hat. Rummage through Rokit to find vintage Fila numbers, or debut Miu Miu's sequin-embellished bucket,” or, “Switch your cross-body for a belt bag - and wear super cinched at the waist, or over one shoulder. Gucci's is the prize, but vintage styles produce a similar effect. The added extra? A checked lumberjack shirt.” The products mentioned were from high end companies ranging up to hundreds of dollars. This shows that festival fashion has taken a turn from the original idea of interesting, thrifted, clothing into something that is considerable high fashion.

Certain trends became very popular this year. “For a festival like Coachella, the price to live in california and the culture in general is a lot more expensive and rich than in north east suburbia [where people attend Gov Ball]. So in turn, the fashion seems to be more high end, and more competitive and exclusive,” says Martin. Although the styles may be inspired by the Coachella-wear, it also has it’s differences.

Festival Fashion is a flourishing fashion trend that is fueled by young people’s interest in attending music festivals. At the end of the day, it allows people an outlet to express themselves through fashion.