The best men's earrings: from huggie hoops to bold studs

We regret to inform you, reader, that your earlobes are looking a little bit subpar. No, not subpar per se – that’s not the kind of magazine we are – but they could just be doing more for you. These are vital real estate and with the potential to be doing something eye-catching or iconic, why wouldn’t you consider, maybe, getting your ears pierced?

After all, are you not getting tattooed already? Of course you are, it’s 2023 and it’s fine now! We live in the age of the SoundCloud rapper, when the idea of sitting down to your job not looking like one of Basquiat’s notebooks verges on obscene. So why are you so keen to get permanent, fiery ink branded into your flesh but you’re reticent to attach some metal to your boring, normal ears?

Is it because you see it – God forbid – as feminine? We're sure you're not one to think like that. We're sure you thought the same about your yoga mat and your night cream back in 2003, you sweet, handsome heteronormative man. And now look at you! Doing cat cow poses after your arm day and moisturising before bed! Because you’ve grown, reader. You’ve grown to understand that society telling you things are “for women” is just a way of society telling you that you don’t deserve to express yourself or take time out for yourself.

You needn’t be shy and you needn’t feel there aren’t options for you. Piercing places and tattoo parlours are used to male clientele and asking to get your ear pierced is much better than the dozens coming in asking for tattoos of… Minions or something equally bizarre. Once it’s done and healed, you then get a whole new world of expression to consider. But if you’re unsure of how you can bring something new to the table with a piercing, we’ve got just the thing: from the subtle to the audacious, we patrolled the streets of fashion weeks the world over to find your ear-spiration.

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