In the 90s and early 2000s, Bad Bitch ™️. She had highlights. She wore choker necklaces. She listened to Mariah Carey. Her parents were probably divorced. She had a Jennifer Aniston-inspired "Rachel" haircut and Brandy-inspired micro braids. She loved low-rise jeans and crop tops. And, of course, she wore the ultimate sign of an it-girl: a belly button ring.

The celebrities of the early 1980s who helped drive US Weekly's business all had bellybuttons: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Beyoncé, Jessica Alba, Christina Aguilera, and even Dennis Rodman. Spears, in particular, brought the trend into the 21st century with her "I'm a Slave 4 U" performance at the 2001 VMAs, wearing a tiny bra, even smaller panties, a giant abdominal ring, and a live albino python (of course).

However, the maximalist Y2K aesthetic eventually faded into the more normcore nature of the 2010s, and time took the belly button piercing with it to the present. Like low-rise jeans, chunky highlights, and nail clips, belly button piercings are making a huge comeback as a popular staple for the now-hot ladies; Generation Z is obsessed with the style, and the new generation is looking for a new way to wear it. Millennials are embracing the styles of their youth and literally blowing the wind out of old wounds: one nation, two warring generations united under one infamous cultural trend.

The fashion cycle takes about 20 years to come full circle, so this resurgence is timely indeed. The favorite celebrities of Generation Z who are currently behind PopCrave's business have all dabbled in this particular body modification. Rapper Ice Spice, singers Tyra and Meghan C. Stallion, Cardi B., TikToker-turned-Kardashian bestie Addison Ray, Billy Eilish, and Dodger Cat have all recently worn belly button piercings.

But it's not just pop girlys who are getting their gills altered. Bellybutton piercings were a street style staple at Fashion Week 2023. Julia Fox strutted her stuff in a dark, sheer Courrèges dress with a small belly button cut to highlight the accessory. Pregnant Vanessa Hudgens also showed off her belly button ring at this year's Vanity Fair Oscars party. the era of the arguably problematic "clean girl aesthetic" popular in 2022 is over, replaced by its opposite, the "messy girl aesthetic." fall 2024 Grunge glamour, smudged makeup, and messy hair dominated the runways at New York Fashion Week in the fall of 2024. It distanced itself from fashion trends that felt sterile and rigid. And if Charli XCX's viral 360 music video starring everyone's favorite Internet It Girls taught us anything, it was that all black is all black, grunge girls are back, and that it's always cool to see Chloë Sevigny smoking a cigarette.

The abdominal button earrings reflect the early Aughts and fit nicely into the current cultural zeitgeist: Alt is in. Alt is in. Pants are low. Tops are small. It-girl is it again. I'm not an it-girl, I'm just trying to be an it-girl, but I've talked to friends who have taken a stab at the lower belly.

Editor and organizer Fran Tirado, 31, got her belly button pierced in January 2023 and never looked back, she said. Despite growing up with the trend, this was Fran's first navel piercing. She says, "For me, belly rings were a symbol of my own new doll rite of passage to dress five to ten years younger than I was. I will never turn my back on belly piercings and hope to wear them until I am an old woman on Riis Beach."

Some It girls, like Fran, are new to this, but others have followed it to the letter; for host and sexy TikTok star Tefi Pessoa, who got her belly button pierced at age 18, the trend never left. When I saw Keira Knightley in Domino, she had a piercing in her lower navel. It's kind of a love letter to the Y2K era I grew up in." "I guessed that she had fought infection, or at least swelling, many times, and she assured me that she was Stronger than the army.

Six months ago, Pessoa put a "Trump stamp" on her hip to match a decade-old piercing. I really mean it when I say we are really back.

Software engineer Rex Spartes had his belly button pierced last year at age 28. The reason is simple. 'I like having my bellybutton out, and I wanted a little slutty sparkle to go with whatever I was wearing.' When I asked her what she thought of the cultural resurgence, she replied, "I'm glad the glitz and frivolity of the 2000s is still here."

My hot friend Emon Abdullah, 27, had his belly button pierced at age 15. Says she, "I wanted to dress more slutty and needed to do something behind my parents' back." Unlike Pessoa, Abdullah's piercing was "always infected," and she has since stepped away from belly button piercing. The day I got my piercing was the only day I ever lost my mind," she says.

Other Gen Zers have joined the chat just recently with equal enthusiasm. Hadley Goodman, 25, had her belly button pierced on New Year's Eve 2024. Reason enough. Michaela Sincavage, 26, had her belly button pierced in 2022. 'I loved pop culture when I was younger and all the cool girls had navel piercings. Terrible healing time (can take up to a year), high risk of infection, and a permanent hole.

If you're hesitant to commit to a belly button piercing revival, there are plenty of fake belly rings littering TikTok stores. And you can at least invest in a saline stocking.

The stories are part of "Piercing Is All Grown Up," a package that explores the trends, artists, and brands shaping piercing today. You can read all five stories here.