A tour of the Place Vendôme on ‘‘Jewelry day’’ last week in Paris showed that there were two contrasting themes that echo the wider world: technology and nature. For high jewelry, made almost entirely by hand, technology is still part of the process, as computers are used to develop images and calculate geometric patterns. But the overall themes tend to focus on nature, suggested in the voluptuous, rounded shapes of animals and flowers.

After you've determined what size you're at now, you can buy some jewelry in the next size up to start the stretching process! There is a wide range of body jewelry to choose from, but you should only stretch with smooth, non-porous materials. Stick to steel, titanium, glass or pyrex jewelry to use in your fresh stretches. Additionally, you should only use single-flared or non-flared body jewelry to stretch with.

Nose piercing also has a long history. Ca. 1500 BCE, the Vedas refer to Lakshmi's nose piercings, but modern practice in India is believed to have spread from the Middle Eastern nomadic tribes by route of the Mughal emperors in the 16th century. It remains customary for Indian Hindu women of childbearing age to wear a nose stud, usually in the left nostril, due to the nostril's association with the female reproductive organs in Ayurvedic medicine. This piercing is sometimes done the night before the woman marries.