Just as makeup, a wig and an incredible outfit transform your soul in a way that conservative folk just don’t understand, tattoos provide a permanent adornment to the blank canvas that is your body. Be it your mantra or your ‘Mom’, there’s a place for it on you and the time for it is now.
Music artists ranging from Rihanna to Ninja from Die Antwoord get tattoos for various reasons- from places they’ve performed to their album titles. The members of the transatlantic band Grouplove which originated in a Grecian commune each have matching GROUP tattoos unifying them. Even for non-music types, tattoos hold the same resonance of unity, remembrance and most of all, looking badass.
From their humble beginnings as images of Christ on the backs of sailors (put there in attempt to avoid whippings), tattoos offer an incredible range of messages translated today. In 2011, statistics showed that nearly 20 million people in Britain has at least one tattoo, a figure that has only grown since. Mothers such as Angelina Jolie ink the coordinates of their children’s birthplace while others get random artworks on a whim.
At popular East London tattoo parlour Good Times Tattoo the resident artists have a range of theories for why people are still getting tattoos in droves. “This is the last trade that can’t be modernised” says Miles, a tattooist at one of London’s best tattoo locations on Curtain Road in Shoreditch. Miles refers to tattooing as an ever-changing yet undying artform. It’s about two people interacting to produce something beautiful. “I think it’s a really positive thing that’s happening. Everyone’s getting in on becoming a part of the culture. It’s not about being exclusive or the ‘cool guy’”. For Miles, he simply believes “adorning the body looked really nice, like a nice addition. It was like beautifying myself in a tough way”.
For the wary amongst us, Nikole, another Good Times tattooist, admits “I didn’t get a tattoo myself until four or five years after I started tattooing. I don’t regret anything because I waited and I knew what I wanted”.
It has been suggested that the temporary tattoo industry will soon surpass that of it’s permanent sibling. This could be due to the rising fees of any tattoo artists with a following, the options available only to skin-topping tattoos or the throwaway nature of ‘I want it fast, I want it now’ generation. What’s for sure is that brands such as Tattly (now selling in Selfridges) and Flash Tattoos (monopolizing Instagram) are gonna stick around longer than their products do on your arm. Tattly and Flash have done the improbable and brought back the lick and stick temporary tattoos that were all the rage in the early 2000s and marketed them to adults. Even the catwalks got the memo. Fashion weeks in London, Milan and Paris saw temporary tattoos at the runway shows of Giles, Junya Watanabe, Giamba and Anthony Vaccarello. Hairstylist working on the shows, Eugene Souleiman, reflects on the trend, appearing primarily on models’ faces and fingers describing them as “abstact étoile”. “We’ve already started to see these ideas creep in red-carpet looks and Coachella ensembles” she notes, “and this is well before cosmetic giants made these concepts digestible for the masses” which is surely only a matter of time.
But temporary tattoos just take the fun from the experience, argues Miles. “There will never be mass-produced [real] tattoos” he explains, “I think it’s cool that they’re permanent, they’re around as long as you’re alive”. Likening tattoos to every other physical piece of art, Miles says “over time your art grows with you. Just like a painting evolves over time, so does a tattoo”.
Tattoos are now offered in colours and even in white. According to Miles modern fine line designs are just as popular as 1950s-style Americana sailor traditional tattoos. “The internet really pushes one style of tattoo [fine line]” explains the artist “but the people that come in here are quite open to us try to give them something as well.” Celebrity tattoo artist Scott Campbell agrees, “I’ve been tattooing for 12 years and whatever these hands make is going to reflect those 12 years in one way or another”. Scott has recently made the move into the art world with laser etchings on US currency and a collaboration with Louis Vuitton. So with real tattoos you’re paying for an original work by an artist, tailored specifically to your taste and body.
“Most of my clients, they get one and pretty soon they’re in again wanting more” says Miles honestly. “You have to start up there and do something new” says Eugene. “If you’re not prepared to fall on your face and make a mistake, you’ll never go anywhere, you’ll never do anything interesting, because you’re too fucking scared”. So take the leap and display the doodles inside for all to see. Nobody ever got famous by being plain.
All images: Getty images
Junya Watanabe AW15
