I had my first tattoo done on the eve of my wife’s 30th birthday. We were enjoying a boozy brunch as she lamented the passing of her youth and beauty. She drew a rabbit on a bar napkin and we raced across the street to have the image inked onto our wrists. Every time I see it, I’m reminded how gorgeous she looked as she groused about getting old while casually constructing a hummingbird from discarded limes and the carefully assembled remnants of drink skewers. It is the ultimate expression of vanity to think that any of the ink on my body is about you.
2
When I first started reading the NYT's comment section, I was amazed at the intelligence in a majority of the comments. Nowadays not so much. Who cares if someone gets a tattoo?
2
A documentary (German) portrayed research on cadavers that had tattoos. They discovered their lymph nodes blocked and blackened with ink from the tattoos. As soon as the tattoo is applied, the lymphatic system is immediately at the site trying to remove it. The lymphatic system clears toxins from the body. How can the system work when it is blocked up with ink? Especially in the case of cancer.
11
Let's revisit these folks as they enter their "golden years" and see how well the piercings and tattoos hold up on saggy skin, double chins, wrinkles and spreading midsections. Yikes!
12
I remain convinced that large-scale tatooing and piercings are indicators of mental illness with the severity often scaled to the width and breadth of the modifications. A large scale study of the most adventurous body modifiers is in progress (I haven't seen the results yet, I'm just guessing based on public health information)
That study should be out later this year. And there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth when it comes forth.
Of course I don't expect it to affect the industry at all.
WR
That study should be out later this year. And there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth when it comes forth.
Of course I don't expect it to affect the industry at all.
WR
9
Good Lord. The guy with the tatooed face and pacifier in his mouth scared the beJesus out of me! Really. If I ever ran into him on the street I would scream bloody murder. How can anyone do that to themselves??
14
I would never leave the same picture on a wall of my house for the rest of my life so I can't imagine having to look at the same tattoo on my body for the rest of my life. But I love looking at them on other people.
1
I always tell kids ....you never put a bumper sticker on a expensive car... it just ruins the looks...
12
Thanks a lot, NYT. I almost lost my lunch over this.
15
The toughest challenge the television show "Survivor" would have today is to find 18 competitors that don't have tattoos.
9
Where I live it seems that more people sport ink than not. Multiple piercings are so common that they go unnoticed. I am unmarked myself, but enjoy seeing tat art on others, as long as it does not promote hate, violence, or misogyny -- or anything to do with a gang. (One particularly offensive gang practice is a kind of branding of women by "their" men, usually on the breast.) Full sleeves, when done well, can be a thing of beauty, to my eye. Even subdermal implants can be fascinating, if a bit disturbing. The one trend I cannot warm to is the blacking out of large swathes of skin, particularly on the face. I don't see any beauty there, any art, or any point.
I do cringe when I consider the sanitation issues around the piercing of areas where mucous, sweat and bacteria accrue. A pierced septum, therefore, is repulsive to me, as is a navel ring or stud. But I have pierced earlobes, so who am I to judge? Your body, your canvas.
I do cringe when I consider the sanitation issues around the piercing of areas where mucous, sweat and bacteria accrue. A pierced septum, therefore, is repulsive to me, as is a navel ring or stud. But I have pierced earlobes, so who am I to judge? Your body, your canvas.
Look at me, I'm so cutting edge, I'm so different, and unique. My body expresses my individuality. I don't care what people think, it's my statement and it's for me!
FYI - I don't have a tattoo! I gave up drawing on myself in 4th grade.
FYI - I don't have a tattoo! I gave up drawing on myself in 4th grade.
20
What's edgy about what everyone does? I had great fun with a tattoo and piercings when I was a kid (including a septum ring that I rarely had the guts to wear), but it's been years since I wore any jewelry. Gone the way of my ponytail and stud belt, I'm afraid. (I do miss my ponytail.)
3
Irreversible. Why not do temporary things, ex tats in henna or other body pigmentsthat fade away or wash off and then the body pallette can be used again?
it strikes me that no matter how fabulous or colorful it still amounts to a prison tattoo that will mark one for life, locking one into an expression one may not feel forever.
With alternatives, why do something this permanent and so often grotesque?
it strikes me that no matter how fabulous or colorful it still amounts to a prison tattoo that will mark one for life, locking one into an expression one may not feel forever.
With alternatives, why do something this permanent and so often grotesque?
10
"Beyond disgusting" . . . to put it mildly.
17
Barneys and their 2016 spring fashion line, just another reminder in what far reaching & fantastic ways the powers that be have learned to co-opt dissent, making it tame and non-threatening.
11
I never got the memo that Tattoos were acceptable unless you are a truck driver, Marine, Sailor, Hard Time Con or a Carny. Nothing screams underclass like being inked up, having a gold tooth or some bizarre body piercing.
As I work in the Medical field I get to see a lot more than most and the widespread presence of tattoos- especially on young women- is disturbing. Not just an ill-advised tramp stamp, I mean sleeved, neck tats and all the rest.
If I were interviewing someone for a job and saw a tat you would not be getting the job- period. My employer does not allow visible tats and that is as it should be.
I do not wich to be served by some tatted up creature nor do I want them handling my food.
Thankfully I will not be around when children ask grandma to show them her tattoos.
As I work in the Medical field I get to see a lot more than most and the widespread presence of tattoos- especially on young women- is disturbing. Not just an ill-advised tramp stamp, I mean sleeved, neck tats and all the rest.
If I were interviewing someone for a job and saw a tat you would not be getting the job- period. My employer does not allow visible tats and that is as it should be.
I do not wich to be served by some tatted up creature nor do I want them handling my food.
Thankfully I will not be around when children ask grandma to show them her tattoos.
16
I have a tattoo. It was placed into my skin by a tick. I hate both of them forever.
8
Tattooing is a fad and like all fads it will come to pass. I personally don't find piercing and tattooing pleasant to look at. Some of it, in very small doses can be nice, when the entire body is covered it is rather disgusting and repulsive. It is obvious to me that anyone who needs to be noticed for his or her external looks is compensating for lack of brains and other more desirable human attributes.
10
Pros and Cons
Pros: I have no tattoos, but I can understand this "movement." You think you're ugly; you don't like your appearance; you don't think you're particularly noticeable; you want to be a nonconformist, but you don't want to make the required investment in learning and knowing; you'd like to impress people (including yourself), but you know you can's do it without doing the difficult work of self-improvement; you want to frighten your opponents in battle ... there are lots of reasons.
Cons: The "art." The predominant characteristic of most body adornment in the United States is its abominable artistic content. Just by way of example, look at the "art" in this article ... and then recall all of those tiny, usually hidden by clothing, and completely irrelevant, rose and butterfly tattoos that seem to be ubiquitous these days.
Just focusing our attention on tattoos, having a piece of "art" imbedded on your body doesn't make your body a work of art. If you're going to do it, do it right. First, think of it in the context of your entire body. Then find a real artist, not some hack with an electric needle down on Market Street. Then make sure it is done in a traditional manner ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pzkRkENmXE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO8nE--a5yg
Your body -- and those of us who will be looking at you -- deserve it.
Pros: I have no tattoos, but I can understand this "movement." You think you're ugly; you don't like your appearance; you don't think you're particularly noticeable; you want to be a nonconformist, but you don't want to make the required investment in learning and knowing; you'd like to impress people (including yourself), but you know you can's do it without doing the difficult work of self-improvement; you want to frighten your opponents in battle ... there are lots of reasons.
Cons: The "art." The predominant characteristic of most body adornment in the United States is its abominable artistic content. Just by way of example, look at the "art" in this article ... and then recall all of those tiny, usually hidden by clothing, and completely irrelevant, rose and butterfly tattoos that seem to be ubiquitous these days.
Just focusing our attention on tattoos, having a piece of "art" imbedded on your body doesn't make your body a work of art. If you're going to do it, do it right. First, think of it in the context of your entire body. Then find a real artist, not some hack with an electric needle down on Market Street. Then make sure it is done in a traditional manner ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pzkRkENmXE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO8nE--a5yg
Your body -- and those of us who will be looking at you -- deserve it.
2
Say what you want, but I can't help wonder what people will make of the amount of tattooing, piercings, branding, etc. in the future. Isn't there some amount of self hatred in defacing the body? I'm not talking about a few piercings, but this apparent need to push everything to the limit. Perhaps those with facial tattoo and so on need one that says, "Help me find my therapist."
7
To me, most of these so-called body embellishments are just ugly, plain and simple. Why anyone would want to sport a form or forms of ornamentation that makes *them* look ugly too totally eludes me.
That said, I'm a first wave baby boomer (birth year-1950) so by virtue of my extreme age I'll probably never appreciate this look, which is fine by me!
That said, I'm a first wave baby boomer (birth year-1950) so by virtue of my extreme age I'll probably never appreciate this look, which is fine by me!
14
Personally I’m awating glow in the dark ink for my full body and face tattoos, that way it’s functional art..
4
Can you imagine your 75 - 80 year old grandma or even your own mother in her late years sitting at the family Christmas dinner with her entire body covered in tatts and piercings dribbling over the mashed potatoes and gravy?
No thanks.
No thanks.
22
And how, exactly, does it benefit human civilization to "acclimate" to the grotesque?
14
If you need tattoos to "remind yourself who you are" you have problems way beyond skin-deep.
29
Geez, lots of people sure have strong opinions about this topic. Just a reflection of our ever-present need to judge and ridicule others in an attempt to confirm our own superiority, I guess. What's interesting is how many subversive people have tattoos in places that no one sees. Hidden under business suits and designer gowns are many a decedent tattoo or piercing. Ha! Take that, you judgers! You don't even know what you don't know!
7
I guess one must do what one must to attract attention and to appear to be ahead on the latest trend, including the fashion editors at the New York Times. Personally, I find the piercings and tattoos depicted in the story to be utterly grotesque. I can only pray that the story was presented its attention-getting shock value and that this "fashion" trend does not take hold among too many of the citizenry. The look makes my skin crawl!
11
Tattoos, especially on the face, are disgusting and ugly. There are no two ways about it. It is gross. Period. Anyone who does it is sick.
24
I had a friend who got a modest little blue bird on her belly when we were young and thin. She subsequently gained weight and that blue bird became an eagle. To each his own, but I think people will ultimately regret doing this as they get older. Everything does not stay the same and fashion is fickle.
13
Can't let this story go because I've some strong feelings about ink, mostly negative feelings even though I have a tattoo.
A child came into book fair at a local school. She told the librarian she did not have money for the book she'd picked out the day before.
And why not?
"Mom needed the money for her new tattoo."
No joke. Thus, Plutocratic America in 2016: the monied brutes who rule us and the 99% of the rest of us, the most desperate unable to see beyond their own immediate wants to help their own families.
Granted, I do know responsible parents who have a lot of ink, but the story speaks volumes about what a tattoo means to many who get them.
A child came into book fair at a local school. She told the librarian she did not have money for the book she'd picked out the day before.
And why not?
"Mom needed the money for her new tattoo."
No joke. Thus, Plutocratic America in 2016: the monied brutes who rule us and the 99% of the rest of us, the most desperate unable to see beyond their own immediate wants to help their own families.
Granted, I do know responsible parents who have a lot of ink, but the story speaks volumes about what a tattoo means to many who get them.
10
In my 61 years, I have seen tattoos, nose rings, pierced nipples, dyed hair, and every thing you mention in this article regurgitated by youngsters, over and over. There is nothing original about it, it is derivative of what their parents did 10 or 20 years ago. It's just like rolled up jeans, something I did in the 60's and 80's, not particularly original.
If a fashion designer has to resort to models who have extreme bodywork, then his or her clothes must not be that interesting.
If a fashion designer has to resort to models who have extreme bodywork, then his or her clothes must not be that interesting.
13
Fine. Do whatever. But think how ridiculous you will look when skin gets all saggy and things start drooping.
10
If I see somebody with a tatted up face I assume that they are mentally ill, that possibly they may have murdered someone or both. Face tats, like tear drops inked near the eye for example, were at one time indicators in gangs that you killed someone, but now we find that Justin Bieber has one too! I see people with them and think here's a person not worried about future employment, wow what joie de vivre!
7
You like this?
It's obvious that almost all the commenters are opposed to this; almost unanimously.
To think that these embellishments are appearing on the fashion runway is upsetting.
Next stop: gender reassignment procedures.
It's obvious that almost all the commenters are opposed to this; almost unanimously.
To think that these embellishments are appearing on the fashion runway is upsetting.
Next stop: gender reassignment procedures.
7
I hear there's a groovy new body-mod boutique in Greenpoint that specializes in sawed-off limbs and surgically removed eyeballs.
Hey, it ain't easy stayin' hip these days!
Hey, it ain't easy stayin' hip these days!
8
I hope I live long enough to see the last of this tattoo obsession. Tattoos are vulgar and desecrate the human body. They reek of Auschwitz. My four children and ten grandchildren know that if they show up with a tattoo, they are out of my will. Seriously.
19
[[The display was a calculated provocation, in tune, as Mr. Oliver likes to say, with “the language of flamboyancy, the language of exaggeration.”]]
Meh!
It's in tune with the language of marketing. This company "Hood by Air" got its name in the newspaper. I think that's the whole point of this article.
Meh!
It's in tune with the language of marketing. This company "Hood by Air" got its name in the newspaper. I think that's the whole point of this article.
5
Honestly speaking, those people look miserable. I want o see one of them after ten likes when fashion change and see how will they change their skin.
What is wrong in wearing on a coloured shirt and then throw it away when such fashion is dead?
What is wrong in wearing on a coloured shirt and then throw it away when such fashion is dead?
5
Refreshing to hear from so many tattoo haters out there. It's pretty much the dumbest thing ever. And I've been a punk rock kind of guy for about 40 years. Glad I was never dumb enough to get some stupid crap inked all over me. It's such a juvenile thing, it's like you can't look ahead 2 days into the future.
24
OMG, those piercings, brandings, subdermal implants, and tatts are soooooo Fall 2015.
11
I wish I could understand better why body modification has become so prevalent among younger people. When I am in a checkout line at a shop and the young clerk has tattoos on the face or extreme facial piercings, I am saddened and wonder if low self esteem and a desire to fit in with peers is the reason for altering one's appearance so drastically. Sometimes it's even hard for me to establish eye contact, so strong is my need to look away. I keep thinking the pendulum will swing the other way, back to natural beauty, but it so far, it hasn't...
11
Pretty silly to do something permanent which turns out to be a fad.
No tats on me.
No tats on me.
7
Piercings can be used to shock and awe, as well as being a fashion accessory, but are conveniently removable.
Tattoos on the other hand, are permanent scars. When it became legal in late 90s New York City, I was alarmed to see it increase in popularity. It struck me as a little dopey as a trend. Now its completely mainstream, people of many ages make themselves completely adormed from head to toe -- some still doing it to show their rebellious or "move with the tribe" side.
And? I still find it a little dopey. I don't need to pay someone to brand me. I have my own scars, physical and psychological.
I am amused by what Daniel Tosh said: "if you get a tattoo, it should read I AM DUMB; this way, years from now and you wonder 'why did i get this again?' you can read it and go, 'oh yeah, that RIGHT! Now I remember!' " ;)
Tattoos on the other hand, are permanent scars. When it became legal in late 90s New York City, I was alarmed to see it increase in popularity. It struck me as a little dopey as a trend. Now its completely mainstream, people of many ages make themselves completely adormed from head to toe -- some still doing it to show their rebellious or "move with the tribe" side.
And? I still find it a little dopey. I don't need to pay someone to brand me. I have my own scars, physical and psychological.
I am amused by what Daniel Tosh said: "if you get a tattoo, it should read I AM DUMB; this way, years from now and you wonder 'why did i get this again?' you can read it and go, 'oh yeah, that RIGHT! Now I remember!' " ;)
13
The post-modern tattoo fashion would be a truly intriguing, IF EVEN 5% HAD ANY REAL DESIGN SENSE! Or a life. I'm sorry, but every time I see inky tentacles creeping up someone's neck I say to myself, "There goes compensation for boredom." Do these people think they look interesting? To me all that stuff they need to have an identity fairly shouts, "I'm really boring, and I'll do anything to affect interest." And don't get me started on piercings, and the floppy loops that used to be earlobes. Ech!
8
In the immortal words of Joan Rivers, "Make it stop!"
19
No way I would ever hire one of these buffoons. I expect a lot of other employers feel likewise.
7
The whole concept is an "inside baseball" type of topic, i.e., only a very very few actually care other than to be repulsed. Like the oddities seen on the runway but not out in the real world. The entire "modern primitive movement" could likely fit in a small movie theatre notwithstanding the "ink" afforded it by NYT fashion pages.
1
I just can't see why anyone would want to look like they just did a face plant in a tackle box.
11
To each his/her own, but I do note the remarkable optimism of young women encircle their upper arms with geometrical tattoo designs. Hate to tell you, but those arms don't stay firm forever...
6
"Ubiquity is the death of fashion." A few years from now all those getting tattoos will simply realize how like foolishly little lemmings they are to adopt a trend they couldn't discard... except the USMC and other members of the US military. Those you earn, you can't just buy. And they mean something permanent.
5
Outrageous and disgusting. Have we come to this?
7
Just my opinion, but when I see a young person tattooed to their knuckles, I think, so young and already run out of skin. To me it says, no thought for the future.
15
This sort of disturbing "art" relegates the canvas holder to a life of servitude as a barista or busboy.
The nice thing is that you never have to guess whether these people are losers.
The nice thing is that you never have to guess whether these people are losers.
15
Anyone gainfully employed as a barista or busboy is not a "loser" in my book, inked or not.
3
I'm a heavily tattooed scientist (MS/PhD). My particular area of expertise happens to be consumer decision making (academic background in cognitive neuroscience). Making blanket statements about the worth of others based on surface characteristics isn't a pretty look.
3
Looks like we can expect the Ubangi look next. Though this is the 21st Century of course. The women's lip plates will come in designer colors, as will the stacks of neck stretching rings. And if/when that goes out of fashion, that we then can look forward to Neanderthal chic.
3
As with any trend, when it becomes mainstream, it's no longer cool. It will be the same with tattoos. At some point, avant garde young people will not dream of coloring their bodies with ink. It will be seen as bourgeois, something suburban housewives do when they're bored. Should be amusing...
5
I just wonder how this will look on older, baggy, saggy skin.
2
Tattoos are also a great way to make accurate pre-decisions about men. You see a big strong hunk and he has a barbed wire tats around he bicep, you know he's probably a misogynist and is horrible in bed. You see a thin bearded guy with a Tim Burton tattoo, you know he is a hipster and will ruin everything no matter what it is. You see a cute punk with a self-designed hand tattoo and a mohawk, and you should say hello because he is going to be a lot of fun ;-) You can't really lie to someone with a tattoo.
1
I'm with that great philosopher, Daffy Duck, in declairing, "I don't like pain. It hurts me." But, hey, let a thousand flowers bloom.
3
I knew this trend had well and truly jumped the shark when I overheard a woman talking loudly to her friend about her latest inking and how her grandkids think it's so cool. Of what I saw, it wasn't. It was a sad, long-lasting faux pas, like having last decade's jeans surgically attached to your legs. That's the problem, of course. The ones who offer an opinion to your face will generally be kind. The rest of us...? Well, I just hope for your sake you really do live for your art...
1
Someone asked my lovely daughter why she wouldn't get tattooed. She replied, "You don't see bumper stickers on a Ferrari, do you?"
77
At least when your mullet goes out of style, you can cut it off. Just sayin'.
1
I have no tats and don't even have pierced ears!
Today some people call this radical. I call it keeping myself real.
The only marks on my skin are scars which, for better or worse, have somehow been earned. And the stories that go with those scars are also part of my individuality. Not even the best tattoo artist in the world could have created them.
Today some people call this radical. I call it keeping myself real.
The only marks on my skin are scars which, for better or worse, have somehow been earned. And the stories that go with those scars are also part of my individuality. Not even the best tattoo artist in the world could have created them.
4
I predict that at some point the Burqa will be popular. For men and women.
4
I just can't wait for these super hip twenty somethings to turn sixty and realize that it was cool in the 20s but as one approacking 70 it just doesn't cut it.
4
Tattoos by their very nature are not fashion, they are permanent. But in most cases with Tattoos: At 20 they are Hot, but at 40 they are Not.
This is just another example of how we live in a current society where individuals are so preoccupied with themselves they fail to realize the joys of loving and helping others in the short time of life we are given. And it's obvious they hate their bodies so much, for different reasons, they have to change it. It takes courage to deal with and love the bodies we are born with.
4
I think it reflects a very desperate and very real need to express individuality in our increasingly homogenized world. Also, it's a sure bet that once you do it, you won't get a regular job.
2
Does the world "desperate" get a mention anywhere in this feast of the useless? Never mind 5 second fashions, the other main wearers of nose rings are cattle. If that's sexy, so are shop awnings and KFC buckets.
1
An affectation, which NYC specializes in, though this one is particularity disgusting...Good luck with that piercing when you retire....
5
Hmmm.
I remember when this impulse was satisfied by peechees.
I remember when this impulse was satisfied by peechees.
1
I just hope these folks realize that they are setting in stone exactly how they are going to present themselves to every person, every place and every situation in the world every second, every minute and every hour of every day for the rest of their lives. There is no chance for a change of taste or to try something new: They are locked in forever. Options closed. Key thrown away. Their lives are going to be extremely limited. Rather than freeing themselves, they are boxing themselves in.
I also hope they realize that right now these tattoos are a sign of being young. But fashions change -- and in a few decades these might well be a sign of being OLD, of being from the generation that created these fashion victims.
That being said, nose rings have one advantage: If you ever need to be towed, you're all set!
I also hope they realize that right now these tattoos are a sign of being young. But fashions change -- and in a few decades these might well be a sign of being OLD, of being from the generation that created these fashion victims.
That being said, nose rings have one advantage: If you ever need to be towed, you're all set!
6
As a long-time employer of hundreds of employees over the past thirty years,I have observed a strong correlation between tattoos and flakey,bad job performance. In recent years,this correlation has become so strong,that if I see a tattoo during a job interview,I for sure will not hire the person. As for weird,visible piercings,please don't bother to even show up for the interview.
8
This is total nihilism. The decline and fall of a once-great country.
2
I have less than zero interest in stories about grotesque practices: They are downright loathsome, abhorrent, and yucky.
(I didn't read it, of course,but unfortunately could not avoid seeing the guy with the repurposed blue soap dish around his tongue. I really, really, wish I hadn't; that is most definitely not one of the reasons that I buy a subscription to this publication.)
(I didn't read it, of course,but unfortunately could not avoid seeing the guy with the repurposed blue soap dish around his tongue. I really, really, wish I hadn't; that is most definitely not one of the reasons that I buy a subscription to this publication.)
4
Am I an alien,as I have not pierced my ears,and I hate tattoos? Fashion marketing is a smart move - fool people to take out money from their pockets. People are gullible enough to wear another set of dress,even if they go for evening or morning walk - tee-shirt and knickers,instead of normal clothing. They also need jogging shoes. Is this not smart marketing? Cannot the normal dress sufficient? To do this marketing,do I have to go to a business school to get a degree?
1
where have you been? This is hardly new.
2
Live and let live. We do what we do. We make choices each day, and live with them.
When I was a boy and then a young man, it was quite the norm to hear a grandparent or other older person say, "Youth has it easy today. In my time we worked longer, had less of this and that, etc...."
Raising my own children now, I conclude, "They will have a harder time of it than I had." An increasingly strong and uncontainable culture of branding exists, and 'your brand' is given great weight in all aspects of our very visible lives. But obviously - obviously! - your sense of personal brand at ages 40 to 50 is different from ages 15 to 25. It's tough enough in an increasingly unbalanced and competitive job market to navigate an education and employment choices to satisfy both the heart as well as income ambitions; on top of that now comes the very visible choices of self expression that are not easily erased, dimmed or altered. Re-invention gets more difficult when choices about what you post on-line and the ink and piercings on your body are not so easily left behind, not easily written off to a time and place in one's life and development. The traces, the evidence, good and less good, is OUT THERE. It's all too easy for the brand you chose in your your teens and 20s follow you for decades, wanted or not.
What you do today matters tomorrow. It's always been so. You get some things wrong, but hopefully more good than bad comes your way. Choose wisely.
When I was a boy and then a young man, it was quite the norm to hear a grandparent or other older person say, "Youth has it easy today. In my time we worked longer, had less of this and that, etc...."
Raising my own children now, I conclude, "They will have a harder time of it than I had." An increasingly strong and uncontainable culture of branding exists, and 'your brand' is given great weight in all aspects of our very visible lives. But obviously - obviously! - your sense of personal brand at ages 40 to 50 is different from ages 15 to 25. It's tough enough in an increasingly unbalanced and competitive job market to navigate an education and employment choices to satisfy both the heart as well as income ambitions; on top of that now comes the very visible choices of self expression that are not easily erased, dimmed or altered. Re-invention gets more difficult when choices about what you post on-line and the ink and piercings on your body are not so easily left behind, not easily written off to a time and place in one's life and development. The traces, the evidence, good and less good, is OUT THERE. It's all too easy for the brand you chose in your your teens and 20s follow you for decades, wanted or not.
What you do today matters tomorrow. It's always been so. You get some things wrong, but hopefully more good than bad comes your way. Choose wisely.
5
I am sick of all the awful ink in awful places. I have a tattoo--just one--and thought long and hard about it, doing my own design. I've seen some great "sleeves" and many many bad ones, but the head? the neck? Spools in one's ears? Septum piercing? No no no. You will regret it.
Yeah, it's your body and your choice. Now you can inflict it on us and never be hired for work that involves anyone looking at you in a corporate setting. If that were the point, I'd say "fine" but as a tattoo artist friend told me "I turn clients away when they don't know what they want. If a kid says she cannot decide between a flaming skull and a dolphin, I send her home to think about it."
Yeah, it's your body and your choice. Now you can inflict it on us and never be hired for work that involves anyone looking at you in a corporate setting. If that were the point, I'd say "fine" but as a tattoo artist friend told me "I turn clients away when they don't know what they want. If a kid says she cannot decide between a flaming skull and a dolphin, I send her home to think about it."
2
The animosity and judgment expressed in a lot of these comments is interesting. I'm female, have my ears pierced (once apiece) and no tattoos. I have no interest in any other piercing and would never get a tattoo, and I don't find them appealing on other people. BUT, I think it's pretty arrogant to judge people who do want and have piercings and tattoos. They're not hurting anybody. Why shouldn't they do what they want to their own bodies, the way everyone does what they want with their lives to the extent that they can?
13
If they had any design sense, like some Pacific Islander cultures, it would be appealing. But most U.S. supposed adopters of "Primitivism" have zip sense of design. But you're right, they are perfectly free to signal their internal boredom and chaotic narcissism to the rest of the world. As one commenter wrote: it makes picking out the losers easy.
5
They are not hurting anyone but themselves. Which is the entire point of the negativity. If you see someone doing something that will injure them you hope to disuade them from doing it.
Thank you, M. I don't get my tattoos for anyone but myself, so I'm not personally offended by all of vitriol in the comments, but it is really disheartening to see so many people up on thier high horse. You all may express your veiled disgust as concern for my future appearance, but I find this to be hugely hypocritical. Is that all there is to one's life? Preserving oneself such that he or she may look as good as possible in old age? I work hard now to set myself up for a happy, fulfulling life; and I hope by my 40s I don't suddenly find my appearance to be more important to me than the education I had to find my dream career or the absolute joy I found in the world in my youth. It would be an honor to never end up as morally pretentious as some of the people commenting on this article.
You may look marginally better than I when we hit our 80s, but our bodies will both be ancient history within a few decades after that.
You may look marginally better than I when we hit our 80s, but our bodies will both be ancient history within a few decades after that.
1
If you had a mohawk or tattoos back in the 1970s it was very anti mainstream and made a statement.
Nowadays, honor students, moms, grandparents have tattoos, there is nothing at all radical or statement making about them at all, they are completely mainstream.
So what do people do? Have more of them.....yawn.
I have never understood the fascination of having someone else draw on your skin, nor seen a tattoo that looks good after a few years.
Today, all they are is "look at me" or a conversation starter, "
nice tatt".
I've never been a fan of them and can't understand why anyone would put one on their face.
That said, they are so common now, I'm a high school teacher, that all folks can do now is have more of them, more implants, more piercings, and hope they get the shock they got 40 years ago from one of them.
Yawn.
Nowadays, honor students, moms, grandparents have tattoos, there is nothing at all radical or statement making about them at all, they are completely mainstream.
So what do people do? Have more of them.....yawn.
I have never understood the fascination of having someone else draw on your skin, nor seen a tattoo that looks good after a few years.
Today, all they are is "look at me" or a conversation starter, "
nice tatt".
I've never been a fan of them and can't understand why anyone would put one on their face.
That said, they are so common now, I'm a high school teacher, that all folks can do now is have more of them, more implants, more piercings, and hope they get the shock they got 40 years ago from one of them.
Yawn.
40 years ago a tattoo, mohawk, or piercings would really make a statement and was the sign of a rebel. You stood alone.
Today, honor students, moms, grandparents, doctors wear them.
It is so common, so mainstream, the only statement you're making is baaaaaaaaaa, I'm one of the sheep.
If you like them, fine, but there is no statement, nothing rebellious, and so many people have them you're one of the herd.
Solution, get more and do more...........yawn.
Today, honor students, moms, grandparents, doctors wear them.
It is so common, so mainstream, the only statement you're making is baaaaaaaaaa, I'm one of the sheep.
If you like them, fine, but there is no statement, nothing rebellious, and so many people have them you're one of the herd.
Solution, get more and do more...........yawn.
2
In my view, tattoos are defacement. I feel that way because my daughter is covered with lousy tats, including on her face and neck, and a once lovely girl is now forever branded.
7
I often wonder what must have been considered parent societally shocking in colonial America. It probably did not exist.,life was rudimentary. It certainly began to exist after the American civil war, gathered more momentum in the gay nineties and roaring twenties. Mostly though it seemed to involve women and their scandalous fashion sense. Remember blue jeans? Or mini skirts. Each generation longs to identify itself as having arrived. Fashionably late or early. These same individuals like my generation will look back someday and think; what was I thinking!!! Until their own children shock and awes them to distraction. Is it art? A living performance piece? Edgy? Yes. And if you have to ask........ That would be the point
1
Power to provoke? Not really, never felt that. Power to inspire sympathy? Yeah, a bit.
2
We don't want our models to be to thin or have their ribs showing, because that might encourage bulimia, anorexia, or heroine us. But mutilation is okay.
9
I do not understand the need to deface your skin. Your body and your skin are sacred gifts from God. On a physical level, skin serves as the vital task of encapsulating the inner organs and is the first line of defense against disease. On a spiritual level, our job in life is to find and appreciate the beauty of this world, starting by loving and protecting your body as it has been given to you. Desecrating one's skin indicates a preoccupation with how one looks to oneself and others. It is a telltale sign that all is not well with one's way of being in the world. It precludes reaching a goal of acceptance about who you are and an appreciation of one's own uniquness in this world. You cannot achieve any inner peace or resolution of any conflict in your life while you scrabble around in the dirt of defacing your skin. A healthy self esteem comes from within, not from without.
2
Gentrification at its best. What was once a way of life for those choosing celebrate being on the outside and attracting natural curiosity has morphed into yet another mainstream fad that is on the cover of every magazine, prominently featured in cloned reality shows and Instagram'd ad nausea.
2
This trend is absolutely disgusting.
2
What fools.
"But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches
Would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.”
With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort
“We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!”
...Then, quickly, Sylvester McMonkey McBean
Put together a very peculiar machine.
And he said, “You want stars like a Star-Belly Sneetch?
My friends, you can have them for three dollars each!”
“Just pay me your money and hop right aboard!”
So they clambered inside. Then the big machine roared.
And it klonked. And it bonked. And it jerked. And it berked.
And it bopped them about. But the thing really worked!
When the Plain-Belly Sneetches popped out, they had stars!
They actually did. They had stars upon thars!
“Belly stars are no longer in style”, said McBean.
“What you need is a trip through my Star-Off Machine.
This wondrous contraption will take OFF your stars
so you won’t look like Sneetches that have them on thars.”
And that handy machine working very precisely
Removed all the stars from their tummies quite nicely.
... Then, with snoots in the air, they paraded about.
And they opened their beaks and they let out a shout,
“We know who is who! Now there Isn’t a doubt.
The best kind of Sneetches are Sneetches without!”
--- The Sneetches, by Dr. Seuss
"But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches
Would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.”
With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort
“We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!”
...Then, quickly, Sylvester McMonkey McBean
Put together a very peculiar machine.
And he said, “You want stars like a Star-Belly Sneetch?
My friends, you can have them for three dollars each!”
“Just pay me your money and hop right aboard!”
So they clambered inside. Then the big machine roared.
And it klonked. And it bonked. And it jerked. And it berked.
And it bopped them about. But the thing really worked!
When the Plain-Belly Sneetches popped out, they had stars!
They actually did. They had stars upon thars!
“Belly stars are no longer in style”, said McBean.
“What you need is a trip through my Star-Off Machine.
This wondrous contraption will take OFF your stars
so you won’t look like Sneetches that have them on thars.”
And that handy machine working very precisely
Removed all the stars from their tummies quite nicely.
... Then, with snoots in the air, they paraded about.
And they opened their beaks and they let out a shout,
“We know who is who! Now there Isn’t a doubt.
The best kind of Sneetches are Sneetches without!”
--- The Sneetches, by Dr. Seuss
2
I think my main issue with tattoos is the lack of creativity involved. Rarely is the art anything more than a picture, however complicated, stuck on the body. It's like hanging a painting over your bed but the painting follows you to every house you'll ever live, through every change of taste, and it limits your ability to truly reinvent yourself.
Brilliant tattoos don't treat the body as a canvas - that's short sighted and simple minded - they reimagine the concept. The only tattoo I've ever loved was a women in Soho I met in the 90's who bisected her body with a simple thin line from head to toe.
If you're creativity is limited to picking pictures you can't draw out of a book then hiring someone else to copy that to your skin - how creative are you really?
Brilliant tattoos don't treat the body as a canvas - that's short sighted and simple minded - they reimagine the concept. The only tattoo I've ever loved was a women in Soho I met in the 90's who bisected her body with a simple thin line from head to toe.
If you're creativity is limited to picking pictures you can't draw out of a book then hiring someone else to copy that to your skin - how creative are you really?
3
What does this mutilation gain the mutilated?
Have they forever ruled out finding real work (other than in a carnival or at a tattoo parlor)?
Have they forever ruled out finding real work (other than in a carnival or at a tattoo parlor)?
1
I was once working on a movie set when the exasperated director started asking if there was any woman there who did not have tattoos or body piercings or tan lines. I raised my hand and she asked if I would mind going to wardrobe and make-up. She needed someone for a shot in a 1920s insane asylum and everyone the agency had sent would have taken too much time to 'erase' then make-up for a short 2 minute scene.
A childhood friend ended up getting a rather painful tattoo removal from her wrist after her husband became mayor. None of us had any political aspirations when she got the tattoo when we were teens, I am still glad that I was too much of a chicken to do it LOL.
A childhood friend ended up getting a rather painful tattoo removal from her wrist after her husband became mayor. None of us had any political aspirations when she got the tattoo when we were teens, I am still glad that I was too much of a chicken to do it LOL.
2
I don't have a single tattoo, because I'm not a conformist.
7
In 1968, I got a tattoo...a one inch lightning bolt on my bicep, scandalously making me the second tattooed student at my liberal arts college, the other being an ex-merchant mariner. It created a huge stir...I was called into the dean. This simply was not done! Provoke? I'd say, indeed, and I loved it. Decades later when tattooing started to take hold, my line was "Why would I want to do something that any 18 year old gas station attendant does?" And now, nearly a half century later, we have reached the absurdity that even fashionistas look like they are healing overall from a bad motorcycle accident. What a bore. *yawn*.
2
Tattoos seem like little more than a cry for attention. What does that say for someone who covers his or her entire body in tattoos or piercings?
1
I am 68. Lately I have started wearing outrageous, funky Italian eyewear when I'm in the mood. Modifies my face, changes my look, makes a real statement - and comes right off. And, unlike tats, no problems when I need an MRI.
Way better than having my face tattooed.
Way better than having my face tattooed.
1
To me, this is like painting your house purple with green stripes. Your neighbors have to look at it way more than you do. I find it "in your face" repulsive and I think that's exactly the intention.
2
My, my. It seems "fashion" and the NYT are both about 10 to 15 years overdue in noticing this ubiquitous, well-established look.
1
Tattoo-free, unpierced skin is about to become the new rage, just watch.
Okay, fine. Whatever. Those images DON'T belong on the home page of the NY Times website. Scared the heck out of my 2 year old sitting next to me. Suggest you relocate it to some other location.
2
It's nothing new. If you can annoy or nauseate people, it's cool. The deviants among us never sleep.
Ew. Is this a cry for help?
4
Now I am even more convinced that New York is a sick, self absorbed city. Why is a retail store glorifying this body distortion? At one end of the fashion spectrum people are enduring painful and horrible distortions to make themselves "individuals" while at the other end they are spending millions to have dermatologists erase any "unfortunate"signs of natural aging - what's your choice New Yorkers - freak or faux? I'll take natural.
3
Please do a photo follow-up in 30-40 years.
2
Doctor Hall, with his body 50% tattooed,
would never be my doctor even if he
paid me.
would never be my doctor even if he
paid me.
9
But the content is invariably parochial and unread.
To each his or her own, I suppose. .
But respectfully, a freak show to me. .
Enjoy!
But respectfully, a freak show to me. .
Enjoy!
1
I guess this means I am now officially OLD!
"Body art" bears the same relationship to art that comic books do to Michelangelo.
1
5,000 years of culture down the drain!
1
I'm fine with most of the body modifications. The only two I really don't get are side/front neck tattoos and the ear plugs. The neck tattoos label people (at least in my eyes) as redneck/ghetto unless they are tastefully done. The ear plugs are fine when you're young but you do realize ears keep growing throughout your life, right? I've seen people that stopped wearing the plugs but apparently didn't have the money to sew that skin up again. It's like looking at a turkey waddle on their ears, super nasty.
1
Not art.
Just gross.
Just gross.
2
ugliness seems to have become for some the new beauty.
2
If you really want to be different, write a bestseller, patent a pioneering invention, run a 50 mile race, you know, that kind of thing. Can't? Okay, get a tattoo or stick a couple of spikes through your nose. Are you different? Nope, you're like thousands (millions?) of others who also paid to get inked.
3
i'm rebelling. i refuse to get a tattoo.
49
Disgusting, plain and simple, deforming the human body is simply a modern version of creepshow atavism, gross.
1
Oh good grief....I look forward to the time when just plain old skin is back in fashion. The hipsters want to be different, so when everyone has inked their entire body then no tattoos will then be the "in " thing. I have lived long enough to see this cycle come and go more than once.
1
Soon, people with no tattoos will be seen as the rebellious individualists.
I don't know. The Old Testament rabbis got it right about the Ten Commandments, kosher is healthy, resting on the Sabbath and a lot other things. Bucking them on scarring, branding and nose rings could turn out to be risky.
Hah!...So tats just MIGHT be mainstream today? Because they're showing up on runways and dress shops? This is the thought for today from the F&A page?!
Again, hah! Chalk up one more little moment where I and many NYTimes readers are saying..."Just how removed are these paid journalists?
Skin ink and piercings went mainstream around 15 years ago, minimum. People...particularly young people...Get tattoos/piercing not to rebel or to stand out or to distinguish their "personal taste" -- but rather to conform. Repeat after me...this is conformity. This is not style or rebellion or individuality.
One more little reminder that the fashion world FOLLOWS fashion, it doesn't SET it. Any you journalists should be calling them on it.
Geez your professional style observations really make me laugh sometimes.
Again, hah! Chalk up one more little moment where I and many NYTimes readers are saying..."Just how removed are these paid journalists?
Skin ink and piercings went mainstream around 15 years ago, minimum. People...particularly young people...Get tattoos/piercing not to rebel or to stand out or to distinguish their "personal taste" -- but rather to conform. Repeat after me...this is conformity. This is not style or rebellion or individuality.
One more little reminder that the fashion world FOLLOWS fashion, it doesn't SET it. Any you journalists should be calling them on it.
Geez your professional style observations really make me laugh sometimes.
2
lack a personality? get you nose pierced. now you're cool.
2
Ugh, that fashion you are wearing on your skin is soooooooo Fall 2015.
2
Sick!
5
I thought the New York Times was supposed to be the epitome of journalisting reporting but I find this article and the author to be completely out of touch. It sounds rehashed from articles on tattooing and piercing in the 80s and 90s. And when did "ear gauging" become a term to describe lobe stretching with jewelry of different sizes (ie, gauges). FYI, most people who had their lobes stretched in the 90s have let them shrink or have had corrective surgery so they have normal-looking lobes. Also, you would think the NY Times could find a writer more familiar with this scene...Modern Primitives is well known but the 90s were really all about BME.
5
You know what else is gaining popularity? Suicide.
Neo Malthusianism and Antinatalism are the new hip thing.
Neo Malthusianism and Antinatalism are the new hip thing.
2
Wow! Instigiert as imagination!
I'm 61, male, and just got two very small and subtle diamond studs in one earlobe. They're not provocative and are hardly noticeable, but they sparkle tiny bits of my individuality at the right time. I think they look quite elegant. And besides, I'm a senior citizen now, so I do what I please.
26
Thought I would pass this on, the Guardian had an article under their Fashion blog titled "Etre Blank: French women on the new normcor". As body adornment becomes increasingly middle-class, French women are rebelling, creating their own normcore look
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/fashion-blog/2015/nov/11/etre-blank-f...
My skin also is a blank canvas. When I go into Walmart and see little old ladies walking by with a tattoo on their leg, people in wheelchairs, and the shoppers at the checkout with their tattoos one realizes how ordinary and mundane body art is. The Mayo Clinic website has some informative observations on the downside of tattoos, from a medical view point.
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/fashion-blog/2015/nov/11/etre-blank-f...
My skin also is a blank canvas. When I go into Walmart and see little old ladies walking by with a tattoo on their leg, people in wheelchairs, and the shoppers at the checkout with their tattoos one realizes how ordinary and mundane body art is. The Mayo Clinic website has some informative observations on the downside of tattoos, from a medical view point.
Pity these poor people. Not enough love and affection from mommy and daddy. Never really understood why some people pay thousands upon thousands of dollars to plastic surgeons to remove unsightly blemishes from their bodies while others use their vessels like a canvass for graffiti. To each his own, I guess, but the dude with the pacifier kind of sums up the whole body art thing. These people are like children who try to hard to provoke. The visual equivalent of a temper tantrum that won't be pacified.
35
Since it seems most of the commenters on this article are vehemently disapproving of tattoos, I'd like to at least offer my perspective on why I have mine:
I understand that my tattoos will not age perfectly and will likely look like faded blobs in my old age. That's really not the point, though. I'm not getting tattoos because I expect them to look perfect forever; I'm getting them because they remind me of who I am as a person. I have some tattoos which are deeply meaningful reminders of people or events in my life. I also have some which don't have any particular meaning (they are in a way simply "trendy"). They have all been done by talented reputable tattoo artists, so at the very least I know they are not poorly done. Regardless of the actual meaning of the tattoo, each one reminds me of the kind of person I was when I got it, and the kind of life I was living, and the kind of mindset I had. It's a truly beautiful thing to be able to experience that every day, and it pushes me forward.
Again, I know they won't look great when I'm older. But I'm not going to look like I'm 20 when I'm 80, whether or not I get tattoos. At least this way I'll have a kind of album of my life, for myself. Not for your judgmental eyes.
I understand that my tattoos will not age perfectly and will likely look like faded blobs in my old age. That's really not the point, though. I'm not getting tattoos because I expect them to look perfect forever; I'm getting them because they remind me of who I am as a person. I have some tattoos which are deeply meaningful reminders of people or events in my life. I also have some which don't have any particular meaning (they are in a way simply "trendy"). They have all been done by talented reputable tattoo artists, so at the very least I know they are not poorly done. Regardless of the actual meaning of the tattoo, each one reminds me of the kind of person I was when I got it, and the kind of life I was living, and the kind of mindset I had. It's a truly beautiful thing to be able to experience that every day, and it pushes me forward.
Again, I know they won't look great when I'm older. But I'm not going to look like I'm 20 when I'm 80, whether or not I get tattoos. At least this way I'll have a kind of album of my life, for myself. Not for your judgmental eyes.
12
As Marx once pointed out, as contradictions deepen in modern society humans are reduced to biology. It was once thought that the human is a creative demi-urgos able to transcend the phenotypic self and circumstance, but this Enlightenment belief has collapsed. Whether tattoos are attractive is not the issue; they are a symptom of social pathology and therefore should evoke pity. Thanks to capitalism we are now indistinguishable from other animals that have bodily displays.
As a very heavily tattooed person,-including my face- I have learned not to mind other peoples opinions.
I own my co-op, have lived in the same building for decades. Get along quite well with the neighbors. In my East Village street I am just another person.
On Mondays and Thursdays I grumble about alternative side parking. Like most people who go to the gym, I have to find a way to motivate myself.
I am middle age and deal with the struggles of most people in my age group.
To me, if you have or do not have tattoos makes no difference, I look at your character.
I refuse to let myself be exploited.
I do not mind people being curious as long as they are respectful. I often invite normal conversations.
Like a lot of people I am interested in the economy, the political cycle and the welfare of the city.
Personally I disagree with using body alterations to shock. I am more interested in "just being human".
I have traveled extensively in the United States and abroad. Guess what?People have a lot more in common then a difference in look.
I have misjudged and been misjudged, we all have.
At the end of the day, I like giving back with a smile, and begin with the most basic of all conversational starters "let's talk about the weather"?
I own my co-op, have lived in the same building for decades. Get along quite well with the neighbors. In my East Village street I am just another person.
On Mondays and Thursdays I grumble about alternative side parking. Like most people who go to the gym, I have to find a way to motivate myself.
I am middle age and deal with the struggles of most people in my age group.
To me, if you have or do not have tattoos makes no difference, I look at your character.
I refuse to let myself be exploited.
I do not mind people being curious as long as they are respectful. I often invite normal conversations.
Like a lot of people I am interested in the economy, the political cycle and the welfare of the city.
Personally I disagree with using body alterations to shock. I am more interested in "just being human".
I have traveled extensively in the United States and abroad. Guess what?People have a lot more in common then a difference in look.
I have misjudged and been misjudged, we all have.
At the end of the day, I like giving back with a smile, and begin with the most basic of all conversational starters "let's talk about the weather"?
16
Not a fan of heavy ink (for myself) for all sorts of reasons. I remain unadorned aside from earrings. But I was a guest at a wedding in Mumbai where all of us women were hennaed as part of the celebration. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed my suddenly fancy hands while it lasted.
It is natural, impermanent, non-toxic and you can change the design from time to time to suit your mood or the occasion.re are henna salons all over and you can get a beautiful (or otherwise) henna "tattoo" that you can enjoy for a week or two until it fades away.
It is natural, impermanent, non-toxic and you can change the design from time to time to suit your mood or the occasion.re are henna salons all over and you can get a beautiful (or otherwise) henna "tattoo" that you can enjoy for a week or two until it fades away.
30
As tattoos and provocative piercings have mainstreamed over the past 20 – 30 years, those looking to stand out have had to adopt increasingly extreme styles. Thus we have the current trend in irreversible ear gauging as well as face and neck tattoos.
At a certain point, body modification will cease to signify individuality and will become a new form of the grey flannel suit. Except one that you can’t take off.
At a certain point, body modification will cease to signify individuality and will become a new form of the grey flannel suit. Except one that you can’t take off.
8
One thing I never figured out about those who put tattoos on readily viewed parts of their body. Do they never consider that as time passes, their tastes, opinions and associations may change, and that their skin is not disposable.
This is why tee shirts were invented.
AlRodbell.com
This is why tee shirts were invented.
AlRodbell.com
14
The more of this I see the less I like it. Too much aggrandizement for oneself. These 'people' look like thugs and I would never hire a person with tattoos and piercings. Way to unprofessional. Even waiters in good restaurants are being required to where selves to cover up their arms so they don't offend the patrons.
18
Writer James Howard Kunstler has a great explanation for what he calls "painting ourselves like cannibals." We live in an aimless and decaying civilization, numbed by consumerism, cheap food, and the inability to form narratives of personal adventure. Ink provides a nearly instant way to have a narrative and literally inscribe something permanent about you in a crazy, declining society run by faceless men and women in big corporations and their paid politicians. And when it all falls apart, the inked have instant Mad Max.
1
Live and let live, I guess.
Random thoughts....
Being a purist, in my opinion one cannot enhance the perfection of nature's human skin. Freckles, moles, pigment variation, hair, hairless. Old, weathered, newborn and ultra smooth.... Unadulterated skin is sensuous, tactile, smells good and a magnet for my hands and eyes. Slaves were branded, and there are cultures that practice scarification. Is that the next trend?
My left thumb was accidentally amputated 40 years ago. An ultimate and extreme involuntary body modification in my opinion. Not one second passes that I don't regret the loss, the change, and the attention that modification draws in spite of enjoying a life long career of working successfully with my hands.
The key words in this piece are "trend" and "fashion". Polyester pantsuits and wide lapels are no longer in fashion. One can throw those old rags in the dumpster, but sagging, noodley ear lobes are pretty much forever and are as shocking when you are 70, but not in a cool way. Trends and fashions are pre designed to become obsolete, making way for the nest trendy/corporate profit making scheme. I am already bored with this.
Random thoughts....
Being a purist, in my opinion one cannot enhance the perfection of nature's human skin. Freckles, moles, pigment variation, hair, hairless. Old, weathered, newborn and ultra smooth.... Unadulterated skin is sensuous, tactile, smells good and a magnet for my hands and eyes. Slaves were branded, and there are cultures that practice scarification. Is that the next trend?
My left thumb was accidentally amputated 40 years ago. An ultimate and extreme involuntary body modification in my opinion. Not one second passes that I don't regret the loss, the change, and the attention that modification draws in spite of enjoying a life long career of working successfully with my hands.
The key words in this piece are "trend" and "fashion". Polyester pantsuits and wide lapels are no longer in fashion. One can throw those old rags in the dumpster, but sagging, noodley ear lobes are pretty much forever and are as shocking when you are 70, but not in a cool way. Trends and fashions are pre designed to become obsolete, making way for the nest trendy/corporate profit making scheme. I am already bored with this.
34
I have pierced ears, one in each ear lobe. I have no tattoos. So, technically I am part of this subculture. But frankly, piercings and tattoos have been so commonplace for so long, I fail to see them as being fashionable. In fact, I find them to be rather passe'.
15
Going to be a booming business for plastic surgeons who reverse these fashion statements in, about, 10 years.
41
Already is, the laser removal business is booming.
2
It's been amazing to observe the evolution over the last forty plus years of body modification from one lone studio: Gauntlet, in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco to today when Tattoo/Piercing studios populate almost every Main Street in America. Extreme piercing and body alterations have moved from being a bold declaration of body ownership to trendy fashion statement and the practitioners seem to be running out of devices that shock and room on the canvas.
When a younger person announces to me that they are contemplating a sizable and obvious tattoo I try to remind them of how laughable they find looking at pictures of themselves and the clothes they are wearing as little as five years before. That fashion, all fashion is transitory and that tattoos are just as much fashion as the shirt you are wearing.
When a younger person announces to me that they are contemplating a sizable and obvious tattoo I try to remind them of how laughable they find looking at pictures of themselves and the clothes they are wearing as little as five years before. That fashion, all fashion is transitory and that tattoos are just as much fashion as the shirt you are wearing.
33
I was just at dinner and everybody within a 20 foot radius was covered in tats, including half of my friend Billys face.
Look, I don't get tattoos to provoke old people or to rebel or something shallow like that. My tattoos are for myself, I don't really care if you like them or hate them.
Every single person I know under the age of 35 has a tattoo. I don't even count mine anymore. I love my tattoos, it's so much more personal and meaningful than some piece of clothing. I'm reminded everytime I look at my skin of who I am as a person. That's an awesome experience.
Look, I don't get tattoos to provoke old people or to rebel or something shallow like that. My tattoos are for myself, I don't really care if you like them or hate them.
Every single person I know under the age of 35 has a tattoo. I don't even count mine anymore. I love my tattoos, it's so much more personal and meaningful than some piece of clothing. I'm reminded everytime I look at my skin of who I am as a person. That's an awesome experience.
13
Well, the only certainty in fashion is change, and eventually the novelty of fresh, clean, healthy looking skin will be the thing. My sister says a good investment would be tattoo removal technologies. I think she may be right.
39
My dad was a merchant marine in the 1940s and 1950s. Many of his fellow able bodied seaman sported tattoos. They got them in foreign ports while drinking on leave. Although Dad certainly drank in port, he never got a tattoo. He respected his body and instilled that in his children. As a kid I thought men w tattoos were not too bright. I still am amazed it is a fashion trend.
34
What was once a signifier of fierce non conformity is now the opposite. I overheard a young girl tell a friend about plans for her first tattoo as if it were an inevitable rite of passage. Join the herd.
37
...and when the fad passes and becomes first passé and overdone, as all fads eventually do, it's not like you can just stow your tattoo in a closet or attic
43
Have none of these people been through 5th grade?
Reminds me of my 4th grade notebook. Scribbled a bunch of stupid stuff on it. Then in June, I threw it away. No pristine 5th grade September re-issue for these folks. They've got to live with their inked on 4th grade doodles for life.
Seriously. Why would I let a high school drop out deface my body for life with blobs that wouldn't be tolerated on my wall for a week?
Reminds me of my 4th grade notebook. Scribbled a bunch of stupid stuff on it. Then in June, I threw it away. No pristine 5th grade September re-issue for these folks. They've got to live with their inked on 4th grade doodles for life.
Seriously. Why would I let a high school drop out deface my body for life with blobs that wouldn't be tolerated on my wall for a week?
39
Because not every tattoo has to be done by a sketchy teenager in a slimy tattoo parlor and not every tattoo is just some children's doodle.
These people (likely) go to licensed professionals who care a great deal about what they do. Tattoo artists, in particular, are TRULY artists. Some of the work I've seen tattoo artists do is honestly phenomenal artistically, and most of them design every aspect of the tattoo themselves. And then have the skill to pull it off.
Widen your world view, my friend. Your personal prejudices may not be fact.
These people (likely) go to licensed professionals who care a great deal about what they do. Tattoo artists, in particular, are TRULY artists. Some of the work I've seen tattoo artists do is honestly phenomenal artistically, and most of them design every aspect of the tattoo themselves. And then have the skill to pull it off.
Widen your world view, my friend. Your personal prejudices may not be fact.
2
Prager University have a 5:49 minutes long video on YouTube called "Why is Modern Art so Bad?" (sorry, cannot post link so please search for the video) that tried to explain why so many people don't care for modern arts, even those with high profiles. I am in complete agreement with the video because I believe there is such thing as beauty and it can be empirically proven. Shock value on the other hand is purely subjective. A woman showing her ankle might be shocking to someone from a very conservative nation and no one else whereas a Chinese garden is consider beautiful by everyone.
8
I have one particular rule regarding life choices: if whatever I am doing can be done by a high school dropout but would require a MD or JD to fix, then it is not something I am going to do.
Does this rule applies to tattoo? People get tattoo and piercing from sketchy people that sometimes live above the store and if the tattoo is bad it requires a dermatologist to fix. Yep.
Does this rule applies to tattoo? People get tattoo and piercing from sketchy people that sometimes live above the store and if the tattoo is bad it requires a dermatologist to fix. Yep.
31
I hope none of the people with extensive tattoos want to live and work in Japan. In that country, anyone with tattoos is associated with the Yakuza, or local gangsters. Tattooed people are barred from public baths, hot springs, gyms and many other places.
I wonder if there are other countries with similar views? China might be one, since Chinese gangsters also tattoo themselves.
I wonder if there are other countries with similar views? China might be one, since Chinese gangsters also tattoo themselves.
27
A Taiwanese-American friend who has a fair amount of visible tattoos says she has problems whenever she visits her grandmother in Taipei. Everyone thinks she must be a thug and she is frequently mis-gendered.
4
Tattoo are banned for good reason. Before modern time, which leading civilization have wide spread tattooing? For most of history tattoo is associated with barbarian, island natives and criminals.
China and I guess by extension Japan, Korea and Vietnam tattoo a criminal's crime on his forehead so everywhere the criminal goes the local would know that's an ex-con.
China and I guess by extension Japan, Korea and Vietnam tattoo a criminal's crime on his forehead so everywhere the criminal goes the local would know that's an ex-con.
@ AmateurHistorian
Banned where?
Banned where?
1
I was walking behind a couple last week. I felt bad for him as he had what looked like disfiguring scars on his legs. (I'm in FL, shorts for most of us) As it turned out, he had just really bad tattoos on his legs. Completely indistinguishable from scarring from a reasonable distance.
Who wants that? I don't know, seems odd to me, many tats look like skin damage, not art. And one you go past a little, it's obsessive.
Who wants that? I don't know, seems odd to me, many tats look like skin damage, not art. And one you go past a little, it's obsessive.
32
Sorry, but fashion statements? No. All I see is bad decisions made by people who thought they were going to be 20 years old for the rest of their lives.
165
When everyone is tatted, pierced, guaged, and modded up, the pristine body will become the new rage.
130
While I respect people who choose to modify their temples to suit their proclivities, I couldn't wait to get my braces off so I could kiss my high school girlfriend without risking lacerations.
16
Let me be the first to weigh in on this "adornment."
A simple tattoo -- ok. A piercing -- ok, depending on where it is.
These extremes? Repulsive. I once didn't hire a person because his face was so tattooed, you couldn't have a conversation with him without being distracted.
A simple tattoo -- ok. A piercing -- ok, depending on where it is.
These extremes? Repulsive. I once didn't hire a person because his face was so tattooed, you couldn't have a conversation with him without being distracted.
90
Distracting you from connecting with them meaningfully, is the point. This is the facebook generation.
1
Piercings can (generally) come in and out without much hassle, but it's very hard for me to see someone with an entire face and neck covered in tattoos and not assume he's mentally ill.
120
According to my sensibility, 99 percent of tattoos are a tragic mistake and look horrible. You see more skin on the street now that the weather is getting warmer, and as I walk around I see so many cases that make my heart sink, on women's skin especially. As for piercings, I would ban almost all of it with two exceptions: (a) pierced earlobes for earrings, and (b) that little dot on the side of the nose that Indian women have -- but you would only be allowed to have it if you were Indian and/or had the right shape of nose. In my proposed legislation, there would of course (because mine would be a liberal administration) be exceptions, but these would be precisely limited. Tattoos would be permitted only to members of the following groups: 1 - Japanese yakuza gangsters; 2 - Maori warriors; 3 - Sailors.
As for 3, my father served in the United States Navy during WW2 and had a small tattoo of a bluebird on his upper right arm. I believe the reason sailors had tattoos was so that if they drowned and were grappled out of the sea, their bodies could be identified by their tattoos.
I'm going to start a kickstarter project for a tattoo removal business. it will be called regret dot com. I'll be a billionaire in just a couple of years, and will be able to launch rockets into space just for fun.
As for 3, my father served in the United States Navy during WW2 and had a small tattoo of a bluebird on his upper right arm. I believe the reason sailors had tattoos was so that if they drowned and were grappled out of the sea, their bodies could be identified by their tattoos.
I'm going to start a kickstarter project for a tattoo removal business. it will be called regret dot com. I'll be a billionaire in just a couple of years, and will be able to launch rockets into space just for fun.
101
Eh, it's been half a century and I still like my tattoo.
But is the soul being suborned by art? Which is in control?
Me?
Or it?
Me?
Or it?
2
Great. And when the fun and buzz wear off and some-most of you try to get a job, good luck.
58
Fashion comes and goes. Tattoos stay.
72
I love my untouched skim. it's crazy to me that it almost feels like a radical choice when I'm on the subway in the summer next to so many tats but it increasingly does!
72
eta "skin"! (typing w/o glasses!)
Well it may be eye-popping but popped eyes are ugly. And so is this.
The pendulum will swing back soon. There's no more stuff you can do to yourself.
If you notice, the young generation no longer is tattooing etc. Look at the college-age kids. Look at the basketball teams, because you can see their skin. There are remarkably few tattoos.
Bare flawless skin is in. This look is not cutting edge but passe.
The pendulum will swing back soon. There's no more stuff you can do to yourself.
If you notice, the young generation no longer is tattooing etc. Look at the college-age kids. Look at the basketball teams, because you can see their skin. There are remarkably few tattoos.
Bare flawless skin is in. This look is not cutting edge but passe.
93
I didn't even pretend to read this article. Tattoos and piercings are ridiculous and evidence of how self absorbed society has become. Nothing says "loser" quite like visible "modification" - good luck in the job market . . . Oh, you did want to serve coffee as a career? My bad.
123
"The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveller's cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same...Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new...Let Harlequin be taken with a fit of the colic and his trappings will have to serve that mood too. When the soldier is hit by a cannon-ball, rags are as becoming as purple...The childish and savage taste of men and women for new patterns keeps how many shaking and squinting through kaleidoscopes that they may discover the particular figure which this generation requires to-day. The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical. Of two patterns which differ only by a few threads more or less of a particular color, the one will be sold readily, the other lie on the shelf, though it frequently happens that after the lapse of a season the latter becomes the most fashionable. Comparatively, tattooing is not the hideous custom which it is called. It is not barbarous merely because the printing is skin-deep and unalterable..." Thoreau, Henry D. "Walden" (1854).
Nuff said.
Nuff said.
33
Nope, sorry... Just can't see it. Seems mostly to be a way for folks to cry out for attention. Of course, once enough people start doing it, then it's no longer attention-worthy enough. At which point, said folks will have to up the ante by coming up with something new that they hope will be shocking. The response that keeps coming to my mind is simply: "Whatever... [insert eye roll here]."
43
Yep, there is no more 'shock value' to it and most people are just rolling their eyes. People don't really look closely enough to see what the tattoos say or what the picture is and it just looks like dirty smudges from a distance. A butterfly on a bosom at 18 morphs into a buzzard at 60, all detail fades when skin becomes crepe papery with age.
Like anything else, if you show people something, there will always be the copycat effect. That what modern society seems to be now. If the Ks have it, everyone wants it. It used to be only the lowest class in Japan had tattoos, but I have recently read of an Egyptian mummy 3000 years old with tattoos that had some religious connection. Personally, I find them repellant but chacun a son gout.
19
Gonna get me a diamond dental grill so I can provoke some strangers I'll never see again. They'll prolly think I'm a disgusting but cool old lady. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Can I get there by bus?
44
Hottest comment I've read all year!
I find it so ironic that people do these things to their body in the name of "individuality". The inked and pierced masses are the real sheep.
When you have all these accoutrements on your body you can never truly be naked, and thus, never really be yourself. You're always dressed up and covering up your true self.
I had tattoos, a lip ring and a navel ring 20 years ago when I was a teenager. That's the time you do this. Then you grow up and get them removed when you realize that the real freedom is being able to be in your own skin and not have to abuse it to get attention (whether positive or negative) from strangers.
I feel sorry for middle-aged women and men who do this. They look ridiculous.
The ultimate body modification/accessory should be self-confidence.
Now that's cool. Your half-sleeve in middle school. Eye roll. Puh-leeze.
For what it's worth I do think some people genuinely get tatts and piercings for good reasons that have nothing to do with getting attention. But they are rare.
When you have all these accoutrements on your body you can never truly be naked, and thus, never really be yourself. You're always dressed up and covering up your true self.
I had tattoos, a lip ring and a navel ring 20 years ago when I was a teenager. That's the time you do this. Then you grow up and get them removed when you realize that the real freedom is being able to be in your own skin and not have to abuse it to get attention (whether positive or negative) from strangers.
I feel sorry for middle-aged women and men who do this. They look ridiculous.
The ultimate body modification/accessory should be self-confidence.
Now that's cool. Your half-sleeve in middle school. Eye roll. Puh-leeze.
For what it's worth I do think some people genuinely get tatts and piercings for good reasons that have nothing to do with getting attention. But they are rare.
205
So nice of you to tell this large, diverse group what it means for them to be themselves. It's also quite convenient that you know WHY all of these folks are inclined towards body modification--obviously just an attention grabber, right?
2
I recently got a piercing & additional ink. I'm well above 35 y/o. The ultimate sign of confidence is not caring what people like you think.
5
I still like my tattoo. Good thing I got a nice one -- freaking out the grownups holds little interest when you're 61!
2
Snarky old person comment:
Amazing art, yes. But the ink is toxic; shows up in autopsies, bad for the liver. There are some organic tattooers; look for them.
And being old, I want to live long enough to see how my grandkids deal with drooping skin distorting what was done on firm tight young skin.
Amazing art, yes. But the ink is toxic; shows up in autopsies, bad for the liver. There are some organic tattooers; look for them.
And being old, I want to live long enough to see how my grandkids deal with drooping skin distorting what was done on firm tight young skin.
74
Concerns about what that cute tattoo you got at 20 turns into a saggy mess at age 70 prevented me from getting any tats.
Plus the fact that removal doesn't always turn out that great, especially for skin of color. I'll stick with temporary ink for fun & fashion.
Plus the fact that removal doesn't always turn out that great, especially for skin of color. I'll stick with temporary ink for fun & fashion.
10
Plus they stretch when they get older. I heard a comedian say that he met his HS girl friend at reunion and Tweety Bird was now Big Bird. And not that they are toxic to the body but they are toxic to the eyes...I hope I live long enough to see lumber jack beards gone except for lumber kjacks
Give it one hundred years. Then the joke will be: How do you describe head to toe tattoos, nose rings, lip plates and a loin cloth? Answer: business attire.