To tatt or not tattoo?

I've been planning to get a tattoo for years. I didn't want to rush into a decision like my brother, who at 19 branded an alien on his back (he later covered it up with a better choice). If I look back at the choices I had at 15, then at 19, and again at 23 I'm glad I didn't get any of them permanently stained on my skin. A Tattoo is a personal thing, or rather should be. Too often I see people getting "slogans" or pictures that don't mean anything to them, really.

Should people be required to sit through questioning or tests before being allowed to get a tattoo? Marc Jacobs might want to take this test for instance. However he did have this to say on the subject :

"I really have a good attitude about tattooing. When I first got one, two years ago, I was like, I'm not going to overthink this or what it means, or what it's going to be like when I'm 80. I want to get tattooed today, and in five weeks, I'll get a Sponge Bob tattoo. Will I regret it someday? I don't know, but I'm not going to deny myself this pleasure today because of what I don't know in the future."

So as a first time tattoo-er I've been going through the process of thinking of 'Who Am I?" and "What do I want my tattoo to say of me". I honestly have no clue. My tattoo obviously doesn't speak English.

I work in Fashion so I started thinking about different images that could embody my personality and the industry I'm in now, without being showy- I imagine a sketched-like figure or face. I've even considered lyrics to my favorite Bon Iver song, and of course I've obsessed over anchors and swallow tattoos for years but I've seen it all over the place. What I do know is that once I get the first one a few more will follow. Small ones probably.









In the last few years the 'Tattoo' has evolved and become part of the 'Look', an accessory. So what happens when you decide to change that look? As humans we're programmed to evolve and change our minds, hence my apprehension. But I have a contrasting thought on this-- if you are passionate about some particular object or iconography at a particular time it later speaks of where you've been.

The following tattoo's make no sense to me. I happen to own an Apple Ibook and an ipod but I wouldn't tattoo it on my ass. Someone else put time and money and passion into a business and some guy/girl merely copied and pasted it on their body without it meaning anything to them.





And then of course there is the theory that masculine war-art tattoos, also of the celtic variety make you more hip, young, fierce. It doesn't. :) At the end of the day it's your body and you should do what you like with it--and people do! But considering a tattoo should be longer process than say, a weekend. Because it's for life. And it's an extension of who you are.

So who are you?

Some images of tattoos with fashion in mind:






Drawing from "What I saw today"
Those and other Stupid tattoo's here.
Other pictures collected in random.