Can someone please explain the fashion for tattoos?

[speakout]

I don't get it.
I am an older mum, with two young adult kids. They both have tattoos.
Doesn't float my boat, and they know I am not keen, but they also know I support their choices- their bodies, not my place- so noconflict there at all.
Truthfully I don't understand the appeal, the motivation.

Can anyone explain why tats are appealing?

Humans have been decorating themselves since time immemorial.

The aversion to tattoos in society came from the church I think.

How old is older?

Just checking, I got my first at 17, and I'm 50 now and have a few more - Am I older? Should I be in the regreting it stage, or getting more?

Something we agree on 😆😆😆😆

Gave me the satisfaction of thinking (wouldn't dare say it!) "told you so" now my adult DD really regrets her tattoo that she had done at 18

I can tell you why they are appealing to me personally, though I agree with a previous poster that this is different to analysing the cultural shift that’s made them more common/fashionable/prevalent/visible over the last few decades.

*a passionate interest in drawing (I’m an art teacher), and a belief in its value which means I like finding opportunities to work with/pay artists.

*the feeling that I have ownership/agency over my body. I like feeling like bits of my story are there on my skin. I like that they’re not visible unless I’m in swimwear - they’re not for display, they’re something I find beautiful and meaningful that’s just for me. Lots of body changes are things I’d never have actively chosen (eg prolapse, scars, sagging skin, deteriorating eyesight etc) but my tattoos are an active choice and a celebration/gift to myself. I think the distaste for them sometimes comes from this idea that bodies stay pristine/perfect unless you ink them, but bodies are mortal and failure-prone and subject to change regardless so you might as well draw on them if it makes you happy!

• I like how they look

• I’m interested in visual language and non-verbal storytelling. They’re one interesting example of that.

This is what I was going to say too.

By its very definition, 'fashion' is of a time.
Even looking at the glasses people were wearing in the 00s, or 80s, or 60s make people smile now, as in 2022 they look silly - as do the platform shoes and cheesecloth shirts and ginormous collars and waistbands of the 70s or the crotch skimming dresses or long hair and beards and flowing robes of the late 60s / early 70s...... or the punks....or the New Romantics.....or the padded shoulders and collarless shirts and big suits of the 80s ....etc etc etc

The thing is, as people grow a bit older, or move to another stage in their life, most people change their style a bit. Yes, you get the odd old rocker or goth or punk or hippy or any other style, but, overwhelmingly, people move on sub-consciously as styles and fashions change, but with a tattoo, you can't. It is there forever. Hair cuts, clothes, glasses, make up, hair colour, piercings can all be changed or removed when you move past that phase.
That is what I don't like about tattoos - the permanence of them. Totally get that we all have different tastes in what looks nice or doesn't, but don't think many people want to look the same all their lives.
Most people evolve and develop between 18 and 98. I wouldn't want to be stuck with the same haircut or make up or shoe choice or style of glasses or clothes I was wearing 40 years ago, so I'm glad I can change as life moves on.

This again?

I'm just decorating my home. This quote probably won't mean anything to some people but it means so much to me

I don't get why people wear frumpy breton tops, brown shoes and clothing but that's as far as it goes.

Massively what @MsOllie says.

And @fantasmasgoria1 I’ve got a Breton top and several pairs of brown brogues AND tattoos. Am I a hopeless case?! 😜

My style has always been gothy/alternative, however my morher had such a visceral aversion to them tgat I never dared to get one when young as it just wouldn't have been worth the grief.

Had my first finally at 29, my mum made her feelings known but as I was almost 30 wasn't much ahe could really do about it but send me to Coventry for a bit.

Had a couple more in 2016 and had a largish forearm pieve done this May at the grand old age of 49 which I love and will be extending up my upper arm when finances allow.

I'll cover up when I see my mum because I don't want to upset her, but tbh over the years she has made it clear that she has and will do what she wants on various things, so I no longer not do what I want.

So in summary, as far as I'm concerned, I was put off for years as didn't want to upset my mother, haven't regretted my tattoos and think they suit my style/personality.. not arsed about following fashion or what anybody else does.

Really the question should be, why not have tattoo. Humans have been tattooing themselves for thousands of years. The mummified skin of the Bronze-Age man from around 3300 BC found in a glacier in Europe had 57 tattoos.

Its thousands of years old not a modern fashion.

Here we go again….

I'm really torn.
I fancy a small one, but don't much like other people's.

I think the occasional striking tattoo on an amazing body is fabulously enhancing and attractive. Most of us miss that standard though!

I can't stand half a tattoo- I see them poking out around clothes, spoiling the lines, and find it distracting.

I occasionally see a great one, and really admire it, but far more often see ones that are a bit meh.

And they are permanent but degrade over time.

Would you choose a shirt or scarf that you could never take off? There's not a shirt in the world I'd want to commit to.

So I've no objection in principal, I just find I'm not keen in practice. Generally because they simply aren't stylish enough to wear forever.

I love my tattoos. I had small crap 9nes when I was young and cover ups are always much bigger. I regretted the bad ones when I was young (90s tramp stamp) but love my big new ones and know I always will. Its a statement of the middle aged me.

I’m baffled by them too and I think they look trashy and very ugly on old skin. Other fashions can also be ghastly like the scouse brow and those ridiculous fake lashes that are meant to look fake but hey, each to her own. Not for me but we are all free to do what we like thank God.

My shoes all cost more than 500 pounds but I wear them for at least 10 years and never buy throw away fashion. Agreed I can take them off but I could have my tattoos removed too. Nobody really sees them but me sadly. Having lost almost 45kg, I love my body and feel sexy. If you don't find me sexy, that's OK, I did it for me and unless we were intimate, you wouldn't know. Each to their own, I don't mind that people don't really get the buzz, my husband is indifferent to them but it shouldn't be a judgement point. I certainly don't go round showing people mine 😀

I love all of mine and am 40. I got my first at 23. I love them because they’re beautiful, only I have my tattoos (they’re all custom) and they commemorate points on my life journey.

I also love them on other people. (The top of a tattoo peeking out of the neck of a man’s tshirt? 🥵🔥) Horses for courses, though. If you don’t like them, you don’t have to get one! They’re very expensive and time consuming to get!

I'm 52 and about to get my 8th. It's definitely not a fashion for me. I like the fact I can freely express myself in anyway I choose now. As a child I would suffer abuse if I tried to express myself, I now celebrate my freedom.

I couldn't have put this any better. It totally expresses my feelings on tattoos. Thanks for sharing this.

Why is blue hair appealing to some? Why are piercings appealing to some? Why are certain fashion styles appealing to some?

Personally, I love tattoos and have done since I was a child. I am tatted and pierced. They just look good to me (depending on design!)

Could anyone explain the fashion for inverted bobs and Skechers? Truthfully I don't understand the appeal, the motivation.

Can anyone explain why they are so appealing?

Because the average IQ is falling, which will continue to worsen as the middle class is squeezed out of existence and only the very rich and very poor have kids.

For me it's not fashion, I have scars I want to cover up, and I hate people pointing it out "oh look at you with tattoos" for me it was a way to disguise my scars from an accident, nothing to do with fashion