In life, at work and in fashion there comes a tipping point.
A time where the pressing need to do a specific something weakens and, fairly swiftly, collapses.
It is particularly noticeable in the world of fashion and fad.
Be it hula hoops, yo-yos, Oxford bags or velour cat-suits, their time comes and goes.
Especially for the cat-suit ! Shame.
Which brings me to body art.
Moving around I have noticed that the level of inking the body has reached epidemic proportions.
The proliferation of tattoos is reaching the levels a popular (but fleeting) fashion brand.
Now before the chorus of “shut up you grumpy old thing” echo around the place, let me reveal my own piece of body adornment.
Deep breath folks.
Andy Adorned
The Celtic double headed eagle has been on my shoulder for two decades and more and I am happy to see him there.
When the ink hit the flesh back in a suitably seedy tattoo parlour in Sydney’s Surry Hills in the early 90s it was after a deal of consideration based on the feeling that the “tatt” had “to fit”.
Back then the mere appearance of such a body marking raised the hackles of numerous friends … and a few admiring glances.
Fast forward and in the second decade of the 21st century there is body ink of every hue & design - and much of it, to my eye, doesn’t seem to “fit”.
The “fit” is about design, the colour, the location. The totality of it. It’s about truly owning what you wear.
Too many people seem to have come away from the tattoo parlour with something akin to an “impulse buy” encouraged by contemporary mores and last week’s piece in the paper or on “The Project”.
They seem to own it in the way they used to own an analogue telly.
Not much pride, but a necessity of the time.
I fear that for some people more is actually less, and much more is a gift to the tatt removalists of the future.
Don’t get me wrong, many where their ink with great pride and a deal of élan not to mention joie de vivre.
And more power to their inked elbows.
These are folk who will wear tatts for years to come without a second thought.
And what they wear and show are intensely personal statements.
As for those who have inked as a fashion & fad statement … learn to really love that tatt.
