Human beings have been using their bodies as a blank canvass to add symbolic shapes or jewellery to since we first walked upon this earth. When you see footage of newly discovered tribes around the world, their bodies and faces are often adorned with markings that signify either a battle won or mark an important stage in their lives. In the Western world the tattoo has remained popular as a way for any body from from any walk of life to add meaningful graphics to their body. Celebrities have collectively increased the desire for us to face the needle and leave with a meaningful ‘scratching’ on a carefully selected part of our bodies.
David Beckham’s body is a walking gallery of body art, his scratchings all have meanings relating to his family, approach to the world and his career. Angelina Jolie also sports tattoos that refer to her children. Fortunately for these two celebrities the tattoos have not caused then any problems with furthering their career, but they have a lot of clout as A Listers and make up artists and Photoshop experts are particularly good at hiding tattoos. For many of us a tattoo may be detrimental to our career path.
The sole purpose of a tattoo is so that you can show it off to the rest of the world and let them know what an individual thinker you are. By adding this distinguishing mark you are making yourself very memorable and easily identifiable, which is great if you want to be a male stripper or body builder. However if you want to join the MI5 and become a spy you are not allowed to have a tattoo on your; face, neck and forearm because it makes you very easy to identify. If you care read the job description further you would probably find sitting around doing very little really boring and if you are the type of person that likes to hide a lot you are very unlikely to have a tattoo anyway. Maybe you should consider the long term impact of the positioning of your tattoo because the way you feel about yourself and the world as a stroppy teenager changes dramatically when you settle down as you get older. Imagine suddenly wanting to become a vicar with the words, ‘love’, and ,’hate’, inked into your knuckles.
Avoid getting romantic tattoos done with your present squeezes name or face because you will probably split up just after your skin has healed and you have taken the plaster off – believe me it will make pulling another girl a bit of a challenge. If you must have a tattoo make sure you put it in a place that can be easily concealed with long sleeves or trousers and don’t go for a really cheap one done by a psychopath with a ball point pen after twenty pints in Ibiza. Also make sure that the reason you have it is a good one otherwise you may find yourself looking extremely stupid in the future explaining that you got that tattoo of the naked lady for a bet.
If you like the idea of looking as if you have got attitude but don’t want to commit to a tattoo, Religion clothing have fantastic t-shirts that aim to shock and include the complimentary naked ladies and roses in their designs. This Bad Ass T-shirt from Religion shows just enough flesh and ink to distract from the fact that you haven’t been gunned or inked.
What ever you decide to do – just make sure that you are choosing a design that you are happy with and are willing to spend the rest of your life with. Remember you may be young now with taut skin but it will get wrinkly and saggy in the future!
Young Men's Fashion Advice 