Fashion Fades

Fashion changes pretty quickly. Those flat ankle boots you got last winter now seem frumpy and safe compared to the studded heels that are all the rage now. Your trusty trapper hat has been disregarded in favour of an obscenity-emblazoned snapback (or baseball cap, if you’re as old as me) and that t-shirt bearing the name of that metal band you loved a year ago…who wants that now there’s a new Obey offering up for grabs? There are thousands of examples of trends coming and going, with some, thankfully, disappearing as quickly as they first burst onto the scene (hammertime pants, anyone?), but that’s part of the fun of it.
See, when it comes to fashion, clothes and accessories are the parts that don’t really matter all that much because they don’t have lasting implications. A massive orange puffa jacket will be welcomed into Oxfam along with your old acid-washed jean shorts and those horrible Creepers that were never a good idea.
Hairstyles get a bit more serious when the fashion tide turns. Who wants to be left with a neon-striped Mohawk when trend dictates it’s all about lengthy curls? Not to mention the hundreds of girls left cursing the day they ever deemed an undercut to be the height of sophistication. Unwanted colours and wacky styles take a bit more time and effort to bin than a trip to the local charity shop, but eventually they can be rectified and the current mop du jour can be applied to your bonce in due time.

But what about the trends that come around and leave permanent, sometimes unwanted, reminders of your wasted youth? Tattoos a-plenty is what’s en vogue these days, with everyone claiming to love body art and masses of youngsters aspiring to be tattooists. It doesn’t matter that the majority of these folk were rocking grandparent chic two months ago, before abruptly deciding they’re now the hardest of the core, and produce ‘drawings’ akin to a blindfolded primary school child. It’s like the good old days of MySpace, when every camera-phone-toting scenester proclaimed they were photographers.
Unlike those faux-tographers, the army of LA Ink-inspired wannabes are dabbling in an altogether more permanent world. Tattoos are for life, everyone knows that, so you might as well get a good one and go to an actual artist for your work, which seems to be the concept that so many people are choosing to ignore.

The Quality vs. Quantity argument is very apt in today’s fashion-driven world, with many teenagers choosing to get as much coverage from head to toe before they hit their mid-twenties. Unfortunately the vast majority of these people are going to useless tattooists and coming out with sleeves, chestpieces and throats covered in, well, shit.
Sadly with the trend of tattoos has come the attitude that more is best, regardless of how well done they are. Status has become attached to the quantity of tattoos a person has, with heavily-tattooed men being messiahs of sexiness, even if they’re covered in diabolical work, whilst guys with one or two pieces of spot-on work are overlooked simply because they aren’t covered.
Surprisingly, tattoos can make people seem irresistible, point in case Mitch Lucker. He’s not attractive and his band haven’t done anything good since 2009, yet he’s heralded as being amazing and awesome and oh-so-gorgeous because he has tattoos. The most re-blogged and followed girls on Tumblr have stacks and stacks of tattoos; Radeo Suicide has some beyond questionable pieces but she’s the poster girl for hot, sexy chicks with ink!

Too much emphasis is put on tattoos, and people are being heralded as deities for no real purpose. Non-tattooed folk aren’t worth a thing to some people, which is pretty ironic because they’re usually the ones who get whingy for being treated different for being tattooed. It works both ways. No-one is better than anybody else, tattooed or not.
The status needs to be taken away from tattoos and people need to realise that, while it seems like the most important thing in the world right now, as you grow up it becomes a lot more different in regards to peoples’ perceptions.

I often wonder if the thousands of youngsters who are dazzled by this lifestyle really understand how having tattoos can affect the day-to-day aspects of life. People will stare. Constantly. And not even try to pretend they’re not. There’ll be unfair judgement, hassle from employers, presumptions made and, to the extreme, even unwarranted physical abuse.
On the outside it’s harmless body expression, and it’s fantastic that people feel comfortable enough to be able to express themselves. But tattoos are a current trend; another bandwagon that’s becoming more and more full by the day. What happens when the people on that wagon get bored like they have done with every other trend they’ve jumped on? Is the NHS going to foot the bill for laser surgery on all the unwanted tattoos across the nation?

StyleWatch: Brad Wroe

BRAD WROE . 20 . NORTH EAST

HAT: VANS
COAT: LEVI'S
T-SHIRT: LOTEK
JEANS: H&M
SHOES: NIKE 6.0

DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE: BMX; I'm wearing big spastic velcro shoes and a Lotek t-shirt.

FAVOURITE ITEM FROM THIS OUTFIT AND WHY? The shoes because they are practical as well as nice-looking. They protect my ankles when I ride and it's the first time I've come across the Mogan-mids in a decent colour. And I know it's not clothing but my tattoos are pretty special, they're my birthday suit outfit!

ANY ITEMS ON YOUR WISHLIST? Some more better-fitting BMX t-shirts - I'm bigger than I used to be and baggier ones are more comfortable to ride in.

BIGGEST FASHION FUCK-UP: I'm originally from Preston so it's a pretty big travesty that I've never owned a shellsuit.

FAVOURITE BRANDS: Nike, Vans, Lotek, Actual Pain and general band merch.

HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR STYLE WILL EVOLVE OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS? I'll probably just end up wearing baggier clothes; my diet won't allow me to stay in pants like this for much longer!

Tattoos As Self-Harm



By Danny Derrick

Reading a back issue of Skin Deep I came across an article that brought up the idea of tattooing being akin to self-harm. I got thinking and had to question whether the two could really be linked.
First of all, are there any similarities between them?
Both mark your body and are done through choice. But that’s it. In my mind nothing else draws a parallel between getting a tattoo and choosing to harm yourself.

When it comes to self-harm it is usually an act of release and a way of regaining power when everything seems out of control. There isn’t a ‘one-trigger-fits-all’ situation that can cause the feelings of helplessness, much less one universal reason for the situation to present itself.
Perhaps most importantly are the circumstances in which self-harming occurs. It’s no secret that society’s view on the subject is seriously skewed, which explains the highly clandestine manner in which sufferers go about things. It’s a sorry state that even now there is still such ignorance about psychological problems and the ways in which people deal with them. If more help and understanding was commonly known of, the chances are more sufferers would come forward and ask for the help that they deserve.

The main argument against the idea of tattoos being classed as self-harm is the control element. If the only shred of power in your life is to wound your own body, would you hand it over to a stranger? Would you allow them to inflict the pain you’ve come to rely on? Something that is so personal and therapeutic wouldn’t be relinquished just for a tattoo.
The power given to tattooists is huge; giving someone the opportunity to mark your body for life is something that requires so much trust and is fully governed by the artist. To cover yourself in tattoos is one thing, to suffer at the altar of self-harm is quite another, and it’s increasingly obvious that the two have no correlation whatsoever.

Tattoos are so common now that it’s rare to find a person without one. Does that mean the majority of the population self-harm? Well, no. It’s easy for psychologists to pop in their ideas by claiming there’s a link, but they probably have every Marilyn Manson fan down as a murderer and every football fan as a prowling, yobbish thug.
The point is, there’s no link between the two and claims of this nature are completely preposterous, not to mention potentially damaging and dangerous. Of course there will be self-harmers who get tattoos, but they aren’t doing so as an act of causing further injury to themselves. It’s the same for people with no desire to self-harm – they wouldn’t suddenly feel the need to inflict pain after getting tattooed.

I have tattoos because I adore how they look and I enjoy the culture surrounding tattooing in regards to travelling to get work done, creating new friendships and making great memories – not to mention being adorned in some beautiful art work. On the opposite side, I used to self-harm. It began when I was 14 and lasted until I was 19, with a relapse of around 8 months just before I was 21.
As a person who can speak about both subjects from personal experience I feel that the concept of tagging tattoos as self-harm is ludicrous. I want to show off my tattoos, talk about them, admire them and get more of them, whereas with harming myself I wanted nothing more than to keep it to myself for fear of being branded crazy or worse. There’s also a deep-rooted shame that I had to resort to those actions, whereas the only shame I’d feel with a tattoo is if I was stupid enough to go to a manky home scratcher and come away with a turd-butterfly and a side of AIDS.

Happily that’s not going to happen, and even happier is the thought of having those dark days behind me. Nowadays I look forward to the buzz of the tattoo machine and seeing finished pieces that are made with mountains of skill and effort.
That sounds like the complete opposite of harmful to me.