Are you looking to add an edge and style to your latest fashion line?
Or as a photographer are you looking for something cool, fresh, and completely on trend for the next front cover of Vogue magazine?
Maybe it’s time to think about using and styling models with tattoos?
A growing trend
More and more editorials, advertisements and catwalks now feature models with tattoos than ever before – whether real or in the form of sleeves and body stockings.
Why?
Because tattoos and tattoo accessories within the fashion industry can be seen to add character, personality, show a sense of individuality as well as imbue an edge to overall visions and styles. All helping to enhance your image, build your brand name and your reputation, by making your personality and style known and stand out.
Powerful fashion brands such as Dolce and Gabbana, Chanel, and Moschino have all been known to showcase models who display their tattoos on the catwalk, and Dior’s Spring 2018 catwalk saw models grace the runway with temporary tattoos, to create the bold image they wanted to inspire with their collection.
Fashion Designer: Sasha Louise
Vogue also jumped on the tattoo trend creating temporary tattoos back in 2017 for their 125th anniversary.
And at Milan Fashion Week, as far back as 2016, Dsquared2’s spring/summer 2016 displayed their menswear collection with all of their models wearing full body tattoo stockings!
Consider using tattoos as a feature of your work
When looking at your collections or images contemplate what “fashion tattoos” could bring to your overall style.
Using temporary tattoos, 3D tattoos, tattoo jewellery, as well as models adorned in real tattoos, can help to connect you with a target audience. Today tattoos have moved from being fringe and often anti-fashion to a more mainstream level of acceptance, certainly in the West.
Plus, with 47% of millennials now said to have at least one tattoo on their body, and the dramatic shift in perception when it comes to the form of body art, as a fashion professional could this be the perfect time to add an edge to your work that promotes empowerment and generates admiration across an entire generation?
A fashion designer who has always had a positive attitude towards tattoos is, Marc Jacobs. Proudly displaying his own, showing a diary of his creative personal life, Jacobs has commented in the past that “in an industry where models have to have a pretty uniform look, tattoos help to define the individuality of a model, giving her character.”
The two words of importance here are individuality and character. The stigma surrounding tattoos is vast beginning to fade as people develop a greater acceptance of diversity and subsequently just what this can offer to brands.
As a designer, photographer, make-up artist, etc, creating a smart and exciting look and style is now being demanded and frequently sought after.
The highest in demand models now include Jimmy Q who has been photographed for Vogue and Nylon Magazine for his edgy and masculine style and demeanour as well as Stephen James who has worked for top brands such as Calvin Klein. Supermodels Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunngetting are also not only high in demand, but both have symbolic, permanent ink which are often highlighted on the catwalk and feature editorials.
The fashion industry prides itself on leading the way when it comes to celebrating self-expression, through the designs we see developed to the photos displayed on front cover magazines. Tattoo sleeves, as well as real tattoos, are changing the face of fashion and can no longer be disregarded from our creative vision; instead we should be open to the strong, gritty side that this form of body art can offer.
We’d love to hear from you! Share your views with us, or if you have a question you’d like to ask, email us at
co*****@ww*.uk
