Photo: Corbis
A trend analysis
Especially women are more and more enjoying the great art of pinpricks. Which is totally hip. And what you should make-up
The little cousin carries the title of her favorite song on her wrist. And over the anchor on the arm of his big brother grandma no longer wrinkles her nose. "In the meantime, there is someone in every family who is tattooed - a total of twelve million Germans, " says psychologist Dirk Hofmeister. While tattoos used to be popular with rockers and crackers in the past, today they have long been socially acceptable. Especially women are getting tattooed more and more often ; 14- to 24-year-old girls have overtaken the men of the same age, according to a study of the University of Leipzig. What's in fashion right now has been around for millennia: the ancient Egyptians, the Incas and even the glacier mummy Ötzi - they all had tattoos. With us, the needle art were mainly known by the sailors. How she made it out of the harbor bar to the skin of the average person?
Early 90s - with tattoo motifs such as mini-roses and dolphins. The big hype came in 1996, when George Clooney wore a flaming tribal tattoo on his left arm in "From Dusk Till Dawn". Thus, the "tribal pattern" finally became a must-have, even for women. They liked to let their giant sicksters sprout out of tight hipsters - today these tattoo motifs are laughed at as "ass antlers". Then came the yearning for the Far East and Asian characters. Who knows how many carved a Chinese "love symbol", which in truth meant "ugly" or "full post". Or even worse ... (Blogger Tian helps by the way in the meaning search and translates on www.hanzismatter.blogspot.de the most important Asian symbols.)
If something goes wrong with the engraving or the tattoo motif does not please, the tattoo can be removed again. "The most common method today is the laser beam, which warms and breaks up the pigments in the skin, " explains dermatologist Johannes Müller-Steinmann. A painful and expensive procedure that does not always promise success. Especially colorful tattoos are harder to remove than black ones. "But color will continue to play a role in the future, " says trend researcher Peter Wippermann, " Tattoos will be more artistic, you'll see abstract art's bonds that are made up of lines and shapes, and the tattoo motifs will become more individual." Quite different than a good ten years ago: At that time everyone was stinging a star . Today, the celestial bodies have long been ass antlers status: At tattoo fairs even hang signs with crossed out star.
Anyone who adorns themselves with body art but does not want to make a sting can use adhesive tattoos (eg via www.tattly.com, about 5 Euro). After all, they were already cool at Mickey Mouse times - and are guaranteed to be washable.
