Tattoos have ruined current porn for me, and I have to seek out “vintage” stuff to see unmarred skin.
Never before has fashion had lifetime consequences. As I told my niece “Wear anything you want. When it’s no longer fashionable, give it to Goodwill. Do anything you like to your hair, dye it, shave it , tie it into knots. It will grow back. Just don’t get any tattoos.”
I agree with you. I hate tattoos.
All I’m certain of, is that tats became passe BECAUSE the people in power decided to discard ALL sense of decorum, in order to drive wages down during the mid to late 1980’s.
Making low wages the sole goal of all businesses, necessitated the lowering or elimination of all previous standards of decorum.
I’m not criticizing tat owners of lacking fashion or other sense with that, I’m referring historically to the fact that before the concerted dedication to low wages conquered politics and business science, all manner of standards of dress, and of behavior, and of appearance fell by the wayside, because employers could no longer afford to turn anyone away for lack of adherence to such.
It was very marked, where I used to work, at IBM. We went from having high, fully paid benefits packages and retirement benefits, and a requirement to wear full formal business suits at all times (preferably three piece) and long sleeve button down white shirts…
…to employee paid partial benefits which terminated with end of employment, and the ability to wear anything but plaid. That happened in direct response to the financial shifts that occurred after the Enron mess.
A patient’s tattoo caught my eye today. It was one of dozens on his body, and I usually don’t pay too much mind to tats unless they’re particularly good or particularly bizarre. This tended towards the latter category. A little bit, anyway.
It was a face on his scapula. A male one, not really stereotypical of anyone in particular. Above the face was the word “snitches”. The face itself was covered with sewn up lacerations (artwork, not real ones.) Below the face were the words “get stitches”.
An educational tattoo, it seems. As such, I don’t think such helpful imagery really ever becomes passé.
*Interviewer: You’ve accrued quite a collection of tattoos over your career, including an NFL shield on your stomach from after you were drafted. Have you gotten any meaningful ones this year?
Martavis Bryant: I get tattoos almost every couple of weeks. The last one I recently got was on the back of my head almost; it kind of hurt a little bit. I just get tattoos depending on how I feel that day, or if I want to go get one, I just get one based on my emotions or how I feel.*
I don’t see Bryant as a future client, but this might not be a bad career move.
August 11, 2016. When I got mine.
Regards,
Shodan
Well… except for that Chinese foot-binding trend, and long-term tight corseting, and what improper shoes due to one’s feet…
But sure, usually fashion doesn’t leave you marked for life. Usually.
I agree with you both, but I wish I didn’t.
Granted. And you mention three things that most of us agree are considered stupid these days.
Tattoos become passe after you get one so that’s not much of a new thing, but this modern tattoo-free fashion trend is quite the image to project. Gives off the stern, “I’m a touch insecure but mostly positive my shit doesn’t stink” vibe which I certainly admire the boldness of. You have to respect someone who is willing to wear that image on their body, fully aware that they’re being judged for it. It still strikes me as a bland and uninspiring movement but to each their own. 
I like tattoos on other people just fine.
I just don’t want to be stuck with any myself.
That’s where I am too. It’s not that I have anything against having one; it’s just that I can’t imagine being certain that I’d still want that same tattoo 20 years from now.
With respect to the OP, my fiftysomething Southern Baptist wife is planning to get a tattoo. Yep, they’re passé.
(FWIW, I’d break the evolution of such trends into hip, mainstream, and passé. Something’s hip when the Kool Kidz, whoever they are, think it’s cool. It’s mainstream when the wider population thinks it’s cool, at which point it’s yesterday’s news to the Kool Kidz, because that’s how Kool Kidz roll. It’s passé when it’s yesterday’s news to the wider population,. when there are few places where what had once been the New, Edgy Thing will even raise any eyebrows anymore. Tattoos have been at that point for awhile now.)
Not only have tattoos been around for thousands of years (and who knows how many thousands) but so have other “fashions” with lifetime consequences, including scarifactions, piercings, stretching of various soft body tissues (with or without piercing), skull shaping, tooth sharpening, and amputation/splitting of body parts. Permanent physical modification of the body as a cultural identifier is probably as old as humanity itself.
Yes, but all those things have gone in and out of fad-dom.
Wearing nothing but furs and going barefoot was the fashion for hundreds of thousands of years.
Are they ubiquitous or are they passé?
I’m not a big fan of tattoos. There are some which are clever, pretty, discrete or highly original. These seem like exceptions (though who knows about discrete). Ironic such a seemingly individual thing (this tattoo of the word “love” written in Punjabi confirms who I am) has become ubiquitous.
The (for practical purposes) permanent nature of them can make them both at the same time! It isn’t like getting your hair permed in the 1980s, where everyone did it and then when it went out of fashion you didn’t see much obviously permed hair on anyone.
Does long-term use of foundation and piling on the makeup have any impact on skin health and appearance? I don’t know, but it sure seems like my skin, which has never been touched by foundation except on rare occasion when I was in a theatrical production and needed stage makeup, looks better than the skin of my contemporaries who have been slathering stuff on their faces for years. On the other hand, to the extent that thick makeup serves to shield skin from the sun, maybe makeup is better for your skin.
I have no cites one way or the other.
Even if someone offered to pay for one I wouldn’t get one. I’m indifferent to them on other people but, in my late 50s now, if I had to start dating again I think that I would have trouble getting past them on any woman I wanted to date.
Unless you’re sensitive or allergic to the ingredients, makeup does no harm to the skin - provided that it’s actually washed off regularly. The issues of the past involved unsafe ingredients or piling it on layer after layer forever.
Furthermore most makeup now has spf protection in it, which (again, if you’re not sensitive or allergic to the contents) does immense good to the skin by protecting it from the sun.
Tattoos do no real damage if done correctly - all ‘disfigurement’ is subject to cultural and individual interpretation - for instance I happen to think that scarification is beautiful, but I feel like most Western Europeans think of it as barbaric or alien. My tattoos weren’t gotten to impress or attract anyone else; I got them because I find them attractive and meaningful. No one who doesn’t like them HAS to look at me, and likewise, I don’t have any obligation for my body to be attractive or appealing for others to look at.