Tattoo & Piercing

The Future of Body Art: Facial Tattooing As tattoo art in general continues to move into the mainstream, newer, bolder, and more interesting types and locations of ink are beginning to take a foothold amongst the more heavily modified generations. Case in point: the facial tattoo. Fifty years ago, visible tattooing of any type was an extreme rarity, and could generally only be seen in circus sideshows, vaudevillian stage acts, and on the arms of sailors and sea-faring tradesmen. In today’s world however, up to half of the population within certain age groups lays claim to at least one tattoo. […]

The Fabulous Fleur De Lis The fleur de lis has its earliest roots in French royalty, the likeness of which is compared to an iris or lily. The three “petals” represented three of the medieval social classes: the working class, the military, and the clergy (members of the church). A fleur de lis was a common symbol of heraldry, and was a widely accepted symbol of rank within society. Modern day usage still continues the representation of heraldry, whether intentional or not. Sports teams such as the New Orleans Saints (NFL), New Orleans Pelicans (NBA) and the Montreal Impact (MLS) […]

The Girly Holiday Gift Guide: Girls, Tweens, and Teens Get big results from your little ones, with girls’ earrings by Disney, and fun temporary tattoos featuring glitter, glow, characters, Ed Hardy flash art, and more! Hit a high note with your tweens when you bust out youth earrings designed specifically for little ladies. Or bring the holidays on sparkle style, with officially licensed jewels from brands like Hello Kitty and Sweethearts. Get it right for the teens on your list with bohemian dreamcatcher belly rings, trendy wrap ear cuff jewelry (that doesn’t require any extra piercings!) and fun double finger […]

The Gothic Movement: History, Subculture, and Inspirations Though the term “Goth” was originally coined circa 1981(an interesting pseudonym pilfered in part from the architectural style to which its aesthetic bares resemblance), the gothic rock movement certainly began earlier, in the late 1970’s. In the wake of punk music’s outcry against conformity and social class division, this new and more visceral tone of music gave way to a similarly dark and angst-ridden style of dress. The Gothic Subculture in America continued to evolve through the remainder of the eighties and early nineties, and even now is only beginning to lay down […]

The Guide to Modern Piercings: Doubling Up Almost any type of piercing can be “doubled up,” or done in pairs, and some are even meant to be. But with contemporary piercings and styles in a state of constant evolution, it’s a little bit hard to keep up with shifting trends. Here are some multiples that you probably already know about: Double-ups on the helix piercing, anti-eyebrow, bridge, nose, brow, lip, dimple, and belly piercing. But did you know that every set of paired lip piercings has a contemporary nickname? How about these lesser-well-knowns? Combos of a Medusa piercing and a […]

The Guide to Modern Piercisms: Lip Service Most of us are familiar by now with all the standard lip piercings like the labret and the Monroe, but depending on who you talk to, there could be a difference of opinion over which lip piercing is called what. Let us explain: The piercing that most of us reference as a Monroe (the name is a nod to beauty icon Marilyn Monroe), might actually be called a Marilyn, Madonna, or Crawford, depending on where someone lives, how old they are, or when they were pierced. The names are all references to famous […]

The Guide to Modern Piercings: Quite a Stretch By now it’s fairly common to see somebody rocking large gauge ear jewelry pretty much anywhere you go. But talking to that same person might provide more insight than you realize into the variance in terminology that exists across the stretching subculture. Depending on where you live and whether or not the person you’re talking to has any formal training in body piercing, any of these phrases could be used to reference the act of stretching an ear piercing: stretching, gauging, tapering, expanding, sizing, weighting, scalpelling, cutting, and dead stretching. While some […]

The Guide to Modern Piercings: Surface and Dermal So you’ve probably heard a ton of different phrases thrown around about body piercing, but how do you know what people are actually talking about? Depending on the region, level of expertise, and a number of other factors, different people will call different piercings and procedures by different names. Here’s a few suggestions that might help to sort it out: Style Most of us will call regular piercing by it’s name – “piercing.” For dermals and surface piercings, the terminology is a little more varied. Depending on where you live and who’s […]

The Guide to Modern Piercings: What’s in a Name It comes as no surprise that many of the piercings which have grown in mass popularity recently are entirely contemporary in origin. With the first piercing parlor in the United States not even opening it’s doors until the late 1970s, it’s natural that many of our advances in body mod have happened within the past twenty five years. But did you know that many of the piercings we’ve grown to know and love are actually named after people instead of body parts? That’s just one way that modernization has molded the […]