Tattoos are slowly being more accepted in society thanks to celebrities. Thanks to the increase of movies, T.V shows, books and magazines that cover the tattoo culture and the industry, tattoos are being embraced with more naturalism instead of the taboo that it once was. But how did celebrities get to know the world of tattoos? How was it that famed and followed people from around the world got their bodies decorated by ink?
The tattoo culture had a massive boom in the first 10 years of this new century as shows such as Miami Ink, L.A Ink and Inked started this trend, and slowly people started accepting tattoos as a normal part of life.
But they say that the man responsible for the crazed tattoo trend among celebrities started because of a man called Lyle Tuttle. To those of you who don’t know him, Lyle Tuttle is a tattoo artist born and raised in California. Currently 81 years old, he retired from the world of tattooing in the year 1990, but during his active years (from 1945 to 1990), he tattooed a big number of celebrities, and the one who started it all: Janis Joplin.
The acceptance of tattoos as a form of art started by the work of Lyle Tuttle on Janis Joplin. He did a small wristlet and a heart close to her breast, and at this moment celebrities started to get hooked with tattoos. Lyle went on and tattooed other famous celebrities, such as Cher, Jane Fonda, and Paul Stanley, just to name a few.
The adoption of tattoos among celebrities helped put tattoos into the spotlight: T.V Shows, clothing lines, books, magazines, and many other publications started to shift into the tattoo world and its culture, giving celebrities a chance to express their views and thoughts on tattoos, and also sharing their pieces with their audience.
Today, tattoos are not only limited to recording artists, musicians and rappers. Actors and actresses everywhere have sat down and spent hours of work on their own pieces. Angelina Jolie was one of the first women to show off her ink in red carpet events, and slowly more and more followed.
Tattoo fans and enthusiasts have decorated their bodies with incredible pieces of art, some even of their own idols, and as every day more and more people are getting tattooed, hopefully one day all the discrimination and laws and rules against them in work places and companies will stop, as they’re a form of art and an expression of what we love and cherish.
