Fashion Now // Cologne Tattoobash 2014
The hype around tattooing (and other art forms of body modification) has never been bigger. Tattoo conventions just seem to spring up like mushrooms around the globe. While the deep-pore handicraft was once a strict class thing, the business has completely gone mainstream. Tattoos are everywhere! The tsunami of inked bodies has left lower classes like sailors, blue-collar workers, bikers, punks and assorted deviants long ago and now seems to flood all social classes, awarding individuals with authentic shapes of individualism. As a genuine popular artform, tattooing now means much more than mere fashion. More than use-and-throw clothing or high-fashion accessories, people realise that a tattoo offers something really personal for their lives that is exciting and long-lasting in a world that mostly seems drab and moves at fast pace. Although Cologne’s first official Tattoobash was a convention of minor size, it offered an in-depth view on Europe’s scene of tattooists and a great opportunity to take a fresh tattoo home without bothersome month-long waits for a colour treatment.