” After seeing the infamous photo of Jesse James’ alleged mistress Michelle Bombshell McGee showing off her extensive collection of tattoos in lingerie and holding a dagger, I couldn’t help but ask myself if it is even slightly possible for tattoos to look elegant and sophisticated.”
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After seeing the infamous photo of Jesse James’ alleged mistress Michelle Bombshell McGee showing off her extensive collection of tattoos in lingerie and holding a dagger, I couldn’t help but ask myself if it is even slightly possible for tattoos to look elegant and sophisticated.

Everyday, I see students around campus with various types of body art, some visually appealing, others just plain boring and cliché (if I see one more person with a star tattoo or a barbed wire design around their biceps, I am going to scream).

While I would never personally get a tattoo, firstly because there is nothing I adore remotely enough to have permanently stamped on my body and secondly because I do not at all want to see the three-dimensional animate object it will become once I reach a certain age, I do think some people can pull off body art, even look sexy and dare I say elegant.

The tatted-up trainwreck McGee-who is, unfortunately, from Northeastern Ohio-is the epitome of what someone with tattoos should not look like: cheap, colorful and classless. There are public figures, however, who have body art and still manage to look sophisticated.

Kate Moss, for example, has multiple tattoos, including an anchor on her right wrist and a pair of swallows on her lower back, and is still one of the most stylish women of her generation. She is very rock and roll in her daily life, but also the essence of glamour and style at black tie events.

Angelina Jolie also has various tattoos and still looks appropriate and put-together in public.

Even Amy Winehouse, with her inked pin-up girls and menagerie of other designs, has a look that is very unique and quirky, and, more importantly, reflects her personality. After all, that is what tattoos are first and foremost meant to do.

Recently, it seems as if tattoos have become associated with all things trailer and vulgar. Sexy and edgy rock and roll is one thing, but vile tawdriness is another. One can easily have body art and still be a sophisticated individual.

As with everything else, though, less is more. Tattoos in very intimate, not easily viewable areas of the body are the best, in my opinion, because they are the easiest to cover up just in case one doesn’t want them to get in the way of a chic ensemble.

If one’s body is covered from top to toe in tattoos, it may be very difficult for others to consider one stylish, let alone attractive. Still, though extremely difficult, some can pull off this look, particularly people of the musician type (Winehouse is an excellent example).

If one wants to get a tattoo, they should have the authentic cool edge and personality to really make their tattoo come to life, and for people with multiple tattoos, loads of edge and personality is mandatory.

Without these two necessary traits, one just ends up with an eye sore of an inked up body.

When all is said and done, one should always wear their tattoos and never let their tattoos wear them.

After all, as Diana Vreeland once said, elegance is in the mind, so, even if one’s body is covered in ink, they can still be elegant if it’s natural to them.

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