Emblem Magazine

Emblem The Diversity Issue

February 2017

“Don’t get it, you’ll regret it, you can’t just take it off”

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Text Sophie Maddison

tough times for tattoos For an inside view of the fashion industry, Ellis Cooper the famous tattooed glamour model describes what it’s like trying to make it as a model covered in tattoos. But will we see the acceptance of tattooed within fashion?

The fashion industry is constantly changing, but the expectations of the models haven’t really changed at all. Tattoos are now being more heavily used to try and pull off a different ‘edgy’ look but they are still not really accepted within fashion. With one fifth of British adults having tattoos and this figure rising to one third for young adults, it needs to be accepted as it will become a craze more than it already is.

Although it is understood that the amount of people who have tattoos will not reach its peak until the year of 2025. It needs to be realised that tattoos are on the rise and the modelling industry needs to become a more diverse environment for models.

In the early 2000s it was rare to see models with any ‘imperfection’ and you would barely see any tattoos on the runway. Society held prejudices against tattoos and tattoos were not seen as a part of the pop culture. This changed due to the first tattoo TV show, “Miami Ink” being aired in 2005. Seeing the rise in tattoos becoming more popular and it becoming a trend. Popularity of tattoos began to grow and stars within the programme became more and more famous with an online following. This was then mirrored within the fashion industry.

Limited designers have been seen to incorporate tattoos on the runway. Dsquared2 used tattoo sleeves in their Spring/Summer 16 collection. But they were fake. The models weren’t really tattooed and could easily put on their sleeves before the show. This shows that brands still want the ‘perfect’ model.

Ones without any tattoos so they can alter their image and easily remove the tattoos at the end of the day. But why are tattoos still not accepted and people made to feel like if they ever got one, it would be an instant regret?

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Gucci also featured Lorens, a male model with tattoos covering his face, neck and hands. Financial Times reported that “the models in his show felt like batty odd-bods in clothes.” The media negatively portrays tattoos even for a luxury label such as Gucci, which constantly adds pressure for tattooed models aiming to become the ‘new upcoming thing’.

Tattooed models are still a niche market. With tattoos becoming more popular although the demand for the models are still dominant for the flawless figures, it’s not shown through campaigns and many runway shows.

I doubt I’d be here today.”

Helping to give an insight into the fashion industry, Ellis Cooper describes what it’s like being a tattooed model and trying to make it. The edgy glamour model has graced the pages for magazines such as FHM, Zoo and Playboy. Recently making her mark within the tattoo industry, smashing Instagram with over 166 thousand followers but faced some of the hardest struggles such as drug abuse and anorexia without tainting her unique model look. Signing for Samantha Bond modelling agency, this helped break Ellis into the industry with clients such as Katie Price under the same name.

Ellis has now been clean for over 6 months and admits that by opening her own tattoo parlour, named Ouija Tattoo, it’s allowed her to focus on self discovery. Ellis speaks to customers everyday and hears how tattoos help change peoples lives for the better and gets to understand their views of the evergrowing popular culture. Ellis announced that she “was honoured to draw a huge butterfly across someone’s chest in memory of their partner. I see how tattoos can help someone feel connected to someone and its unique that that’s something so special that I do”.

Admitted to hospital Ellis knew that something needed to be done and got her first tattoo at the age of 15. However, tattoos could never help Ellis break away from her real pains as she then turned to abusing drugs from a young age due to the stresses of the fashion industry. “You hear that it’s hard in the industry but until you’re in it you can’t even imagine the stress. I get to look back on tattoos that are significant to me and realise how far I have come. It’s like a pick me up.”

Ellis reflects that “getting the tattoos helped Although tattoos are not seen as the ‘norm’ in me escape the pressures of the industry and how they wanted me to look all the time. I fashion industry there was still a gap that Ellis didn’t feel comfortable at all. The tattoos could easily fill with her beautiful looks and helped me so much. This needs to be more tasteful tattoos. With her most recent tattoo accepted. The industry has developed and being a red rose on her cheek it must be easy become more accepting from when I first for Ellis to stand out from the crowd. But Ellis revealed, “I was an outcast. My jobs were given started. Just more needs to be done.” to models without tattoos. I don’t really know how but I assume the makeup team was good With designers incorporating tattoos in their work and it becoming a huge talking enough to create their own. I realised from a point. Understandably you would think other young age there was a gap within modelling and I needed to fill it”. Showing what it’s really designers would follow, but they’re not.

Maybe were just waiting for tattoos to come like being a tattoo model in the industry, Ellis to its ‘peak’ to follow the diversity needs to continues that “the more tattoos I got, the be discovered and portrayed. It needs to be more I wanted to stand out from the regular understood that tattoos are going to be the models and bring something different to next big thing. People need to feel excited modelling”. and inspired to go out and get a tattoo if From struggling with anorexia at the age of 15 they want to express themselves and should not feel like they will be discriminated. even before her modelling days, Ellis admits that all the pressure was never easy. “Getting the tattoos helped me express what I was really @elliscooperofficial feeling and helped me become a different person to who I really was inside, without them Emblem 8

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