Well generic high school girl ones and "tramp stamps" are definitely not fashionable. But if they are unique and significant, and well placed... then they are beautiful. I intend to get a very significant tattoo on my shoulder later this year. It will be 1 of a kind and that is important.

They aren't necessarily unclassy (although they certainly can be and Angelina has probably crossed that line), but I don't think they are that cool anymore. Everyone & their grandma has one these days.

I don't like tacky looking tattoos in tacky looking places. I have a very meaningful, very beautiful alligator on my shoulder and I LOVE IT. Also, men with tattoos are the bestest.

I think if they're meaningful and special to the person, then they're great.

I personally don't have any, not sure I ever will get one...sometimes I think I want one, other times I like being one of the only people I know without one!

I think tattoos are always ugly and always unclassy. There are plenty of other ways to show individuality or significance without turning your body into a doodle pad. I would never, ever have dated a guy with tattoos... besides, then the entire chunk of skin would need to be cut off before they could be buried in a Jewish cemetery and that's kind of disgusting.

I love tattoos. They're a great way to express individuality. I also don't refer to anyone elses tattoos as a "tramp stamp". I wasn't put here to judge anyone. I understand that the lower back is "trendy", but it's an individuals choice what they have put on their body.

I have a small pink heart on the top of my left foot. It's cute and I always get compliments. Will I get more? Maybe. Never say never.

Forget the tattoos! Look at her arms. Grrroooosssss!

I ♥ them.

I always thought and still think tattoos are unattractive. I personally wouldn't mark my body with a tattoo, I'd rather express my individuality with a piece of artwork, clothing, or home decor.

It really depends on what it is and where. I've seen some beautiful tattoos on people, but I don't think I could permanently place an image on my body. I'm pretty neutral on the subject, I'm starting to become less of a fan of them.

no

I very strongly dislike tattoos. Occasionally I'll see a really beautiful and unique one that works on someone, but even then i think how it will look 20 or 30 years down the road. They will always clash with anything professional or any classy evening gown. As for men with tattoos, i find it to be a big turn off. I also don't understand how the act of getting a tattoo is being "unique" and "rebellious" if everyone else is getting them. Kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me.

I have a few friends who are practically covered in them and I still love my friends and would never be like "gross you have a tat i'm not hanging out with you anymore". That would just be ridiculous. But we each respect that the other has very different personal taste and celebrate the fact that we are each unique and different.

FabSugar, I'm so glad you did an article about this!
In about 5 months I'm going to get a tattoo on my shoulder blade, so I've been weighing all my options around.
In regards to what some people say about tattoos being a "phase" or that "you don't need to tattoo every experience on your body". Sometimes, you don't. Just like you don't need to glue a pair of "M.C. Hammer" pants on your legs, sometimes you shouldn't restrict yourself to a particular trend.

But, on the flip side, when someone has found something meaningful and important they would like to remember and have taken the mamoth amount of time to create that tattoo, I think it's beautiful.

I mean, we're but the sum total of our experiences, right? Every little "trend" or "phase" you go through is just another fasset of your personality and self.

So, that's just what I think.

Eek!!! Pearls and tattoos are not a good match. In fact, I think they’re an oxymoron! There is certainly a double standard though, as I think some tattoos on men are hot (not gang related ones though). Tattoos on women just look cheap. No woman in the real world could get away with going to a business dinner or office party exposing her tattoos like Jolie has done. She gets away with it because she's a celebrity, but in reality, no woman would be taken seriously with such overkill.

To each their own I think, but Angelina's definitely look out of place with her pearls. I have a tattoo on my foot, and it can be hidden when necessary.

I think they are tacky as hell, but I have three and I love them. But at the same time they are in places that don't see the sun.

I think it's a matter of opinion. Personally, I think it's disgusting to have someone in sandals with nasty feet. Personal preference really. I think there are a lot of people who jumped on the tattoo bandwagon and now regret theirs, which puts a black cloud over tattoos. I thought about each of mine for a couple years ... I carried the picture around with me ... it wasnt' a rash decision. I have four that are all very important to me, have deep meaning to me, and unless I want you to see them, you won't.

Also, I hate the "tramp stamp" title ... c'mon ... it's like saying that one on the shoulder is a sign of a lesbian. I have a claddagh on my lower back.

There are some pretty powerful thoughts as to that region of the
body. I'm not going to give you all a lesson, you can do your own research, but I got mine there because it's the back side of the manipura chakra (bellybutton), which is associated with will-power.

Not all of us with "tramp stamps" are giggling our way to the bedroom.

i guess tattoos are just another way of expressing yourself~ though i can't stand seeing generic tigers and dragons on guys. or anything else that doesn't seem unique, but inked on for the sake of having one.
i love angelina. she can do no wrong

I don't think they are fashionable, because they are permanent. Most people get generic tattoos just to get one - not cool in my book. But plenty get meaningful, beautiful, and original pieces, in which case they are timeless works of art.

I have a gorgeous orchid on my right side ribcage - it doesn't have outlines and looks like a watercolor painting. Even people who hate tattoos love mine, and people can only see it if I show it to them. So, as long as you go for quality and appreciate them as art, I think tattoos can be lovely.

Tattoos are an art form, some good ,some bad. Most of us who choose to get them, get them because of their meaning, desire for a particular artists work etc... Not because they are fashionable or not. If you don't like them, you don't have to get them. Besides, I witness many more crimes being comitted because of clothing, make-up or hair choices than anything else.

it can be beautiful if it's done for the right reason and has meaning to it. when someone just walks by a tattoo parlor and decides on the spot that a tattoo would be cool, i think it becomes a bit stupid because there was no thought put behind it. and guys with tattoos can be SOO freaking hot, especially if they're artistic too. unfortunately they end up having to remove them when they get old because saggy skin + tattoos= not a pretty sight. at the end of the day though, i love that ppl are able to express themselves however they see fit (as long as it's safe of course)

I think everything depends on the meaning and the moment.

I have a tattoo on my lower back of a Japanese sakura flower. It was hand done in Japan by a tebori apprentice when I lived there. To me, it's a symbol of my freedom and of the things I wanted to do and did. So when people say it's a "tramp stamp" area I get upset. It was something very spiritual. I still plan on getting the Aztec Calander on my upper wrist when I live in South America- for my Mexican heritage. Nothing i get will ever be superficial.

That said, I think tattoos are trendy and some people definitely make mistakes. Some can look classy while others don't. The thing is to find something that means something to you and not for anyone else. And men with sleeves are DAMN sexy.

I have both of my arms fully sleeved. I love to go against the grain and wear a bad ass dress with it.
I think that whatever makes you happy then go for it. In the end, it only matters what you think. Screw everyeone else!

I have full sleeves, too, and I have a great job at a great company and work in an office. I love dressing up really nicely and it shocks people when they know I have tattoos. It's just like artwork...just on the body... I just personally hate tattoos when they're generic dragons and chinese symbols, but whatever. When I was single, I never had a problem getting dates with great guys and have had no problems getting promoted and moving up in a company.

I designed my tattoo myself and it's rather large so I spent a year making sure I definately liked it enough. It's on the left side of my torso. I've had it for a year and I still love it everytime I catch a glimpse of it.

I love tattoos, but I personally don't like the generic ones that so many people seem to get, like flowers/stars on the lower back or stars/chinese symbols on the wrist. I also personally don't like coloured tattoos, I keep a theme of black, mine sort of reminds me of lace.

I also like that mine is somewhere where it isn't constantly on show. It's personal and unique to me and I didn't get it to show off, so keeping it somewhere hidden keeps it private.

But that's just my own opinion, each to their own!

Not for me, but everyone makes the decision that's right for them.

The litmus test for me has always been....

1) Would I want it to show in a wedding dress? No
2) Would I want it to show when I'm at a pool with my kids? No
3) Would I want to look at it on my 70 year-old? No

...so I have just ruled them out.

Right on Greentea!! Im totally feeling everything that you said.
Being tattooed like us rocks!

I think in some cases people get them to fit in with friends especially when they walk into a shop and pick a design off the wall or out of a book and put little or no thought behind it. But for others tattoos are personal statements - for my youngest nephew's 18th birthday he asked for and I gave him a tattoo as a present. After everything he's gone through in the last 8 years of his life with having his dad die, having survived a psychopath foster brother try to kill him, being hit by a car while riding his bike, and then a bad breakup from a girlfriend that led to a suicide attempt - he wanted to move forward with something he discovered and believed he chose to have "Temet Nosce" tattooed on his shoulder.
Even his mother agreed it is a profound statement for him. His tattoo is about 2 inches long and 3/4 of an inch high in classic script.

Oops it's been over 10 years since my brother in law-my nephew's dad died. he died right before Jeff's 8th birthday.

I agree with everything that has been said on here. Tattoos are art, and a personal choice to be sure. What is beautiful to some, might not be beautiful for others, and they can seem silly when people pick a design out of book 10 minutes before they get one on the spur of the moment. I put a great deal of thought into my tattoos for years before I got them, and they all have special meaning to me.
I have a ton of tattoos all over my body even on my arms, and no one at my workplace knows, and neither do some of my more conservative family members. It is a personal choice that I make to cover them in certain situations, not because I am embarrassed, but because it makes me the most comfortable. I even went through 4 hours of makeup because I decided that my back tattoo didn't go with my wedding dress.
Tattoos can be fashionable depending on the situation, but that should not be the reason anyone goes out to get one.

Not in this picture but I think depending on where they are I am sure they could look really good. I personally would never get one.

small ones that are only visible sometimes or ones that are just not ever seen by anyone but you and a choice few others.

Totally depends on where and of what. I love certain tattoos on other and definitely find them to be sexy (if tasteful) on guys, but they're just too permanent for my own body.

And I'm not a fan of Ms. Jolie's.

I used to want a tattoo back when I was seven (which was back in 1989, btw)...of course then I didn't recall a whole mess of people lining up at a tattoo parlor just to get a tattoo because their favorite celeb had one or everyone else did. I wanted a tattoo then based on the fact that I thought they were cool, and the fact that my great uncle had one from his WWII days with the Navy(he was the first person that I knew of over the age of 55 who had a tattoo)also did play a minor role. People who got tattoos back when I was seven, to me, did so because they wanted to regardless of whether or not their favorite singer/celeb/athlete had one. They didn't get one because everyone else was doing the same. By the time I was in high school, it pretty much spiralled down to the being part of the crowd and with very little individual thought(it was where I went to high school anyway).

If you get a tattoo for a personal statement like wackadoodle's nephew did, then I have no problem with it. My own cousin's gotten some tattoos; one to memorialize his infant niece, Lindsay, who died at the age of 2 months and the other to either memorialize our maternal grandfather, Joseph DeGrotto, or his paternal grandmother, Charlotte Fortenberry. I had expected Lindsay's dad to have one to memorialize his daughter's death because I could tell how it affected him, as opposed to my cousin.

^I mean wackdoodle, sorry.

I think they can be nice, but not Angelina's. She's a beautiful woman, but those tattoos aren't doing her justice. I imagine a woman could have a tasteful tattoo.

i believe it depends, like,
Angelina's tattoos look just
disgusting with her dress.
her tattoos have ruined some
of the best outfits. now if
she had something nice and
it a good area it could have
worked out : )

It really depends on what it is and where it is... oh and if it's done well and not crappy. Some peoples tattoos look like magic marker.

I think it all depends on where the tattoo is placed. I love tattoos(I just got my second one this afternoon believe it or not), but I tend to dislike when a woman gets a tattoo on her bicep, thigh, or calf. To me it just seems too manly. If the tattoo is not going to look dated 19 years from when you get it..all tattoos are great, just not in those areas.

I second lizzylu! Plus Jolie looks trashy with those!

I might get a teeny tiny one on like my ankle if i ever did get one!

generally i don't believe tattoos look nice on anyone. but, if you're as beautiful as angelina jolie, you can pull it off.

I love Angelina's tattoos- they are all significant to her and she's badass enough to pull them off. I like the right tattoos on the right person- and I do like tattoos on men. I have really strong reactions to women's tattoos- I either love them or think they are COMPLETELY trashy. I don't have any, but never say never.

I know that this has been said, but ti think that if they are significant and meaningful they can be beautiful. if its somthing you got a 3 am bwiht your friends because you were drunk, maybe not so much.

someone i know has a beautiful tatoo on the inside of her arm by her elbow that says hope from one side and faith from the other. it had a personal meaing and it was very pretty.

maybe,

Oh, I love her tattoos. Generally speaking, though, I don't really care. Most people I know who have tattoos have rather boring ones, but to each their own.

Not a fan of tattoos, especially those ones. The just seem to ruin the look of evening wear in my opinion.

Tattoos got way to trendy, but I still like the idea of memorial tattoos, and ones with a meaning to the wearer.

Some can be real works of art, but hers seem so random and scattered to me.

Tattoos today are so passe, like somebody said bobs whole family have them thesedays, and bob himself scarred with a sketchy tribal design he picked out in a book 5 minutes before the needle shook his skin.
Tattoos apparently originated from travellers so they could identify each other, like the red indians did, but this technique was also used by oppressive circuses and childrens orphanages (up until the 60s some orphans were tattooed with a small dot under their eye so they could be recognised).
Where I come from a tattoo doesnt mean anything, everybody left right and centre has one so if you're going to get one it's important you choose something personal. I myself would never get one but I do like tribute tattoos and I think health awareness ones are a good idea, but 'stars' on hands(oh dear), cartoon characters, celtic symbols, pinup characters, etc are just bandwagon thoughts
and at least leave it until you are 30, I'm only 18 but friends around 30+ who got tats at a young age all regret them.
(including a homemade one done with a compass and ink cartridge)

I love them. I have 4. Can't wait to get a new one. It will take a while though, its a big decision and it makes a huge difference I think when you don't just go get something slapped on you. But a lot of people don't like tattoos, everyone has their own views and opinions. I also think that it needs to be an upspoken hatred. Not your body, not your problem.

I hate when people offer up their unwanted opinions. Some people who don't like them act as if you should be ashamed or you lack class because you have a tattoo(s). I think they are the people that lack class for not being able to mind their own business and not be so judgmental.