everlasting bling

I’ve never been all that interested in luxury items – I mean, what’s in a name? I do tend to shop at popular retailers like H&M, but I’m paying for styles I like rather than a brand name that people will recognize. My older sister, on the other hand, is into the most sought-after status brands like Louis Vuitton and Juicy Couture, making her x-mas list my wallet’s worst enemy. Now don’t get me wrong – despite my own lack of interest in sporting a Coach bag I don’t see anything wrong with coveting high-end items. We all like to have nice things, and I compare my sister’s luxury lust to my own desire for some seriously pricey ink work. I already have two gorgeous tats gracing my arms, but they’re nothing spectacular. I get lots of compliments and I absolutely adore them myself, but I want my next piece to be something so beautiful and detailed that people just can’t help staring at it. Fine art doesn’t come cheap though, so I know I’ll be dishing out a pretty penny for my new adornment. However, unlike my sister, I’ll be able to show off my purchase no matter the season or current trend. The outward expression of inner creativity never goes out of style!
Speaking of luxury clothing and tats, one man has recently decided to combine the two. Peter Mui, owner of the YellowMan clothing company, has recently began sale of his form-fitting tattoo shirts, all designed by tattoo artists from around the globe. The shirts look kinnnda cool, and have the added bonus of wicking away moisture, but I was shocked to see them sporting a $218 price tag. I mean c’mon, I could get a small yet high quality tat for that price! I appreciate Mui’s effort to “do something meaningful” by adorning the shirts with symbolically empowering designs, but his refusal to “negotiate a price” just seems like a greedy attempt to make his duds covet-worthy to the high-end shoppers of L.A. I think that more than anything it’s his attitude of “I don’t really need your business, my clothes are priceless anyway,” that makes people want to snag his schwag (that sounded sexual, but I’m keeping it…). When I see a pair of limited-edition jeans going for $2500, I can’t help but wonder: would people still wanna flaunt a faux-ink top (or a brown leather bag or a velour track suit) if they couldn’t brag about its $200 price tag?
Oh, and on a side note, has anyone seen this article about Sporty Spice’s new view on tats? Apparently she has quite a few and is about to throw down £10,000 to get them all removed. The spicy singer is quoted as matter-of-factly saying that tattoos are a “ridiculous thing to do to yourself,” but she cites her weight gain as the main reason for disliking the appearance of her tats. She also notes that they remind her of unhappy times in her life, so rather than saying tattoos in general are ridiculous mayyybe she should have sucked it up and admitted that getting a permanent reminder of life shittiness is ridiculous. She might also have mentioned that getting your boyfriend’s initials tatted on your perpetually visible wrist is ridiculous, a well-known fact of life that reality TV star Kristin Cavallari found out a little too late. I don’t know what these girls were thinking when they got their tats, but they provide clear evidence that celebs make horrible tattoo role models.

(Sorry all these links are old news, I just realized I never published this post after I originally wrote it!)