Star Tattoos

The star symbol has experienced an unbelievable, almost confounding surge of popularity in the past few years; it’s impossible to avoid its presence. Any gig you attend, any street you walk down, potentially even try strolling into an office and you’re almost guaranteed to see someone in possession of an inked star. Kat Von D is perhaps somewhat responsible for triggering a trend towards brow line tattooing of little stars, with some folk shaving back into their hair line to get them done right across the side of their head. Rihanna, too, could be said to be responsible for a wave of young women decorating their back and shoulders with twinkly things; Lal Hardy alone has knocked out at least three lookalike designs since the singer went public with her new art. We don’t even need to mention 56 Stars girl… Naturally, whenever anything gets this popular, there are backlashes, counter-backlashes and anti-counter-backlashes, clichés and stereotypes swell and grow and fester – there’s more than a few tattoo artists out there now who will, at best, grit their teeth at the concept of yet another star. They’re fast becoming the ‘ear piercings’ of the tattoo world – acceptable body art that won’t upset the grandparents, normalized and appealingly pretty ornamentations. That said - we do love them! Their origin as a presence in tattooing comes courtesy of the western traditional style. Sailors were the first to adopt the design, and to them a star had nautical significance: these were the pinpoints of light and the sky, by which they could navigate at night, finding directions home and back to port. Stars became a symbol of direction, luck, and even superstition-laden charms – get a star put on your body, and you wouldn’t get lost. Many military members still get stars for this reason – it’s a sign they will always get back home to the people that they love. Of course, all meanings change with time; the tattooed icon has since been adopted by a decent sized chunk of minority niches, growing and growing in popularity til it broke the mainstream. It’s the much worn insignia of the punk rock crowd, and it’s had popularity as a ‘code’ symbol in the gay community, too. Colours that go with the star can add and change difference; it’s been revamped and restyled in a number of ways too. Some innovations that are beautiful to admire include ‘cut away’ effect star designs, where a simple black outline of the star shape is done and the interior then filled with an entirely different image; patterning and bright colour, perhaps, or a face, or a landscape.