Old School Tattoos

Old school tattoos might well be called ‘traditional’ tattoos – these are the tattoo images that are immediately recognizable as such and that we would expect to see adorning the arm of an aging marine or biker, for example. Old school tattoo designs include cherry tattoos, Native American tattoos, the grim reaper, the naked mermaid and of course the Harley Davidson symbol.

And that’s just the beginning – really, there are dozens of tattoo images that are almost immediately recognizable as old school designs. They are probably the last thing we would expect to see on a young person – or on a woman for that matter. Like smoking a pipe or chewing tobacco, old school tattoos are strongly associated with a certain type of person – one who is not at all acquainted with political correctness for example; not a new age, sensitive kind of guy! Other tattoos, by contrast, can be decidedly ‘new agey’, expressing an eclectic spirituality or world view. Old school tattoos do none of that. If anything, they express toughness, though not with quite the same edge that prison tattoos would.

Old School Tattoos Revisited

All of this is changing. Old school tattoos never quite disappeared from view, but a few decades ago, as tattooing became much more widespread among all walks of life, they did sort of fade into the background. Other types of tattoos – like tribal or Celtic tattoos – were the ones we saw a lot more of.

Now, somewhat surprisingly, some old school tattoo designs are being adopted by a younger crowd. Grim reaper tattoos and old English tattoo letters are no longer the sole property of a certain element of subculture; almost anyone, male or female, might turn out to have one – or several. Harley Davidson tattoos are still the excusive property of bikers of course, but most other old school designs are now found in places where you might never have expected to see them.

There is a difference, though – the old school tattoos might be the same, but the feeling around them is different. Nowadays, these older tattoo designs are worn with a sense of irony. The wearers don’t take themselves – or their tattoos – too seriously so to speak. The old school tattoos are appreciated for their timeless appeal. But the tattoo images themselves are worn in a slightly campy way, and valued for their vintage appeal.