Never A Failure, Always A Lesson

Rihanna, fashion icon and phoenix risen from the Chris Brown ashes, famously has this tattooed across her collarbone - written backwards so each trip to the mirror is a little moment of Oprah-esque self-help.

Tattoos truly are the latest trend to have really hit Australian peops hard (check out this great article on The Age website). You can't go to a music festival, the beach or a club without seeing seething masses of gym-toned bodies inked in one way or another. Delicate little testaments to their mothers they certainly aint. I have always found tattoos deliciously sexy... I think it is the mix of pain one must go through to have it done, and the fact that most people inking themselves are doing it because something means so much to them - passion and commitment right there! As you know, I'm frequently thinking about a tattoo... I've narrowed the field down to my surname or memento mori (meaning "remember, you must die" which many people take as being fatalistic, but I see it differently - and last year was a year of constantly seeing the phrase when I'd never seen/heard of it before). Either one I choose, should I go down the path it would be relatively small, in lovely cursive on the right hand side of my rib cage. I think about it frequently, but never know if I would actually have the guts to be permanently marked in that way. And the fact that everyone has them now...? Well, it just seems a little naff.

Pin-up boy - and likely catalyst for the tattooing trend of our generation - David Beckham has just added to his collection of body art with a Jesus-inspired piece. Someone's going to be doing stomach crunches until they die...

Chanel has of course solved the dilemma for many people with temporary tattoos from their Spring/Summer 2010 show.