For years the preserve of punks, sailors and madmen, tattoos have enjoyed something of a recent renaissance; everywhere you look you can see a flash of ink peeking from beneath T-shirt sleeves, designs snaking up legs and indeed entire arms patterned with gothic lettering, oriental dragons or bare-breasted, elfin women. The tattoo is back; we have no idea whether it will stay, or indeed how long it will stay for, but let's face it, it's back, and we might as well enjoy it.
Now there are certain designs that seem to be eternally popular, such as the aforementioned gothic lettering, Celtic crosses and Maori symbols, but let's face it, these designs aren't exactly sexy, are they? After all, having your name needled into your arm isn't much more than a glorified identity badge, and if there isn't any Celtic or Maori blood coursing through your veins, those crosses and symbols are nothing more than stolen cultural artefacts. So if you don't want to spend your lives with a cliché scored on your skin, it's better to think long and hard about getting a tattoo that's going to stay sexy for life.