About Andrea Dana
Andrea Dana joins the Sweetspot team to give her insightful opinions on what’s happening in the sweet world of entertainment. Andrea has worked in the film industry for the past five years as a tutor to Hollywood’s world famous and upcoming stars. She travels back and forth from Toronto to LA often. She is also an author and received high praise for her novel StarSitter, which is the first in an upcoming trilogy.
How do YOU know spring is here? Is it the first smell of flowers blooming? Did you spot a butterfly bursting out of it’s cocoon? Does everything just look greener? For me it’s the first glance of a “tramp stamp” that makes me giddy that spring has arrived.
After five long, cold, snowy months, I would imagine there is no better feeling for a newly tatted girl to break out her crop top and low-rise jeans, so she can show off her design, which has been healing all winter. According to www.freetattoodesigns.org, the lower back is the perfect and sexiest spot for a tattoo. It offers a lot of space, it has a wide, smooth expanse suitable for tattooing, and most importantly, “even a tiny girl can have a large tattoo on the small of the back.” A tiny girl? Hey, if you want to up your chance for the mother-of-the-year award, I suggest you run thee to Toys ‘R Us, where “tramp stamps” are sold in all sorts of fun designs i.e. Hannah Montana. And nothing says six-year-old Birthday party like a trip to the Tattoo Parlor with thirty of your child's closest girlfriends. I jest.
A lot of celebs sport the “tramp stamp.” Drew Barrymore, Jessica Alba (in the photo to the right), Pamela Anderson, Mariah Carey, and Angelina Jolie are amongst a few. So far my favorite “tramp stamp” story has to be about Melissa Rycroft. You remember her right? She was chosen by Jason as the “winner” on the most recent “Bachelor,” but was quickly traded in for Molly. Well upon her replacement of Nancy O’Dell on this season’s “Dancing With the Stars,” Melissa was chewed out by the networks for her large “tramp stamp” and told to keep it covered up. By the way, her tattoo says “True Love.” Oy, shame!
In other tattoo news this week, Rhianna is sporting a new one on her ribs. It was designed by tattoo artist BangBang and is a quarter size picture of a gun. A GUN! How Disturb(ia)ing is that? It’s hard to say what type of message she’s trying to put out there. As a recent victim of domestic violence, and being a role model for young girls, I’m hoping she’s not trying to say: When a boy hits you, shoot him! Although I suppose it’s better than her current and UN “sweet” message: When a boy hits you, keep dating him.
Another big trend in tattoos amongst celebrities lately is the “star” design. Eva Longoria, Sienna Miller, Lindsay Lohan, and Victoria Beckham have all chosen stars as their representation in ink. Young Hollywood is also saying, “Yes we Can,” to a bracelet of stars around their wrists. Sigh, isn’t youth wasted on the young?
Sticking with the theme of body markings, Perez Hilton recently noted that Katie Holmes has a strange heart shaped mark on her back. It looks more like a burn or a bruise, and Hilton has cited it as perhaps some sort of scientology marking. It’s amazing how lingo changes from decade to decade. In my day we called those strange “markings” hickies as a result of......hmmm, a little spring fever, perhaps?