Stan Tattoos: Why They Shouldn’t Be Taboo

articles, music

Words: Tasha/Soft Hours Ink

My name is Tasha and I‘m part of the One Direction fandom since 2010/2011. I (obviously) didn‘t have a laptop back then so I used my mum‘s and browsed through Youtube. I discovered their video diaries and this is basically where it all started. I went to concerts, had multiple fan accounts, bought tons of merch and of course made a lot of friendships thanks to this one band. But not just that. Connections all over the world to other Directioners helped me finding my path: languages, social media and art.

But today I wanna focus on another passion of mine. Tattoos. I always knew that one day I will have a lot of tattoos. For me they are aesthetic and so unique but they also tell your story without you needing to say a single word. As of this day, I have three One Direction-related tattoos. The biggest one is a portrait of the boys (line art style) on my upper arm with the lyrics „forever young“ underneath. In total, I have 8 tattoos all over my arms, including a Frida Kahlo (a mexican artist) portrait on my other arm. However, people mostly focus on the 1D one.

“Are you sure about that? What if you stop liking their music one day?“

“Why would you want to have five people tattooed on you that you have never met before?“

“That‘s something you grow out of one day and then you‘ll regret it.“

These are just a few things that I have heard over the past two years. But what people forget or don‘t know is that in most cases, it is not about the artist but about the memories. I didn‘t choose this tattoo to have five boys tattooed on my upper arm. I chose it to have the memories I collected, thanks to these boys, on my body.

Most of us grew up with them, they shaped our childhood and our teenage lives. They gave us so many incredible moments and experiences. And even friendships. It‘s these memories that we never want to forget. It could happen that we won‘t listen to their music anymore somewhere in the future or that we won‘t like their music anymore. But the thing is, it is not about the music but about the things that we experienced while listening to their music. Most of us haven‘t met the boys before but again, it‘s not about the boys alone. It‘s about the doors they opened for us when we didn‘t even know the direction. In some way, we will outgrow this time but that doesn‘t mean that everything that happened in the past will be deleted. It‘s about the memories, not about regrets.

At the peak of the pandemic (autumn/winter 2020) I started to feel a bit overwhelmed with everything. I was okay with staying at home and not going out (big introvert right here) but with all the winter madness it was definitely harder than I thought. I needed a distraction so I started to doodle. It helped me so much that I wanted to create even more. I said to myself that from now on, I want to create all my future tattoos on my own. So I started to design tattoos. I bought an iPad and started digital drawing and designing One Direction tattoo designs. I‘m still part of the fandom so I knew how many people there are possibly looking for a One Direction tattoo that is decent and aesthetic but still has a lot of meaning. And I was right. So many lovely stans contacted me asking if I could design tattoos for them. They told me so many heart-warming stories to the lyrics they sent me.

And that was when I realized once again: In 99% of the cases, it is not about the artist but about the memories the artist created for us. People need to stop shaming and judging us for our stan tattoos. At the end of the day, it is just a normal tattoo that a person chose for a reason.

My stan tattoos have definitely made me stronger and more confident. It‘s something I‘m really proud of because it‘s a part of me. Something that accompanied me all the way from being a silly teenager to being the confident woman I am today. Being able to inspire others just by wearing these special tattoos openly is the best thing I could have ever asked for.

So to everyone who‘s still not sure about getting stan tattoos: do it! It‘s something you‘re going to be really proud of and it‘s a way to capture all your collected memories in just one tattoo. Or you do it like me and get three!