Fine line, small, and simple: The latest tattoo trend

In recent decades, tattoos have evolved from something you’d hide from your boss (or, more pressingly, your mom) to something you might get casually on the go — with tattoo parlors popping up everywhere from food events to coffee shops.

However, at the same time that body art has become increasingly normalized in Western culture — with a 2023 Pew survey finding 80% of Americans saying that society has become more accepting of tattoos — there’s been a shift in the designs people are choosing.

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While it’s been suggested that tattoos are going out of fashion, alongside the rise of “clean” aesthetics and notoriously inked-up celebrities removing their tats, it seems many are just downsizing to smaller motifs.

As reported by Business Insider over the weekend, “tiny tattoos” are soaring in popularity, with Google searches for daintier designs peaking in recent months and the #finelinetattoo tag on TikTok reaching almost 469,000 posts — the latest in a long list of modern tattoo trends.

Indeed, BI argues that minimal tattoos have become something of a status symbol of late, writing that they’re “just pricey enough to show a person has ... disposable income.” Meanwhile, searches for complex styles like geometric patterns and tribal tattoos have fallen significantly (though the latter may be less popular for separate reasons).

But the rise of tiny tattoos could also have to do with a pool of people who wouldn’t previously have considered getting inked that are now opting to, including women and older demographics. So, even among those hesitant to “put a bumper sticker on a Bentley,” in the words of Kim Kardashian, some might still be tempted by a little mascot for the dashboard.