Body Language

TATTOOS ARE THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY MARK—ONE YOU CHOOSE TO WEAR. FOREVER. AS OF RIGHT NOW, ABOUT ONE-THIRD OF YOU HAVE PROBABLY MADE THAT CHOICE. (ALMOST HALF FOR SOME COHORTS: MILLENNIALS, PLUS—WHO KNEW— PEOPLE WITH CHILDREN AT HOME.) AND WE’LL BET THAT MANY MORE ARE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING IT. SO WE TALKED TO THE PEOPLE ON BOTH ENDS OF THE NEEDLE TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT EVERYONE’S INKING ABOUT.

- Brennan Kilbane

The artist is injured.

Miryam Lumpini has wrapped a navy Gucci scarf around her camouflage-print foot cast to protect her toes from the fingers of New York’s frigid winter. (Ankle fracture from jumping off a ledge. Cause: boundless excitement.)

The setting is Bang Bang NYC, which looks more like a supervillain’s lair than a place you would go to get a tattoo, with concrete floors and obsidian ceilings. Lumpini has a studio in L.A. but does residencies at tattoo parlors like Bang Bang when she’s in New York. Kendrick Lamar is blaring from hidden ceiling speakers at a decibel level just below ear-shattering, and Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are finishing up a consultation. Hypebeasts in sweatpants lie prone on wooden tables, while other hypebeasts toil away on their limbs.