©Justine-Louise Photography

I have always been immersed in an alternative subculture, so growing up hanging out in one of the UK’s best body mod shops (Kalima) I am surprised I am not covered in more!

Nothing shocks me just intrigues me, and I can find beauty in what people do for there own reasons. I know someone with elf ears, a few friends with split tongues; I used to have 15 piercings, not including my ears… I would get a piercing because it felt right at the time.

Recently body mods and tattoos have become more mainstream, and you could say the same with Burlesque and latex. I guess fashion has to draw inspiration from somewhere but body mods and mostly tattoos are the current trend, but at the same time you will see old guys in there 60′s with the same style tattoos up their arms – that was in trend back then!

I love body mods if done for your own personal reasons and they suit you, whether it’s because you’re really into a certain style of fashion or not. People used to say to me when I was 15 “it’s a phase”, “you will grow out of it”. Well I had pink hair last week and still have half my piercings and considering more body mods! Long phase this is!

I am still really shocked when tattoo’s get an adverse public reaction and think it’s disgusting that people still judge a book by its cover! The most recent thing I saw that I seriously thought about complaining about was the advert where the “punk” guy opens the front door, and his neighbors instantly decide he is trouble and say “buy some ear plugs!”

In summary body mods are beautiful when done tastefully, complementing the body and to your own personal taste (don’t just walk into the shop, pick a little devil out from the book and get it tattooed on your ass!)

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