There are some people you notice immediately.

I often talk about style, image, references, but that’s never what I look at first. What really interests me is what lies underneath. What remains once you remove the decor. The way someone is present, how they occupy space, what they project without needing to show it.

Today, style is everywhere. You can buy it, copy it, build it quickly. It can be well executed, clean, technically controlled. But when there’s nothing behind it, it shows. Style stays on the surface. It changes easily, adapts, gets replaced.

Some people, on the other hand, impose something immediately. Before the music, before the image, before you even try to understand. There is an obvious presence, something stable, something that doesn’t shift depending on the context.

Presence before appearance

I have three examples in mind. Three figures who inspire me, even if they are almost paradoxical to one another. Very different worlds, but the same way of existing. For those who know them, you’ll understand right away what I mean.

With Liam Gallagher, everything comes down to attitude. The way he stands, speaks, looks, the refusal to move or adjust to please. Even without singing, everything is already there. The music comes afterwards, like a natural continuation, not a correction.

With Marilyn Manson, the path is different, but the starting point is the same. The body, the image, the provocation are used to set a clear tension. The character is not an empty mask. It’s an assumed position. Music and aesthetics extend something that is already in place.

With Dita Von Teese, everything works in reverse, yet follows the same logic. Nothing is excessive. Everything is controlled, precise, deliberate. Distance, silence, and mystery do the work. She doesn’t need to provoke directly or explain herself. Her presence asserts itself through coherence and consistency.

Three very different universes, but one obvious common point: style never fills a void. It rests on something solid.

When style becomes a screen

Today, many people use style as a facade. References pile up, the image is polished, adjusted to work everywhere. But when there’s nothing behind it, you feel it instantly. Style becomes dependent on the external gaze, on trends, on validation.

You can have a perfect image and still impose nothing. Because what’s missing isn’t taste or technique, but a real coherence between what is shown and what is lived.

Why this directly concerns tattooing

If I talk about this, it’s because it’s exactly the same in tattooing. Yes, tattooing is part of decoration. For me, it’s even a jewel, an extension of style, something that highlights what already defines us. You never choose a tattoo by accident. You carry images that resemble you, that say something about you, sometimes without needing words.

A piece can be clean, well executed, technically flawless. But when there’s nothing behind it, the image stays flat. On the other hand, when a tattoo is coherent with the person who wears it, it holds over time. It evolves with the skin, the body, life itself, without losing its meaning.

A tattoo is not just an image placed on skin. It’s an extension of the self, visible every day, accompanying someone over the long term. When this coherence exists, the image remains strong even as it ages. When it doesn’t, the tattoo becomes dependent on fashion and the outside gaze.

What Remains

Style evolves, comes back, disappears. What is deeply aligned remains. That’s what makes an image leave a mark, what allows someone to recognise themselves in what they carry, what allows a body of work to last.

Before style, there is what holds.
The rest fades.

You’ll find interviews with each of them at the end of the article.

To watch

Liam Gallagher
An interview with Liam Gallagher during the Beady Eye era. A nonchalant and provocative way of taking space, without justification.

Marilyn Manson
An interview with Marilyn Manson. A more frontal, theatrical presence, built around character and tension.

Dita Von Teese
An interview with Dita Von Teese. A controlled aesthetic, precise femininity, and a perfection that sustains mystery.