Long-sleeved shirts and heavy coats are ripped from limbs to display, among the exuberant flesh, the year’s crop of fresh tattoos.

No doubt many of these tattoos have been around for a while. But each summer, as I patrol the city streets, I am surprised anew at the latest palette of inky designs paraded along all the fashionable places, broiling in the summer’s heat.

No longer are tattoos the emblems of a caste of prisoners, gangs, soldiers or sailors. No longer, either, are they just for the rugged or the marginalized.

Like male ear-studs, tattoos today have leaped across the gender divide and achieved the demure state of being simply decorative.

In other words, intricate Russian mafia designs aside, tattoos are now just plain normal.”

Read: The cool sound of tattoos – CBC

Japanese traditional
Detailed, elaborate and vividly coloured scenes featuring warriors, waves, koi fish, geishas, dragons, cherry blossoms and Kanji characters (Japanese lettering) are the mainstay of this genre. Don’t worry, they’re a world away from the once-beloved Chinese symbols, speculated by many to be the tattoo artists’ joke at the expense of clueless punters, and all secretly reading ‘chicken fried rice’.

Sailor Jerry
Mermaids, ships, anchors, roses, swallows, pin-ups, flags and scrolls. Images are boldly outlined and almost cartoon-esque in their simplicity. This old-school style is called after legendary tattoo artist Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins, exposed to traditional Asian tattoo imagery while sailing with the US Navy. He made his name, and the style named after him, inking sailors on shore leave in Honolulu. And yes, the rum’s his too.

Realism/portraiture
This style has grown in popularity in recent years due to advancements in tattoo technology. Designs are usually exact copies of photographs and done in black and white – or a heavily detailed reproduction of a work of art.

Saturated Colour
Lush reds, deep greens, glossy yellows – tattoos have come along way from murky blue-green scribbles. Instead try butterflies, peacocks and lighthouses with colours you can almost dive into.

Read: Current trends in tattoo art – List

Designer Marc Jacobs reportedly asked his personal tattooist, the artist Scott Campbell, to come up with spray-ons inspired by the iconic LV monogram, which were worn across models’ necklines, much like ‘tattooed-on’ scarves.

Read: Temporary tattoos take on menswear

“Customers could be more confident about the safety of New Brunswick tattoo parlours if the industry were regulated, according to a Fredericton piercer.

“There are no standards right now in tattoo shops,” says Jeremy Daly.

“Tattooing and piercing is getting a lot more popular these days, and it would put the public at ease knowing that extra knowledge that tattoo shops are safe.”

Tattoo artists and piercers are around needles and blood every day, and many aren’t trained.

Calls for the regulation of tattoo parlours in Nova Scotia have given New Brunswick tattoo artists and piercers hope for regulations in their province.

In New Brunswick, anyone can do tattooing or piercings, and they can be done anywhere.”

Read: N.B. tattoo industry needs regulation: piercer – CBC

Lance Ratima, 38, unemployed, had pleaded guilty to the aggravated robbery of Miramar PostShop and Kiwibank on December 22 last year.

The Mongrel Mob member has a bulldog on his forehead and M13M on his chin, along with other tattoos that make him highly visible.”

Read: Jail for bank robber who wore makeup – Stuff Int’l

Katy Perry and Russell Brand prove love with matching tattoos

“Dancing on the bonnet of a car to promote the new Volkswagen 2011 Jetta, she threw her arms in the air revealing the tattoo on the inside of her right arm.

It seems this was a move to show of her commitment to the comedian as this month Russell showed off a matching inking on the front cover of Rolling Stones magazine.

The tattoo is a Sanskrit reading Anuugacchati Pravaha which is translated to mean Go With The Flow.”

Read: Katy Perry and Russell Brand prove love with matching tattoos – Metro

Miley Cyrus Gets a New Tattoo on Her Body

“While the controversy over Perez Hilton’s questionable post of a racy photo of her rages on, 17-year-old singer/actress/tabloid staple, Miley Cyrus reveals her newest tattoo – the word “LOVE” inscribed on the inside of her right ear. The “Hannah Montana” star already has the words “Just Breathe” inked underneath her right breast. Daddy’s little “Smiley” seems to be growing up at breakneck speed.”

Read: Miley Cyrus Gets a New Tattoo on Her Body – Total Beauty

Megan Fox Gets Tattoo in Honor of Mickey Rourke

“Megan Fox has some more ink. The Jonah Hex actress and Michael Bay archenemy recently added to her tattoo collection, saying it’s a special piece of work inspired by an unlikely fellow actor — Mickey Rourke.

Fox ‘revealed’ her tattoo to MTV News, saying it’s actually in honor of her Passion Play co-star Mickey Rourke.

“I actually got a tattoo that is sort of in honor of him,” she said. “It’s on my ribs. I don’t know if it’s been photographed yet, but it’ll come out eventually, I’m sure. I just love him very much and think he’s very special.”"

Read: Megan Fox Gets Tattoo in Honor of Mickey Rourke – Peace of Mind Online

This artistry is common in professional kitchens these days. Cooks turn to tattoos as a preferred expression of individualism, a form of rebellion against kitchen environments that demand conformity. For chefs, as for prisoners, soldiers and NBA point guards, a tattoo is a mark that can be worn with the uniform.”

Read: Chefs With Tattoos – LA Weekly