Is The Tramp Stamp Having A Renaissance? | ELLE (2024)

If you were to ask TikTok, one tattoo style enjoying a resurgence is the once-infamous tramp stamp. While formerly an icon of nineties and noughties bad girls, the tramp stamp fell out of favour by the mid to late 2010s.

Despite being popular among It Girls of the era (see: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Alba, Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, to name only a few), tramp stamps were the victim of a late-noughties revival of conservative family values — and rising waistlines.

As one TikToker explains: “The second women getting tattoos started becoming more mainstream in the late 90s and early 2000s, men had to go ahead and suck the fun out of it by branding lower back tattoos ‘tramp stamps’. There’s never been a male equivalent. It’s not based on anything. It’s just pure misogyny.”

Many of the aforementioned celebs had their tramp stamps removed, and Kim Kardashian formally declared the trend null and void when she quipped: “Would you put a bumper sticker on a Bentley?”

However, along with the low-rise jeans that begot the first waves of tramp stamps, Gen Z is calling for the reclamation of the lower back tattoo.

During a recent TikTok, a popular Sydney tattoo page, @markdtattoo, listed tramp stamps as one of the key tattoo trends of 2024.

“I swear they’re coming back,” one tattoo artist said. “I’ve had people ask me for some, I’ve seen a few on TikTok, I really think they’re coming back.”

While we’re yet to see a lot of celebrities heeding this call (this side of 2010), social media is full of people getting lower back tattoos of all shapes and sizes, and their videos are garnering millions of views.

If you’re curious about the tramp stamp, it’s meaning and which celebs have rocked the trend, read on.

What Is A Tramp Stamp Tattoo (And Why Is It Called That)?

A ‘tramp stamp’ is a colloquial term for a lower back tattoo.

While lower back tattoos are literally ancient, the term ‘tramp stamp’ only dates back to around 2004, with some saying it originated on SNL.

What Does ‘Tramp Stamp’ Really Mean?

If you’re wondering why it’s called a ‘tramp stamp’, you’re not alone — and the meaning is more than a little risque, with a side of misogyny.

In the 2005 film Wedding Crashers, Vince Vaughan’s character makes it quite clear. “Tattoo on the lower back? Might as well be a bull’s-eye.”

Yeah, it’s pretty ick. But we know better than to give a tacky Vince Vaughan character defining power over where we get our ink, right?

Is It Okay To Call It A ‘Tramp Stamp’?

That’s really in the eye (ears?) of the subject. Some people (like this person who wrote a Vox article) doesn’t really appreciate the term. It does have connotations of promiscuity, so it might depend where you stand on the sex positivity scale.

In fact, Teen Vogue (with the aid of many young women on TikTok) made the case for reclaiming the tramp stamp.

Celebrities With Tramp Stamps

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie has a ‘Sak Yant’ (tiger looking back) tattoo on her lower back, which she got on a trip to Thailand in 2004.

Britney Spears

Britney’s lower back tattoo is a sweet and colourful fairy.

Elle Fanning

Okay, this is fake. Elle Fanning was joking around when she revealed a floral tramp stamp beneath her couture in 2024. But we still think it’s pretty cute.

Nicole Richie

Nicole Richie used to have a tramp stamp of a cross, but had the tattoo removed on her web series #CandidlyNicole in 2013.

Geri Halliwell

And another one bites the dust. Ginger Spice had a panther tattooed on her lower back in 1998, but had it removed around 2004.

Miley Cyrus

We know Miley Cyrus has a lot of ink, but we rarely get to glimpse her tramp stamp of a tiger wrapped in a dragon. This was posted to her social media in 2021.

Christina Ricci

Christina has several tattoos, including a sweet pea on her lower back.