Gen Z Is Reclaiming the “Tramp Stamp” From the Early 2000s, but Is Calling It a “Cake Topper”
The lower-back tattoo that got a whole generation of women branded “trashy” is back, and the women wearing it aren’t apologizing. Britney, Angelina, and Kate Moss all had one. Gen Z is picking the placement right back up, minus the shame.
Alysa Liu, Doechii, beabadoobee, and Chappell Roan are all wearing lower-back tattoos again, and TikTok has renamed the placement a “cake topper” to drop the old baggage.
The term “tramp stamp” was coined somewhere between the late 1990s and early 2000s, and it did exactly what it sounds like: it turned an aesthetic choice into a verdict about the woman making it. Lower-back ink got read as a marker of promiscuity, impulsiveness, and bad judgment, and mostly it got called tacky.
That framing stuck even as the biggest names of the era wore the tattoo proudly. Britney Spears had a little fairy. Angelina Jolie’s Bengal tiger was inked by a traditional Cambodian tattooist using a long stick-and-poke needle, a permanent nod to the citizenship she was granted in 2004. Christina Aguilera revealed hers at the 2006 MTV VMAs, a Hebrew line that translates to “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” Kate Moss had a pair of birds.
The return of low-rise jeans did some of the work: once the lower back was visible again, the tattoo followed. But Gen Z is doing more than copying an aesthetic. Renaming the placement strips out the insult baked into the original term.
But, keep in mind, Khloé Kardashian and Jessica Alba have both said they regret their early-aughts ink, and Kardashian had her “daddy” tattoo, done in honor of her late father, removed in 2015.
Enjoyed this story? Give us a follow on Facebook, and find plenty more on the Thought Catalog website.
