Bill Decker

Louisiana

Seventy-five years ago, Groucho Marx sang about "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady," who exuberantly turned her body into a work of public art. Then again, Lydia was a circus act:

"For a dime you can see Kankakee or Par-ee, or Washington crossing the Delaware."

The popularity of tattoos has long since outgrown the sideshow tent, especially among young adults. And more of those tattoos are beginning to move out of places that can be easily hidden by shirt sleeves, said Coby Cox, the owner of AAA Tattoo & Piercing at 1547 Johnston St.

"To go below the sleeve, from my era, you just didn't do that," said Cox, who has been doing tattoos for nearly 25 years. "We called those job deciders."

Instead of a discreet butterfly or flower on an ankle or an easily hidden tramp stamp across the lower back, today's would-be tattoo bearer might be more inclined to ask for a bigger design, like some of those on the AAA Tattoo Facebook page: a piece of colorful driftwood that runs down a forearm. An American eagle and flag design that extends from the shoulder to below the elbow. An understated flower on the back of an index finger. A trumpeting elephant that stretches from shoulder to wrist.

And it's not just the bigger designs they're looking for, Cox said.

"I've noticed the trend for quite a while has been personal tattoos," he said. "I mean, tattoos are personal no matter what it is. But people are wanting us to design something personal to them instead of picking something off the wall.

"It's all over the place. A teacher will come in and want an apple with bite taken out of it because she's a teacher. Chefs will come in, and it'll be a food theme for the chef. … Very personalized."

Even the old standbys demand a twist.

"They'll want 'Mom,' but let's say Mom sewed," Cox said. "They'll want a sewing theme with needles and thread and bobbins and stuff like that. If it's a Marine tattoo or a military tattoo, they'll want the names of the buddies they lost or where they served."

At AAA, the term "tattoo artist" means just that. The people who put the ink on the customer's skin are, more and more, the people who have designed the image they're working with.

Cox himself, a native of Lubbock, Texas, has a degree in art with an emphasis on painting from Texas Tech. He had a tattoo shop of his own there before he decided Lubbock wasn't the place for him. He'd enjoyed living in New Orleans for a year when his father was called there on business, so Louisiana seemed like a good fit. Then a school friend who had moved to Acadiana urged him to move here.

So Cox headed for Lafayette in 1996. He worked in a corner of the old Euphoria novelty store on West Congress for a while before opening his own shop on Sterling Street. Then he moved again to a building across from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus. The building had been a dentist's office, a Domino's Pizza and a bookstore. Since 1997, it has been the home of AAA Tattoo & Piercing.

His staff has been a stable one. The artists include Josh Toby; Urban Bienvenu, the portrait specialist, who has been with the shop almost since it opened; and Terry Grow, Chad Norris and Shane Blanco, all of whom have been with AAA for at least 10 years.

Piercer Karen Wallace has been with the shop since it opened. Paige Haggerty is a recent hire as a piercer.

Together, they're frequently the readers' top choice for Best Place to Get a Tattoo in The Times of Acadiana's annual Best Of feature.

Cox has a word of advice for anyone considering a tattoo or piercing.

"It's very important if you're getting a tattoo or a piercing to research the shop, check it out. We do a lot of repair work.

"It's just a good idea to really consider your tattoo, where you're going to get it, and it is a lifelong commitment. We see some bad stuff. There are health code requirements, but there are no aesthetic requirements. You could just open a shop and start doing tattoos.

"If you don't like what we do for you, we can recommend another shop."

The caution might be especially wise if you're looking for something unusual.

"I don't tattoo strange places usually, mainly because it's hard to tattoo," Cox said. "But the strangest place was the eyelids. A guy came in, an older guy, and he was completely covered. He wanted the playing cards, diamonds, hearts, spades, clubs, two on each eye. So I did it."

Reach Bill Decker at bdecker@theadvertiser.com, 337-289-6327 or @BillDeckerTDA.