A couple of months ago, lingerie brand The Underargument asked our editor Alice to model for their new campaign: For Identity // Against Stereotypes. This inspiring lingerie brand is a wearable reminder to embrace individuality and argue against the norm.
The For Identity // Against Stereotypes collection illustrates that we are more than the boxes that we are sometimes put in. Your identity does not start or stop with your gender, your religion, your abilities, your cultural, occupational or social background. This underargument will remind you that you don’t have to be the product of your environment and predispositions or let stereotypes define you.
Here is Alice’s story for the collection.
“One of my favourite things about my tattoos is that they challenge traditional stereotypes of beauty, that a woman’s skin should be pure or unmarked. It still shocks me that, in 2019, some magazines and mainstream media push the idea that we should look a certain way, by losing weight or using make-up to conceal our so called imperfections. It is so damaging.”
“Perceptions of tattooed women have always suggested sexual promiscuity and over-confidence. And I think that society still views female confidence with an irrational disdain. Perhaps that is why tattoos on a woman are so provocative. I don’t often wear shorts in the summer now for fear of #tatcalling. As dependable as clockwork – when you’re a tattooed woman in public, some guy will eventually shout, “I like your tattoos!” My tattoos aren’t an invitation to leer at me. My tattoo on my back is certainly not permission to run your hands down my spine or pull my top down to “get a better look” or ask me “how far does that go down love?”; I am not public property. Tattoos don’t make me “easy”, they are not any reflection of my morals and they don’t mean I am seeking attention.
I bumped into an ex a few years ago who was like “what are you, good girl gone bad? “
“Whenever I go back to my hometown, it’s a small place in the midlands, people are always shocked that I have tattoos. I bumped into an ex a few years ago who was like “what are you, good girl gone bad? “. My uncle has a few tattoos and even he is surprised that I am the one in the family who is heavily tattooed. Women with tattoos are never portrayed as the “girl next door”, they are never the nerdy girl, they are the bad girl, and they are sexualised. Women with tattoos have been painted that way for years. The Tattooed Lady in the circus, for example, was literally a freak, a strange creature to be objectified.
“Tattoos have always been for “tough guys”, and men with tattoos aren’t sexualised in the same way that women are. I was a studious girl at school, quiet, shy, forever with my head in a book. The fact that I have ink on my skin apparently doesn’t fit into mould. But I am still that person. In fact, tattoos have given me confidence. I used to hate the way I looked and adorning my body with beautiful artwork has been empowering – and I can’t wait to see how my collection grows. I would love to fill all the gaps. It will be my life’s work. It is funny. People often ask if I worry about what I will look like when I am older, but, really, why would I? I don’t plan on fitting into another stereotype about what I should or shouldn’t look like in my seventies, eighties, nineties…”
View more at theunderargument.com
Rose O’Neill first illustrated Kewpie dolls to be featured in the Ladies’ Home Journal, and they swiftly became extremely popular. Born in Germany, their name derived from the word “Cupid”, for the Roman God of beauty.
Tell us about your tattoo collection. When was your first? My first tattoo was a tiny roll of film on my left shoulder, it was done by Tyree Patrick of 
piece, I reached out to some specialists in lipedema asking about tattoos. They had no real information or studies on it. Basically, the replies back were: “Not really sure, but if you go through with it, update us afterwards.” It wasn’t until mid-summer last year that I realised I had already tattooed on lipedema damaged area with Ursula. It made a lot more sense looking back at how Ursula was harder to heal and seemed to be “too wet.” My thigh has been really tender during the actual tattooing. My skin puffs and pinks up in the lipedema areas pretty quickly and makes it more difficult for Ty to see the saturation of the ink. It also seeps lymph fluid, which can be annoying. 
Healing the thigh has been interesting. There is a very fine line of just enough ointment to keep it from being dry and cracking and too much that keeps it too wet that doesn’t allow it to scab over. The lymph fluid can cause some deep scabs which are really painful and sore. Ursula and The Muppets have been harder to heal than any of my other tattoos but not bad enough that it keeps me from completing my vision.