One of the most popular tattoo trends to come out of the nineties was the arm band. Arm bands were popular among both men and women. Arm bands were created by a small string of items, such as flowers, or by linear line work that would wrap around the upper bicep. Among the most popular arm band designs was barbed wire arm bands. This style of tattoo was made popular by Baywatch star Pamela Anderson. Barbed wire tattoos were also common among biker gangs and criminals. Some people claimed that the barbed wire was a reflection of their prickly, and often misunderstood personality. Another reason some people had for barbed wire arm bands was to represent time spent in prison. The number of barbs on the wire symbolized the number of years sentenced to prison, and a full arm band often represented a life sentence. Another common claim for barbed wire arm bands was that of a religious context. Individuals would get arm bands of barbed wire, or a string of thorns, to represent the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ during his crucifixion. Over the years, arm band tattoos fell out of popularity when full sleeve tattoos became more desirable. The placement and style of arm band tattoos made it difficult to build up more tattoos around the original design. Many people who had a super sweet arm band tattoo back in the 90s have since had it covered with more modern, elaborate pieces of art that are more original and incorporated into other designs. 
Another common tattoo of the 90s era was Chinese or Japanese Characters and subject matter. While Japanese style tattooing is still very common in America, the tattoo designs of the nineties were tacky and tasteless. When it came to Chinese and Japanese character tattoos, most westerners had no way of knowing if what they were getting was accurate to their intended tattoo. This led to many people getting tattoos that they believed to say something wise, but in fact said things like “chicken,” and “fast and foolish.” The Chinese and Japanese imagery commonly seen in this era of tattoo trends were cheaply done dragons and yin yang symbols. Traditional Japanese style tattooing used heavy symbolism. Every design that was created had special meaning and utilized important symbols related to the Japanese culture such as cherry blossoms and Fu Dogs. The “Asian” style tattoos created in the nineties had no symbolism or deep meaning behind them. Most of the wearers of these tattoos just liked the way they looked and thought they were cool. 
Another tattoo style that was adopted by Americans in the nineties was the tribal tattoo design. Tribal tattoos had been around for centuries before the designs made it to American culture. Tribal tattoo designs were common among the Polynesians and Samoans as well as people from the Netherlands. The designs created within these cultures were deeply meaningful, much like the traditional Japanese style tattoos. Each design was created to tell a sort of story, or to symbolize a pivotal moment in the wearer’s life. However, majority of the tribal tattoo designs create by American tattoo artists were simply aesthetic in nature. Instead of meaningful patterns and designs, the American tribal tattoos were simply made to look good. While many people currently view tribal tattoos as a form of culture appropriation, others see it more as an appreciation of the original traditional art form. Leo Zulueta is possibly the most responsible for bringing tribal tattooing to America. Zulueta, who is of Hawaiian and Filipino decent, began practicing tattooing under the tutelage of Ed Hardy. He credits Ed Hardy for supporting his interest in pretechnological tattooing and allowing him to explore these avenues. Zulueta has said “…You can’t go anywhere into any shop and not see some sort of trace of [tribal] which makes me feel proud to see that it has had such and impact.” When questioned about the contradiction of middle-class, young, white Americans having traditional tribal tattoos he said that he viewed the practice as more of an appreciation. He felt like when people chose to get tribal tattoos, or large Japanese back pieces, or any other culturally traditional style of tattoo, that they weren’t trying to claim any sort of cultural connection. They weren’t trying to steal this cultures artwork, instead they were showing how appreciative they were of the style. It wasn’t long before the simplistic, bold, black linework of tribal tattoos became popular among new tattoo artists. The designs were fairly simple to draw and produce so many new artists defaulted to this style while growing their skill. It wasn’t long before this cheapened the style and eventually the thick linework of tribal tattoos fell out of style.
