Dr. Woo's Impossible-to-Get Tattoo Designs Will Now Be Available to Everyone

When I catch Dr. Woo, the “tattoo artist to the stars,” he’s in a cab between shows at Paris Fashion Week. When you’re a celebrity tattoo artist, you find all sorts of weird ways to connect with the world of fashion. For instance, you might end up tattooing Virgil Abloh, befriending him, and landing an invite to his debut Louis Vuitton show. (“Really emotional,” Woo says.) And the day after I speak to him, Dr. Woo would attend the Sacai show to see the clothes he collaborated on with the Japanese brand. Because when you’re a famous tattoo artist, brands tend to see the designs you permanently etch onto people’s skin and start wondering how to make those designs available to everyone.

Dr. Woo works out of his famously small and difficult-to-get-into Hideaway at Suite X, inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Customers meeting with the artist this week have waited two years for their appointments. The point is: if you covet one of Dr. Woo’s signature fine-line designs, patience is as essential as comfort with needles. That changes this October, when Dr. Woo will release a collection with Nyden, a new brand from H&M that works with influencers like Woo, the singer Dua Lipa, and German soccer star Jérôme Boateng. The idea is to tap into the visions (and follower counts) of these celebrities. “It is kind of a weird idea if you think about it,” Dr. Woo says of the influencer-centric brand. But he gets it as only an influencer can: “I think now more than ever there's room for people to share ideas super easily if you have something to say.”

Dr. Woo is exactly the sort of person that makes sense for a brand like Nyden: an artist with an exclusive signature design desired by many—plus 1.3 million Instagram followers. And if you like his tattoos, you’ll like his clothing designs. After tattooing thousands of palm trees, he’s brought his own version to tees, hoodies, and leather jackets. Outlines of planets—a trend in the tattoo world, Dr. Woo says—also appear throughout out the collection. I talked to Dr. Woo about that Louis Vuitton show, his new Nyden collection, and why tattoos aren’t cool anymore.

GQ: Tell me about your Nyden collection. What are you hoping to create with them?
Dr. Woo: The thing about Nyden that was very appealing from the beginning is they were very open about sharing ideas and giving full creative input to the project. Usually with collabs you are restricted, but from the very beginning Nyden was forthright with the fabrics we could use—nothing was limited—and were receptive to ideas. The team was great and they were a good format for someone like me who doesn't have the access or tools to create things on that level. They had that armory for me to use.

I thought it was a good place to jump off from and see how the ideas in my head could actually be tangible.

Speaking of those ideas: how do you take the sketching you do for your tattoos and translate that for apparel?

The coolest thing about this was it wasn't just, “I'm a visual artist so let's put visual art on garments.” It was very much about, “What do you like to wear? What's your dream jacket or what's your dream fit? What's your favorite fabric?”

We got that compiled then it was, “How would your signature lines or your art go on this product?” Usually if you’re someone who does what I do, it's like, "Oh, cool design, let's slap it on a shirt." This was more about creating designs and images that read well with the flow of the garment.

The body placement of a tattoo is an important part of the design. Does that same perspective translate when you’re doing this?

Yeah, I mean, for me the way I look at everything is fluid motion. I try and take that and look at where the placement of where the different parts of the beach ball are on the body and where they bend and when you twist it how it looks from that angle. With clothing it's great because you have texture and colors and a certain amount of contrast that you can add.

The really interesting thing about Nyden is that it's tapping into people like yourself who have really dedicated followings. What are you seeing in that shift where anyone with a following can tap into something like Nyden and create a collection like this?

It is kind of a weird idea if you think about it. I think now more than ever there's room for people to share ideas super easily if you have something to say. For a while it was hard to have a voice or a platform to do this. Now, this comes along and makes it that much easier and makes sharing art and ideas easier.

Especially at this time in our world it's important that people have a positive outlook and creative output mixed in with everything else that's going on.

What do you mean by "everything that's going on"—like politically in the world?

Yeah, there's political stuff and a lot of kids don't know where they fit in. Like I didn't know where I fit in as a kid and just trying to find a job and do that whole thing right.

Then, yeah, obviously there's so much stuff going on and distractions and we are all living with screens. I have kids and I would love for them to feel, instead of racing and chasing something, there's always this idea that you can create your own version of whatever you want.

All I'm saying is today, where identity is so loosely changed and traded, that it’s nice to have a way to stand out individually.

Is there something you get out of doing clothes that maybe you don't get from tattooing?

Yeah, it's like if I painted a painting or sculpted a sculpture or created a great meal. It's just this, “Whoa look what I made—a visual thing you can look at and say this is my hard-earned time and effort to create this thing and I like it.” It's the feeling you get from that is just how people chase highs. Some people want to bungee jump or skateboard or create music—it's all the same feeling.

You've tattooed thousands of palm trees and I noticed it's a motif in the collection as well. Is this the palm tree you've perfected over time?

The ones I drew for this one were actually more about figuring out how deconstructed or sloppy can I draw a palm tree since I've done so many perfect ones. That's the fun part—this is how I see a palm tree versus what I've been doing.

Tattooing is a collaboration essentially. I'm collaborating with the client: they bring an idea, they know what they want, so it's not a free-for-all for me. That palm tree design is also a way to do what I want and that's the cool thing about the clothing: the designs and the vibe that I have is not necessarily is what the tattoo world has been asking from me.

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Are there any trends you've seen in the tattoo world over the past year or so?

Yeah, I mean there's a lot of geometric stuff. The fine line thing is very popular right now. Pet faces and I think a lot of little classic iconography done in a modern way, people love that now—Saturns, planets, flowers. A lot of people are placing their tattoos how we talked about: accenting their form and placing them like accessories.

But tattoos are so popular now, there's an audience for every single person. The trend I think in general is just tattoos overall.

I was on your Instagram, preparing to talk to you, and I saw that you were at the Virgil Abloh Louis Vuitton show. How did that happen?

I know him personally and I also relationships with people in that world.

How do you know him—have you tattooed him?

We run in the same circles but, yes, I've tattooed him a bunch. Matt Williams [designer of the brand Alyx] actually introduced us back when he was working with Kanye.

Yeah, you're a big fan of Alyx, right?

Yeah, me and Matt go way back. It's awesome to be fans of your friends especially when you like their work.

Did you witness The Hug [between Abloh and Kanye at the Vuitton show]?

Yeah, that was a very touching moment. Everyone was really emotional, crying. There were a lot of people there that have been with Virgil, that have seen him since the beginning. His close friends and his mom and dad were there. It was a cool thing to witness.

Why do you think there's this natural connection between tattoo artists like yourself and designers? Why do you think you're kind of on the same wavelength?

I don't think I'm on the same wavelength but I think I'm on the same wave. I think now the lines are blurred between creatives—art, music, fashion, and culture—you can be a chef and a rapper, you can be a fashion designer but also be a tennis player. It's kind of crazy, everything is mixing together and if you do it well you stand out and the creative output you do shines.

Now more than ever the rules are being rewritten and it's cool to see what people come up with. If you're passionate about anything, then what you share is always going to be special.

I read that you said there are so many people getting tattoos now that what's actually cool is not having tattoos at all.

Yeah, it was kind of a joke. But when I was younger and in a room, I was the only one who had a tattoo and so that made me feel cool. But now if you're in a room, the person who doesn't have tattoos is the odd man out and is always the one that's "against the system." And it's funny because tattoos have always been counterculture and now they're mainstream.