“Tattoos just mean everything; they have completely changed me.”
“I was quite late to the TikTok game,” says Sammi Jefcoate over a video call from Surrey, outside of London, England. “I ignored it for quite a long time because it was far too much dancing. I was like, ‘I can’t do that!’ I didn’t even want to talk to the camera.” She eventually joined TikTok in November 2021, after a fruitful four years as an Instagram content creator. The accessories brand founder (Jefcoate’s line, Ārdēo Studios, sells hats, scarves, belts and harnesses) had achieved success on the photo app by sharing her OOTDs, which featured lots of black leather and latex. “At the time, Instagram felt a bit iffy, like it might die,” says Jefcoate. “So I decided to join TikTok and just be myself — not an extrovert. I gained a million followers in a month.”
Since then, Jefcoate has amassed almost four million followers across both platforms (Instagram, as we know, did not die), and she continues to share a combination of her daily outfits — often mixing high-end designer items with goth staples like latex bustiers and leather harnesses — in-the-know beauty routine, regular nail art appointments and frequent visits to the tattoo parlour. Ah, yes…the tattoos. Covered from neck to toe in colourful traditional-style designs like anchors, snakes and hearts, Jefcoate has become TikTok’s most beloved heavily tattooed high-fashion girlie.
“I got into alternative music in my teens, and it completely shaped who I am,” she says. “A lot of the band members I looked up to were heavily tattooed, and I was like, ‘I want that.’ The perception of being inked is different now, but back then, tattoo magazines were on the top shelf of newsstands so I couldn’t even get to them without looking like I was reaching for porn. [Laughs] I thought tattoos were so badass, and I immediately knew I…
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