The Girl with the Diving-Girl Tattoo

As a birthday gift to myself I took a short trip to Toronto to visit some dear friends and also got a tattoo I've been thinking of for a while. Here's the new tattoo.

She's an early version (1920s) of the famous "Red Diving Girl" logo of the Jantzen swimwear company. They were one of the first companies to make modern, lightweight swimwear - thereby revolutionizing swimming (especially for women). I think one of their early slogans was even something along the lines of "transforming bathing into swimming"... for which we're all grateful. The Jantzen website used to have a really great historical timeline but it seems to have disappeared... for now, check the wiki. I forget what I was researching but when I stumbled across her about a half a year ago but my immediate thought was, "Now there's a get-up for swimming in Canada!" So even though she's the logo of an American company and a the toque/wool sock combo is totally impractical, to me this is a "Great Lakes swimmer".

The word "tuffi" apparently means "water diver" in Italian... but I don't speak Italian so I'm not really sure. I'm not too worried if the translation is wrong, I just like the look of the word. I guess it's sort of become the diving girl's name/label, in my mind. You have to be tough after all, to swim in cold waters. And, metaphorically, you have to be tough/brave to dive into any unknown venture... or even to dive into life itself... So I guess, as with many of my tattoos, this is sort of a "note-to-self". In this case, to be brave and dive in. And to toughen up a bit. But tough with a cute spelling... so "be tough" in sort of a gentle, light-hearted way. Where did I come across the idea for "Tuffi"? From the story of a circus elephant that got spooked on a suspended tram in Germany and jumped out a window. Luckily, he landed in water and escaped unharmed, living another 40 years under the moniker, "Tuffi"

In size and look, this tattoo balances nicely against the boxing girl on my other arm. As a piece of historical advertising, she balances out the Starr Skates (first hockey skates) logo on my other arm. She was done by Mike Bialek at New Tribe in Toronto. He's a swell guy who likes to tattoo classic, traditional flash. If that's what you're into, I fully recommend a visit.

Posted by Hodie J