Nadja Bender's New Tattoos

Nadja Bender
1
Nadja Bender
2
Nadja Bender
3
Nadja Bender
Nadja Bender
Nadja Bender
Nadja Bender
Nadja Bender
Nadja Bender

Leaving the Jason Wu Spring 2014 show on a high of metallic slip dresses, safari suits, “romantic” glitter eyes, and “expensive” hair, we nearly stumbled into model Nadja Bender, who was, as usual, dressed impeccably. And her single-shoulder eyelet top revealed the self-confessed shopaholic’s latest acquisition: new tattoos. Three to be exact, down the back of her forearm, on her inner wrist, and a very Freja-esque round-the-wrist bracelet in what looked like someone's handwriting.

If we can give you any advice—or is it a warning?—it would be that models can pull things off that we mere mortals cannot (case in point: crocs and Hanne Gaby Odiele...OK, Mario Batali can wear them, too). Either way, the Danish beauty was happy to spill the details on her new ink:

“I just got three tattoos at the same time, done by my friend back in Denmark. I was thinking, ‘You know what, I never have time, so I'm just going to go for all of it.’ Afterwards, I sent my agent a photo of them and she smacked down her computer, got on her bike, and rode straight down to the tattooist. I was like ‘Oopsie!’ [Laughs] One of them is in my friend’s handwriting, and another is in my boyfriend's handwriting. I had him jot it down on a piece of paper, but he didn’t know I was using it for a tattoo, so when he saw it, he said, ‘Oh no! I didn’t even use my pretty writing!’ The one on my wrist says ‘Walk the line,’ which is all about being in balance with everything—not doing too much of this or too much of that—being an ‘in-between’ adult. The other one says ‘To define is to limit.’ And then there's a moon, which I drew myself.”

Nadja Bender photographed by Emily Weiss in New York on September 6, 2013.