Now toxic boyfriends are covering their tattoos

At Sanremo 2025, Tony Effe—after months of controversy over the non-censorship censorship at Rome's New Year’s Eve concert and his misogynistic lyrics—appeared in a completely new guise, embodying a 1940s-style Roman vibe. He sang a verse in dialect, took the stage with calm composure, covered all his tattoos with a thick layer of foundation, and slicked back his signature curly trapper hair. No sunglasses. Just a white suit and a large, precious brooch. His red leather gloves are already a trend. In one word: cleaned up, but not necessarily sober—rather, conveying an idea of Italian masculinity that feels nostalgic and somewhat old-fashioned, even stale.

After Tony Effe at Sanremo, Pete Davidson also removes his tattoos (for Reformation)

Overseas, around the same time, Reformation unveiled its new campaign featuring the brand’s Official Boyfriend, Pete Davidson. He, too, appears to have removed his tattoos (though whether permanently, with makeup, via Photoshop, or a mix of all three remains unclear). He avoids the "fascist old-money gentleman" aesthetic—for obvious geographical reasons—and instead adopts the boy-next-door look: t-shirts and blue jeans, white socks, and a button-up Henley. A lot to think about, especially considering that for years, the actor and comedian was seen as the rebellious rebound for the it girls of the moment, from Emily Ratajkowski post-divorce to Kim Kardashian post-Kanye West.

Tony Effe's return to order (and the ideal of masculinity)

We've discussed this before. Tattoos seem to be out. Or rather, they have fallen out of contemporary beauty standards, which now focus on quiet luxury, blonde hair, and cleanliness—not in the literal sense (as tattoos have no correlation with hygiene) but as a supremacist idea of whiteness, of metaphorical (or not) lightness. Now, albeit with some natural delay, this aesthetic of returning to order (conservative and reactionary) has reached men as well, infiltrating beauty and fashion, embedding itself within the current male beauty ideal.

We no longer move between the two extremes of masculinity that dominated from 2017 to 2023. On one side, there was the trapper: flashy and troubled, with bizarre, visible tattoos, boasting about his wealth, and flaunting—not only a series of misogynistic and hypersexualized lyrics but also sparkling chains, rimless glasses, dark curls, and a Gucci crossbody bag. He was your worst nightmare, your family’s and your friends’. On the other, there was Harry Styles and Timothée Chalamet: tousled hair, silk blouses, lanky and gentle, sometimes with a touch of nail polish, embodying a soft, pastel masculinity—at least on the surface. Sometimes these two extremes blended; think pearl necklaces or tiny tattoos, stick 'n poke, doodles. Just a year and a half has passed, yet so much has changed.

Conservative masculinity: all restraint and sexism

We use Tony Effe and Pete Davidson—or rather, their rebranding, so different yet so similar—as a battering ram to break down the door and talk about a masculinity that seems new (we could call it post-Trump) but is, in fact, incredibly old and something we must beware of, manifesting even within trends. This is the masculinity of the patriarch, the authoritative father, the husband who works while the wife stays home. The clean-cut masculinity of the corporate manager with a stay-at-home girlfriend—one that, behind its polished appearance and absence of tattoos, hides ideas about relationships that would have seemed reactionary even to my great-grandfather. This is toxic, heterosexual masculinity adapting to modern times, resurfacing stronger and more insidious than ever after a brief (and partial, and perhaps only social media-driven) slowdown. And it all starts (or almost) with Sanremo 2025.