A YOUNG fashion designer has become an top tattoo hunter.

Chloe McAteer has released a new range of quirky t-shirts inspired by the inky artwork she sees on the bodies of young women and men on the streets, the internet and in specialist tattoo magazines.

When Chloe, a 20-year-old undergraduate at the University of Huddersfield, spots a tattoo that fires her imagination she will use it as the basis for artwork on the t-shirts she calls Tattees!

The former Westholme Blackburn pupil said: “A lot of my inspiration has been from looking at friends tattoos. Many of male friends have full arm tattoos known as sleeves and they have been really great letting me use them in my designs.

“If I am out shopping an I see a tattoo I like I will go over and ask the person if i can take a picture. I’m not shy.

“People are really often really kind and talk to me about them.”

Chloe is taking a BA course in fashion design with marketing and production and is currently embarked on the work placement year that is built into the course. She decided to use it as an opportunity to launch her own fashion business – and she has been assisted and advised by the University of Huddersfield’s Business Mine, a special service that provides advice, mentoring and financial assistance to enterprising graduates and recent graduates.

Chloe, of Alden close, Helmshore , will begin to market her fashion label CL03 MAC designs on the web, but has also participated in fashion shows and had garments on sale at the Huddersfield fashion boutique Left Bank.

Chloe’s next range is a collection of clothes called “Fighting Fit”, inspired by Thai boxing, of which her dad Dave is a keen exponent.

She said: “I am always looking at expanding my ranges, so if anyone has an interesting tattoo to share with me or they want to buy a t-shirt they can email me at clo3mac@hotmail.co.uk”