Kendall Jenner’s Tiny Tattoo Is Ultra-Trendy & Mom-Approved

You’d never know it from a cursory glance, but Kendall Jenner is something of a burgeoning tattoo aficionado. Though they’re all on the small side and placed at strategically concealable points, Jenner’s ink is ever-growing — and her latest tattoo is her largest and most prominently positioned one yet. Kendall Jenner’s new ankle tattoo of an itty-bitty cowboy boot is at once very personal and ultra-trendy. It’s true that all things Western-themed have captured stylish celebrity imaginations for the better part of two years, but Jenner’s cowboy boot tattoo also seems to symbolize her fondness for Wyoming, a state now synonymous with ranching — there’s even a silhouette of a rodeo bronco right on state-issued license plates.

The 818 Tequila owner first visited Wyoming back in 2019 when sister Kim Kardashian and former brother-in-law Kanye West purchased two vacation properties there. In the subsequent years, Jenner would travel to the state numerous times with friends and family to take in the serene, rustic views of the Rockies — and the rodeo, too. In an early August photo dump on Instagram, Jenner showed off a few shots of her and some pals at a summer rodeo. Dressed in a ‘00s-era denim miniskirt and a graphic tank proclaiming her love of cowboys, her grin’s as bright as any five-star vacation.

Celebrity tattoo artist Kate McDuffie joined Jenner on the trip, commemorating the yeehaw of it all with an incredibly detailed (and incredibly small) tattoo of a single cowboy boot on the inside of her left ankle. McDuffie is known for her mind-bending ability to deliver wildly intricate tattoos, and specializes in that delicate, finely-drawn ink so popular with virtually all A-listers — she even did Pete Davidson’s now-infamous “my girl is a lawyer” tattoo.

Though the baby-sized boot is the fourth tattoo in Jenner’s collection, it’s really only more like the second. Jenner’s very first tattoo was a nearly-invisible white dot on the side of her finger in 2015, which she told Ellen DeGeneres was just to see how it felt. On the same talk show appearance, Jenner revealed she got the word meow tattooed on the inside of her lower lip a year later after getting a little tipsy with friends. Though the meow tattoo is sizable, inner lip tattoos don’t last longer than five years, according to dermatologists — and it’s unlikely she’s had it touched up or maintained since.

Finally, Jenner has a matching broken heart outline tattoo with Hailey Bieber, though the pair have never posted permanent photos of them, just there-and-gone Snapchats. Her penchant for smaller tattoos is both a common and practical one. Tiny, line-based tattoos are wildly popular among Gen Z and Millennials for how minimalist and easily concealed they are. Jenner’s modeling could be another piece of the puzzle, too. On-the-fly versatility is key for ascending models, but Jenner can likely do as she pleases at this stage in her career. Plus, the smaller ink usually goes over well with moms — she took pains to hide her earlier tattoos from Kris Jenner, but based on a gushing “my little cowgirl” comment on her daughter’s photos, it looks like Kendall Jenner’s ink has her mom’s stamp of approval.