On 20 February 2012, Coté Arias met Morrissey at a fan meet-up in Santiago, Chile. The former Smiths frontman signed her forearm in spiky capitalised lettering, which Coté later had traced permanently on to her skin with ink. Her years-long plan for the tattoo, which had started with her founding Morrissey’s Chilean fanclub, had worked. “Morrissey had such an impact on me growing up,” she says. “I struggled with shyness and lacked confidence for much of my life, and his lyrics helped me feel seen while transitioning into adulthood.”
