Parliament has traditionally been the domain of stuffed shirts, but a new broom is sweeping through the corridors of powers and it's pretty cool.

Over the years MPs have broken the mould, most notably former Greens MP Nandor Tanczos with his waist-length dreadlocks and hemp suit.

Parliament's old guard wasn't ready for him when he arrived in 1999; NZ First leader Winston Peters would taunt him with the nickname "rope head".

But Generation Y now strides confidently into the debating chamber bearing the symbols of modern culture: tattoos and piercings.

Greens MP Julie Anne Genter could be described as New Zealand's most edgy politician.

Born and raised in Southern California, the 32-year-old knew she was standing to become an MP when she got bamboo tree tattooed on her calf.

"I liked that part of the body for a piece of art and I thought it would be easy enough to cover up. But I'm not self-conscious about it."

Piercings are no longer unusual. Labour's Jacinda Ardern has the scar from a nose ring but still has a stud in front of her ear, called a tragus piercing.

It means she can't wear ear pieces in that side when she does television interviews.

"I didn't think about that when I went into politics."

Green MP Holly Walker has two tiny holes where her eyebrow ring used to be. She also has a tattoo on her foot which is an outline of New Zealand.

The 29-year-old got it four years ago before she left to study at Oxford.

"It was a present from my partner. He called it a 'lost luggage tag' so people would know where to send me if I got lost."

Tattoos aren't just fashion accessories, a number of MPs are proud of their cultural tattoos.

Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell has a traditional Maori puhoro, a tattoo from his back to his thighs.

The massive work done over six months features a repeating pattern representing a hammerhead shark, the meaning of "ururoa".

On his back is his ancestry, or whakapapa, down one side his wife's and down the other side, the whakapapa of his five children.

Labour's Su'a William Sio has a traditional Samoan tattoo, or pe'a, across his lower torso and upper legs and National's Mike Sabin's has ta moko Maori designs across both shoulders, left chest and bicep.

"It's amazing what you can hide under a suit."

- © Fairfax NZ News