The Rise of Ironic Fashion

Anti-fashion. It is the last thing you would expect a fashion magazine to be writing about. Ironically, anti-fashion is currently one of fashion’s largest trends. Its rapid ascent into the upper echelons has morphed fashion into an industry where the latest trend is often synonymous with the latest viral meme. This rising “trend” has been adopted by some of the most famous luxury brands and has no sign of losing momentum.

Supreme is perhaps the most recognizably ironic, jokedabout, memed-about, and hyped brand in the world. Every urban millennial has heard of Supreme, whether it was the brick from FW ’16, air horn from FW ’15, the “Fuck Bush” sticker from 2005, or just the Supreme box logo. Since the early 2000s Supreme has been well known for its ironic sense of humor and is one of the brands leading the anti-fashion charge. Started in 1995 with deep roots in skating culture, it only makes sense that Supreme has developed into the anti-establishment, rule-breaking brand with the serious cult following it has today. This overwhelming popularity, however, is what makes Supreme so ironic. The customers of Supreme, while attempting to be anti-establishment, are at the same time spending thousands of dollars on a basic hoodie. These customers are trying to maintain the edgy street aesthetic while buying into the massive establishment that is Supreme.

On the high-end side of the ironic fashion world is Balenciaga. From its Bernie Sanders inspired FW17 collection to its most recent collaboration with Crocs, Balenciaga is at the cutting edge of anti-fashion. Founded in 1919 by Cristóbal Balenciaga, the luxury fashion house has only recently entered the anti-fashion world after Demna Gvasalia took over as creative director in 2015. His recent take on the infamous anti-fashion Croc silhouette instantly sold out despite a retail price of 900$. Just like Supreme, the irony behind Balenciaga’s success has many levels beyond the design of the pieces. By taking classically affordable and unfashionable items and warping them into pinnacles of high-fashion, Balenciaga is poking fun at their hype-beast followers who are now rocking thousand-dollar Crocs and Bernie Sanders inspired apparel.

Demna Gvasalia’s love of anti-fashion extends even further beyond his antics at Balenciaga. Vetements, his personal brain-child, has recently taken the fashion scene by storm. Founded by Mr. Gvasalia in 2009, Vetement has been pushing knock-off fashion further than ever imagined. Mr. Gvasalia is an expert at taking classic brands and turning them on their head with unhinged silhouettes and absurd prices. His $250 DHL-copied t-shirt earned his new brand instant publicity as the face of the anti-fashion movement. His take on the Champion hoodie blatantly takes the classic “C” logo and literally turns on its side turning into the “V” in Vetement. The hoodies also pushed the oversized trend with these “Champion” hoodies at least 5 sizes larger than a true to size fit. His recent collaboration with Levi’s features deconstructed denim with “Vetement” branding plastered all over his designs with retail prices into the thousands of dollars.

Fashion’s direction toward irony is a product of internet culture and an attempt to be unique during a time when originality seems to be scarcer than ever. Hundreds of humorous fashion blogs have emerged so that people all over the world can discuss the latest trend or stolen design. Instagram blogs like @diet_ prada and @fugly____ are followed by hundreds of thousands of fashion aficionados and regularly mock the ridiculous products released by these famous fashion houses. Now it is even easier for people to make fun of the obvious, yet somehow fashionable, plagiarism that has become a staple of the fashion world. Most recently, @diet_prada went after Dolce & Gabbana, an Italian luxury fashion house after they blatantly copied Gucci’s ghost logo. This led to a fiery Instagram war between diet_prada and Stefano Gabbana, the co-founder of D&G. These types of interactions, while humorous, also help push fashion to a growing audience of young people who will be the designers and influencers of tomorrow. Soon the likes of Balenciaga, Vetement, and Supreme will be releasing their own edible (or not so edible) tide pods pushing the wave of anti-fashion even further in the vast world of fashion.

Article by Brandon Huang | Photo from fortune.com