Is ‘Irony’ Fashion’s Dirty Secret?

Welcome to the 191st insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode, we explore irony’s ironic placement in the contemporary fashion circuit, understanding consumer’s obsession with kitsch design, and its impact on trends, craft and image.

In an age where trends fade faster than denim, consumers have been taught to value originality over taste. While harsh, this reality is only amplified as manufacturing speeds expedite and algorithms discard anything short of shocking. Desensitized by an endless amount of content, by nature we scavenge to find anything that evokes an emotional response, often found in the ethos of nostalgia. Coming hand in hand with an ironic tune, the industry has found itself in a croc-centric, humour-driven mania that just we can’t seem to let go of.

While seemingly new, fashion’s relationship with irony is an age-old tale, preceding the 2000s altogether. Looking at Helmut Lang, for example, who is generally believed to be the first designer to distress luxury jeans with paint, at the time it was incredibly ironic to “destroy” opulent design and glamourize the working man’s lifestyle. Contradicting the very ethos of prestige, against all odds Lang would sell out his collections, establishing the foundation for brands like Demna Gvasilia’s Balenciaga.

Helmut Lang’s rebellion against the Parisian circuit was undoubtedly ambitious, but also calculated. As anti-fashion plagued the West (a movement that retained a district sense of irony), we’d see a surge of interest in conflicting design. Consumers were ultimately sick of the parameters that relentlessly boxed creative thinking, i.e the necessity for runway presentation or cookie-cutter models, and subsequently revolted.

In the modern day, we can draw this exact parallel to that of the past, yet on a level of socio-economics and craft. Not only are the catwalks and marketing campaigns dripping of tasteless irony, but the consumer basis themselves are leaning towards the lower class. Spending more on worse textiles, we watch as ugly fashion becomes a desperate last-ditch attempt for originality.

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