Why looking funny might end up being the biggest fashion trend of 2024

Sabrina Carpenter may not have been a headliner at Coachella, but that didn’t stop her from making headlines.

As she stepped out to perform in May, pop’s It Girl wore a tee that read “Jesus was a Carpenter”. The tee—simple in its iteration of black script printed on white cotton—was an immediate crowd fave. Fans promptly scoured the web for copies, proving that there is always a place for fun in fashion. Suffice to say, the look was a hit.

Since the dawn of Internet 2.0—where user-generated content reigns supreme—memes have become a frequent and casual vocabulary in which we communicate with and we can’t seem to stop. We send GIF reactions when we’re gossiping in our group chats; we even incorporate online vernacular into our daily lingo.

Fashion isn’t a stranger to that. As brands continue to find new ways to cut through the noise and reach younger, clued-in social media natives, memes continue to proliferate on the runways and online. After all, if real estate on your social media feed is precious, what better way to grab your attention than with ironic fashion that can evoke a laugh from you?

Perhaps that’s also why you see fashion houses embracing meme-fied content as a new medium of relating to Gen Z audiences. One need only peruse multi-label retailer SSENSE’s own feed for a good chuckle, as the self-aware cult store from Canada pokes fun at everyone from people in situationships to fans of Charli XCX. LOEWE and Marc Jacobs have also turned their social media feeds into an emporium of giggles, trendjacking social media content for the laughs.

Sure, oftentimes on the runway, these meme-focused designs tend to come from younger, contemporary creative minds that aren’t afraid of making a statement on the runway.

Take for example Paris-based designer Burc Akyol’s fall/winter 2024 collection. Inspired by the love songs mixtapes that Akyol listened to obsessively while learning the English language, he sent out a collection that paid homage to the music he grew up with. On one model, a snugly-fitted knit sweater with the Best of Love CD logo was a “wink wink” homage
to Akyol’s own personal history and will certainly appeal to any millennial who grew up with these CDs in their own bedrooms.

At Botter, the cult brand by Antwerpian designers Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter, a Carlsberg beer logo gets reworked to read “Carribean Couture” and immediately sets the tone for the designs to come. Herrebrugh and Botter, who often address social issues through their collections, including ocean pollution and melting icebergs in the past, took aim at Big Oil this time by reimagining a recognisable petrochemical logo to read “Hell”. It was the perfect blend of quick-witted humour mixed with an “if you know, you know” attitude.

“We’re here to talk about certain things that happen in the world and translate them in a relatable or poetic way,” Herrebrugh said to Women’s Wear Daily. “But it can be quite straightforward like this.”

Throwing his own hat into the funny ring was Masayuki Ino, the creative mind behind Doublet. At his fall/winter 2024 show, Ino sought to strike up a conversation of the gargantuan wellness industry through wry wit.

Cue a procession of zombie-walking models that exited onto the runway in knits bearing the word “NAP” in a bold, collegiate font across restrictive knit tops and oversized blanket-shaped hoodies—as if to remind us that no matter how many new sleep techniques we try, we’re all tired and frazzled. On another model, a cropped top looked like it bore the McDonald’s logo, except the golden arches were modified to read “magnetism”. This was Ino’s incisive way of commenting on the overly commercialised side of wellness.

It’s not just young designers who can appreciate a giggle-inducing article of clothing, as Yohji Yamamoto clearly demonstrated in his own collection. The Japanese maestro adorned his signature deconstructed silhouettes with off-kilter sayings such as “YoYo loves black. Is your underwear black? Is it transparent?”

These humorous items of clothing were showcased on models of all ages, including actor Norman Reedus and composer Warren Ellis, as if to say that a joke can be chic for one and all, regardless of age. To riff on what Victoria Beckham said about fashion stealing our smiles, Yamamoto’s poetically jocular collection found a way to lead us to joy again.

More importantly, Yamamoto and the rest of these designers remind us that when we’re all in on the joke, looking funny is truly fashionable.

This article was originally published in Harper’s Bazaar Singapore.