For a medium that has traditionally taken itself very seriously, the rise and rise of ironic fashion in not only the landscape of streetwear, but also amidst luxury houses, indicate the direction at which the fashion landscape is heading towards.

the Demna-fication of fashion

It's no surprise that Demna Gvasalia, now known as Demna, is one of the most influential designers of recent history. This is largely due to the hand he had in the reinvigoration of ironic fashion and its meta-commentary. As the co-founder of Vetements, the creation of the label itself was ironic, as the name translates to “clothes” in French.

The designs Demna brought about at Vetements and as the creative director of Balenciaga during his first few years set the tone for what was to come. A 185 pound DHL t-shirt made by Vetements sold out almost instantly, even though you can grab an identical t-shirt just by working for DHL. The Balenciaga t-shirts, hoodies and hats fashioned after Bernie Sanders’ campaign materials were also the items of the season when they first released.

At the time, the general public was very quick to label Demna's label as a cash-grab, considering the flamboyant nature of the clothing being reminiscent to the entry-level logo-adorned clothing offered by incumbent houses such as Gucci or Prada. These criticisms are often welcomed by Demna, as the point of these pieces show the state of over-consumption in fashion, and how the individuals often buy into things, regardless of ridiculousness, so long as they can differentiate themselves to others, either by price-tag or name-brand/celebrity association. The popularity of these pieces with individuals who missed Demna’s entire message illustrates this point very effectively, and innovated tongue-in-cheek commentary in fashion.

Addendum to that, the memes spawned thanks to Vetements virality shows that this ironic commentary is very much in tune with the current generation and internet humour especially. As Gen-Z quickly rose to become the dominant forcce in pushing the fashion envelope, Demna's relevance increas proportionally to that, slowly cementing his position as the most in-tune luxury designer of the current era.

Y2K resurrection and TikTok democratisation

Following the extreme popularity of Demna's Balenciaga and Vetements came the resurgence of Y2K styling. This newfound love for the era of Juicy Couture jumpsuits and maximalist streetwear also carried with it a reinvigorated interest in ironic fashion.

Initially, users on Instagram and TikTok brought this ironic streetwear onto the forefront by styling things like overly specific t-shirts, or misogynistic shirts worn by white middle-aged men in a satirical manner. This quickly gained traction, initially as satire, but fashion forward individuals quickly took this trope in stride and innovated it even further. In conjunction with DIY and bootleg culture on the rise post-pandemic, it provided the perfect catalyst for individuals to pursue their own vision of satirical fashion.

From thrifting fast food t-shirts to making a Ronald McDonald themed Geobaskets, this new wave of ironic clothing presented boundless creative opportunities for those who wanted to pursue it. People even go as far as taking popular tropes from fashion and putting a satirical spin on them. These creative innovations provided the basis for several startup fashion brands revolving around this concept as well as merchandise ideas for fashion meme pages, just to name a few examples.

The incorporation of internet humour, which often revolves around meta-irony to start with, provides a perfect pairing with these pieces of clothing. Although hoodies screen-printed with a meme can be taken mainly as entertainment, the fact that this trope even gained mainstream attention speaks to the sheer influence Gen-Z has on the fashion zeitgeist. In addition, it also speaks to how far this industry has come in terms of democratisation, however, the issue of over-consumption to the point where satirical clothing can be sold and worn is also a valid observation of this phenomenon.