Meme Humour And Fashion As Irony

Meme fashion is part humour, part irony, and total escapism

The interplay of meme humour and fashion as irony represents a unique cultural alchemy where absurdity and aesthetics collide. Memes have found their way into the fashion sphere, transforming clothes into a visual punchline.

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Hot Takes is my bullet point thoughts on fashion's hottest issues. These posts get to the heart of why people are talking about what they’re talking about, what this means, and where this could go next. 

Think: what direction is fashion heading in? What’s new, innovative, and exciting? What's going on in fashion that's pissing people off?

Hot Takes ties fashion topics to a wider cultural and social context, digging into the often more significant meaning behind things.

So sit back, relax, and let's get into it. Here’s Hot Takes #26.

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Let’s set the scene.

Memes are a lifeline. We’ve gone from being a society that relies on phone conversations and extended in-person chats to one that communicates by sending memes digitally. The point of memes you may ask, beyond the lolz? Well, they’re a way for us to make sense of the senseless. Memes say everything you want to say without you having to say anything at all. We use meme humour to cope with the absurdness of our lived realities, and given the chaos unfolding around us, it makes sense that we need them now more than ever.

The rise and rise of memes hasn’t escaped the attention of the fashion overlords. After years of the internet turning viral fashion moments into memes, brands have decided they want a piece of the action. These days, ad campaigns, runway shows and even red carpets are flooded with nonsensical moments that are curated with virality and humour in mind, and this is what happens when insider satire graduates to serious cultural commentary. You guessed it, memes have become the new highbrow lowbrow.

But the secret to success in creating a fashion meme? That's as predictable as TikTok’s algorithm – meaning it’s not. Designers are busy whipping up meme-bait outfits while social media wizards transform them into content destined for our feeds. Together, they fuel the meme-industrial complex: one part designer-led, the other part internet chaos. And we’re lapping it up.

Gen Z it girls are taking meme fashion from the ‘gram onto the streets. Remember that Hailey Bieber nepo baby t-shirt saga? It was a wink and a smirk, or maybe a side eye, to the never-ending rich and famous lineage debate. Meanwhile, Kendall Jenner and Chloe Cherry have been spotted in tight cropped tees that are as meme-worthy as they come. Ironic fashion is the new trend du jour.

So, what’s the end result of all of this? Clothes are no longer just being designed for the average wearer — they’re being built for online as much as offline life. These irony-drenched pieces are escaping our screens and walking into the real world. Fashion is no longer just about what’s in your closet — it’s about what’s in your followers’ timelines. And proudly wearing online content is where it’s currently at.

Naturally, sooner or later, we were bound to start shopping for our next meme-worthy moment. This rising artistic genre both informs and reacts to the zeitgeist, setting the internet on fire as an increasingly legitimate style of cultural criticism and fashion commentary. The lines between wearable art and viral content have blurred, and we’re looking for any excuse to build clout, so why not wear what you share? We’re in the age of the meme.

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Fashion-forward and perpetually plugged in

Fashion memes are like an inside joke that you can only sort of explain. They demand a cocktail of wit, irony, and a PhD in Pretentiousness Studies. In other words, you’ve got to earn your stripes in the fashion trenches to truly get it. The higher you climb in the fashion hierarchy, the weirder the clothes, the wilder the statements, and the more unapproachable the gatekeepers. This is the perfect breeding ground for memes to thrive. 

Enter accounts like @Siduations, @hey_reilly, @shitmodelmgt, and @artlexachung — satirical masterminds who poke holes in the puffed-up façade of the fashion world. No matter your niche, be it runway disasters, awkward model poses, or ironic influencer culture, there’s a meme account ready to roast it. Their niche specificity is exactly why they’re funny; they’re not just memes, they’re new-age cultural artefacts.

At its core, a fashion meme is a cartoonish, self-aware wink. Or a digital mirror reflecting the industry’s self-serious absurdity. They carry the ironic aesthetic of our internet age, where everything is both a joke and a statement. If you’ve ever struggled to put your existential dread into words, memes step in to plug the gap.

In this age of constant crises — pandemics, wars, economic chaos, democracy’s slow crumble, and climate doomsday — fashion has decided to stop taking itself so seriously. Brands are embracing the ridiculousness they once tried to mask, opting for absurdity instead of exclusivity. It’s satire turned self-aware; instead of laughing at the fashion world, we’re laughing with it.

Meme culture has tapped into the hyperspeed linguistics of the internet, connecting millions of us in a collective chuckle. And as these memes redefine what fashion is and who it’s for, they’re proving that sometimes, the best way to critique an industry is to make it the butt of the joke.

The meme-tastic brand battle

If you’ve ever wondered what a meme-first fashion brand looks like, meet Praying: the label that’s sarcastic and self-aware. They specialise in slapping phrases like ‘Main Character’ and ‘Trophy Wife’ onto minimalist clothing because why wear something deep when you can wear something ironic? It’s this air of coolness that’s snagged the attention of Megan Thee Stallion, Latto, Mia Khalifa, Doja Cat and more, proving that their particular flavour of internet humour fares just as well on pop culture royalty as it does on TikTok.

Brands like Praying and OGBFF are cornering the market on meme-wear, tapping into the smooth-brain appeal of internet speak mixed with chaotic, hyper-online personas. Meanwhile, Cowboys of Habit is another brand to watch that creates cheeky designs that make you do a double take and dresses that double as walking sex hotline posters. It’s giving Pretty Woman but make it sugar baby coded.

Over at Buggirl200, founder Madison Sinclair went from making ironic Edward Cullen T-shirts for her real-life bestie to running a full-fledged business after TikTok went feral for her designs. Her fandom-fueled creations are delightfully absurd and serve as a masterclass in turning niche internet jokes into wearable dopamine hits.

Of course, this trend didn’t come out of nowhere. Balenciaga, under Demna’s meme-lord reign, set the gold standard with IKEA tote bags, platform Crocs, and the T-Shirt Shirt. Diesel even made joots a thing, and Marc Jacobs once parodied his own work, proving that being in on the joke sells when done right.

Then there’s SSENSE, the arguable king of creative chaos commerce, turning irony into a profitable legacy. Their secret? They don’t just sell the joke; they are the joke and their audience loves them for it. In this dizzying era of fashion, where speed and satire rule, irony is the main event.

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My two cents.

Laughing at yourself is no easy feat. Trust me, I should know as an anxious and uptight Brit. This rings even truer for brands, especially those of the luxury kind, who are built on the shaky foundation of taking themselves too seriously. But memes? Memes flip this entire notion on its head, offering relatability, shared humour, and a dose of escapism in an industry obsessed with the exact opposite. 

The DIY spirit of meme culture has seeped into fashion at large. For some designers, it’s a winning formula: clothes created with meme-baiting strategies are clothes that get shared, lifting them out of the depths of relative obscurity. Other brands have made meme culture their entire personality, building cult-like followings based on sarcastic slogans and pop-culture subversions that turn the uncool into the must-have.

We’ve established that designers have been courting virality for years. But what’s new about this shift is that brands aren’t just dabbling in memes for a quick PR stunt; they’re turning them into guerrilla advertising campaigns and cultural commentary rolled into one. The shareability of meme fashion ensures they are conversation starters, dragging clothes out of their safe space and turning them into messy and non-judgmental internet phenomena.

This is a glorious takedown of the hierarchies of taste, where the mundane becomes hilariously memeable. Think: clothes that would cause a stir at the Thanksgiving dinner table or would earn you a lecture at Christmas. It dares itself to be worn in public. If it makes people cringe, or even better makes them all hot and bothered under the collar, you’re doing meme fashion right.

But meme fashion doesn’t just accessorise your outfit in jest; it can make your look the hot topic of every group chat. It can even earn a scroll back on socials. Whether it’s a t-shirt mimicking a TikTok-worthy post, a quote your best friend said to you about your disastrous ex or a caption so blunt it feels like it came straight from the DMs, meme fashion mixes maximum chaos with a hint of self-awareness and its pretty iconic.

Meme fashion is the trend for those who crave style with a side of sarcasm. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, feeding into our endless appetite for jokes upon jokes upon jokes. Because if we’re not laughing, we’re crying. So keep the jokes coming. 

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