Clown elements in everyday dressing
Last weekend, I went to a family bbq and I met Aggie, a 17 year old year 12 student. We just clicked straight away and launched into a long conversation on fashion, costume and film. Aggie and I bonded over our love of the elements of clown costumes. She had recently been to two parties where she dressed clown inspired and I often use small clown elements in every day dressing.
We also talked about our love of band marching jackets which was a random similarity.
Aggie had travelled to London not long ago and spotted some vintage jackets at a market, fell in love and regretted not buying one.
Amongst my many Ebay searches are vintage marching band costumes (I love the jackets AND the hats) which I’ve found America to be a great source of.
I have endless Ebay searches where I love researching random things like this but don’t often buy them. I just love the research and the imagining.
When you love clothing and fashion, the characters that you can create are part of your visual story telling.
It’s how we can communicate our personality to the world.
Jonathan Anderson’s Fall 26 menswear show has again divided the room and when I read people’s comments, I am confused about what they want.
This is fashion, after all.
If he wanted to be lazy, he could give us an easy interpretation of what the masses think Dior might look like in 2026. But he’s being brave. He’s researching and imagining concepts and designing.
He realises that he is under immense scrutiny but he is saying, fuck it - let’s really push this and create a New Look.
What I love about JWA is his ability to pull together random ideas to make new moods, new characters.
I love the camp ostentatious feel of this collection. The colourful sequin tanks, the beaded epaulettes, the draped magician capes, the wild harem pants, the satin pants, the long padded wrap skirts AND the beautiful suits and coats. You can take parts of it or you can take it all.
Maybe sometimes you want to listen to The Libertines or sometimes Glenn Gould or sometimes Mozart and that’s fine.
(All of these images are owned by dior.com and I have shared them here for educational benefit and to encourage a fashion discourse, not for financial gain.)
Thea Basiliou
Author