If there’s one thing I’ve learned in Fashion Studies, it’s that fashion, as in capital F High Fashun, luvs an ugly moment. Whether it’s the Comme des Garcon SS97 lumps and bumps collection or the contentious Rick Owens SS16, fashion really likes to get freaky with it (Comme des Garcon is the queen of ugly–see campaign with Cindy Sherman). And that’s honestly something I really love about the world of couture. I don’t want to see runway shows as a way to shop and go “ohhhhhh I’m gonna buy that.” I want it to be a freaking spectacle of outrageous outfits and fantastical gowns that I would never have an occasion to wear irl.
The more I ingrain myself in the world of fashion nerdiness, the weirder and uglier I want to dress. I love my sweet mama, but I now operate under the opinion that if my mom thinks something I wear is hideous, it’s a really good outfit. My most favorite London Fog trench is floral with giant shoulder pads, and when I first showed it to my mom, she said it looked like an ugly old couch. I knew I had struck gold.
I know that I’m fully on the ugly fashion train because I’m just dreaming about a pair of Margiela Tabis (as you all know from my last Substack!). I’ve heard all the jokes about cloven hooves, camel feet, and looking like Mr. Tumnus, but I am unwavering in my love for them. Tabis are so ugly that they’re cool, just like a ratty little dog you see that’s so unattractive and has such an aggressive overbite that it’s cute. So, that’s that.
I feel like ugliness is really having a moment lately. Ever since Julia Fox first started talking about how she’s over being pretty and dressing for the male gaze, I’ve been admittedly intrigued at the idea of ugliness as a chosen, mainstream aesthetic. In a world full of overly-edited, perfect-adjacent Kardashians and “clean girls,”* I love the thought of being, well, kinda ugly. While Ms. Fox herself isn’t really one to talk about being anti-sexy and anti-attractive–she’s classically beautiful and has abs that are a little too suspiciously chiseled to be natural–I do appreciate her promotion of aging naturally and attempts at being repulsive to men.
*Read this article written by Tyler Pharr about the clean girl aesthetic and its relation to black culture.
I find the idea of ugliness intriguing because it gets me thinking about the ways in which I fall prey to beauty. I take good care of my skin out of vanity, I wear makeup practically every day, and work out occasionally to get that big bulky build (I’m super shredded). All of these traits, along with my penchant for hair brushing and regular bathing, make me a victim of the pursuit of beauty.
Apparently, I’m perfectly fine with wearing a bulky, unattractive outfit, but I need to have my eyebrows perfectly brushed and under-eye bags concealed or I’ll have an existential crisis. Maybe I’ll enforce a rule that once I purchase a pair of Tabis I have to fully buy into the goblin aesthetic and take an uglier, more subversive approach to my face. In the meantime, I’ll work on eradicating my vanity and leaning even further into my ugly hag outfits. If you have any tips on accepting ugliness, let me know.
Thank you for reading, tell your friends to subscribe if you liked this (or tell your enemies to subscribe if you didn’t), and have a chic week!