A special kind of fashion humour has flourished online, from the blog Man Repeller to Moschino's made-for-Instagram fast food-inspired collection. Enter Clashist, the downtown LA-based label twisting pop culture and nostalgia with their quirky digitally printed apparel that is made to go viral - T-shirts featuring actor Steve Buscemi's meme friendly eyes, doodles of a naked Lena Dunham, a collage of Bill Murray's head, and teenage-esque cut-out collages of Tumblr favourites Ryan Gosling, James Franco and Zach Galifianakis.
"We try to do stuff that people are talking about," explains founder Heather Lipner, who launched Clashist last year after working across various digital jobs - developing websites, iPhone apps, e-commerce, and working as a creative director for Myspace. Now she runs Clashist from a downtown LA studio, as well as helping out with accessories label This is Ground - example product: a "cord taco", that stores and tidies wires.
One of Clashist's latest offerings captures the idea of "new nostalgia" that the internet and social media promotes: a powder pink tee featuring Sex and the City's Samantha Jones in various power suits. For Lipner, the appeal is the combination of humour and strength. "Samantha is a wonderful character because she said whatever she wanted, she did whatever she wanted, she's a businesswoman ... She made all of her own rules and stood by them with a ton of passion. And she's hilarious."
