Playing the Fool

Credit: Ann Vendi

Elizabeth Green

01.23.25

The eccentric style of the jester, designed to reflect the character’s role as a source of amusement for royal courts, exudes frivolousness and whimsy. While serving as entertainment for nobles, fools were often hired to provide uncensored advice to the aristocracy and soften the blow of the truth with their humor and wit. Though low in social rank, jesters’ facetiousness afforded them a rare privilege: The ability to speak openly without punishment. 

The Renaissance court jester’s garb, designed to isolate the fool from the appropriate, proper or refined, was identifiable by the iconic double- or triple-pointed “fool’s cap,” asymmetrical patterning, excessive striping, obnoxious color combinations, flexible clothing, puffed sleeves, embellishments such as bells and ruffled trim and, of course, the co-optation of the “harlequin” print.  

The purpose of the professional jester’s attire is clear, but what happens when we take a look into the style’s modern emergence as a niche aesthetic? Does today’s appeal of frilled collars, diamond-patterned tights and bold color contrasts extend beyond the whimsical bizarreness of the look? 

In recent years, elements like these have bubbled up from the bowels of history and found a place among the wardrobes of several experimental stylists, each of them with their own take on the jester’s playfully garish appearance. 

Creators like Maria Roi (@imroi2003), Paulin Vincent (@poxlin) and Yovska Martinez Moreno (@yovska) have built striking online identities as some of the internet’s resident fools, often filming and photographing themselves traipsing around public areas, mimicking the erratic and exaggerated body language expected of a mime or of Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter.

These creators all pull from established stylistic motifs associated with the fool while each birthing their own creative worlds. Bounding and bending their limbs in marionette-like ways, they decorate their bodies with a court entertainer’s obligatory accessories. Rich, saturated hues clash with one another. Patterns are asymmetrically distributed in stylistically sacreligious ways. The artists often apply bold lipstick to create a puckered look and accentuate their eye sockets with colorful shadows. Their faces are often heavily powdered; their cheeks aggressively rouged. 

Within the past few years, the style has surfaced among both small clothing brands like Madomorpho and major fashion houses like Viktor & Rolf.  

Especially in high fashion spaces, however, an ephemeral adoption of the look is not provocative. Moschino played around with the style in their Spring 2020 collection, sending supermodel Bella Hadid down the runway in a skin-tight, sequined, harlequin-patterned jumpsuit modeled after Picasso’s 1924 painting “Paul in a Clown Suit.” Dior’s circus-themed collection was released the previous spring, featuring muted and delicate circus performer-inspired ensembles, drawing generously upon textiles and silhouettes associated with the court jester. 

While designers like these are expected to push boundaries and unleash the avant-garde, the getups of the individuals wholly surrendering to the aesthetic stand out against the monotony of conventional everyday styles. For these artists, the outfit’s life as a costume ends when the artist refuses to move on from it. Identity is projected not onto the clothing, but onto the artist themselves. 

Those dedicating themselves to embodying the look become intrinsically intertwined with the concept of the jester, purposefully positioning themselves to not only draw attention as a form of entertainment for the masses but to also be mocked, jeered at and ridiculed. The jester-style is reborn as a uniform that allows the stylist to become the fool, subjecting themselves to any and all disapproval from onlookers.

Self-expression that embraces absurdity may put the wearer under scrutiny, but these artists appear to find solace in the strangeness despite potential judgments. Are those blurring the line between self and character doing so publicly despite the ridiculousness of their getups, or is there power in choosing to let yourself be laughed at? 

Historically, jesters were expected to capitalize on their lack of earnestness by openly expressing their inner thoughts to the ruling monarchs, essentially allowing them immunity from royal punishment should they speak out of turn. Those adopting the style are making the choice to lean wholly into the image of the fool as a symbol for deviance, ludicrousness and innocence, donning the style with poise and shielding themselves from degradation. 

In a world where the idea of “normative” style has become increasingly minimalistic, the jester-based aesthetic (though meticulously curated) might be considered out of place or childish. While hallmarks of the style are often kitsch or gaudy, those subscribing to it wear it with an eerie elegance. These artists’ curious and fantastical appearances stand out in public spaces, online and “real” alike. What’s powerful about dressing in such an unorthodox fashion is not the style itself, but the desire to be observed in it and viewed as a peculiarity. The ability to wear something “laughable” with pride and dignity is a daring feat in itself. 

What’s truly fearless is a complete devotion to the masquerade; a spectacularization of the self; a willingness to be eternally stared at—and to look sensational while doing it.