OGBFF & THE RISE OF CHRONICALLY ONLINE CLOTHING
by Kristin Merrilees
If you are online, chances are that back in March, you may have come across a certain silly little hoodie with a certain silly little catchphrase on it.
The phrase? “Too Cringe for New York, Too Based for LA,” emblazoned on the neon yellow sweatshirt in bold red block letters.
Made by clothing brand OGBFF (or “Original Best Friend”), the sweatshirt had become a meme. People edited it to add a third line of red text, speaking about another city or state of their choice. On March 8th, Instagram account @shitfluencerr posted the first-known edited meme, adding the line “just delusonal [sic] enough for florida” under the original text.
Other versions proliferated, including “just perfect for phoenix, arizona,” “just crazy enough for south dakota,” and “bad enough at driving for atlanta,” to name a few, some of which went viral on Twitter or Instagram meme pages.
Like many things on the internet, the meme’s spread was spontaneous and unexpected, also revealing a link between meme culture and fashion. The phrase itself did not originate with this sweatshirt. Know Your Meme reports that after graphic designer Dylan Ousley tweeted a picture of a bumper sticker with the phrase, which amassed virality through other meme pages posting edited versions with additions such as “But I fit in perfectly in Providence.”
OGBFF, by Lauren Schiller and Angela Ruis, has released other “extremely online” clothing — a shirt with the common meme/phrase “Niche Internet Micro Celebrity” as posted on Instagram by Emma Chamberlain, a baby tee that says “Flop Era,” a bikini emblazoned with word art of various fonts.
OGBFF is ironic, kitschy, cheeky – it is clothing made for the algorithm.
The brand follows the shocking-on-purpose strategy of PizzaSlime and its infamous “Stop Looking At My Dick” sweatpants (also once donned by Chamberlain).
These types of clothes are almost too crude to wear in person (or at least, any location other than hypertrendy New York or Los Angeles), but online? They make sense.
Interestingly, while there’s been a blur between internet culture and fashion, each is tied to its medium. On the internet, the screenshot of the sweatshirt can be changed and redistributed extremely quickly, while the IRL clothing item cannot (unless you’re crafty with a needle-and-thread or a sharpie).
Nevertheless, the internet and clothing have in many ways become inseparable. Clothes are no longer made and worn with the intention of being showcased at a specific event or party — they are meant to be photographed and put on social media. Online memes and trends influence fashion, in turn, what people are wearing influences the ebb and flow of the internet.
Bold tees can also be connected to the “y2k baby tee” resurgence, of which Britney Spears’ still reigns queens. The Mayfair Group, a clothing brand which focuses on positivity and mental wellbeing, released spin-offs of Britney’s iconic “Dump Him” and “I Am The American Dream” shirts.
*via @beysupdates and The Mayfair Group
Of course, slogan-emblazoned graphic tees are nothing new — we can think back to the Freshtops era, which had all the Tumblr girls in cropped tank tops with the internet ephemera of the time, saying things like “Starbucks Queen” and “Professional Fangirl.”
The difference is that today’s operates at a much more layered level of irony and performance, dialing up the shock factor by 100 — think of the OGBFF shirt that just says “Tits for Brains” on it, or the mini skirt that aptly proclaims, “Mini Skirt.” OGBFF’s clothing hints at dissociation feminism, bimbofication, and media consumption to the point of having no individual thoughts, such as with a baby tee stating “I’m a simple girl and life shouldn’t be as hard as it is.”
In an interview with Office Magazine, the founders of OGBFF describe themselves as “just immature and goofy girls.” And while yes, goofiness emanates through its baby tees and tank tops, it is also clear that this is the start of something very real in the fashion-culture landscape.
*all other images are via OGBFF