This is week 3/4 on clowns. If you missed week 2, go read it here.
If you aren’t interested in learning about clowns, reply to the email, and I’ll pause your emails until the next topic.
The Modern Clown + The Rise Of Clowncore
The clown we’ve all come to know and love today is rarely seen at a circus anymore. Most of us have likely witnessed the slow, quiet death of traditional clowning alongside the death of the circus. The novelty of seeing lions and tigers and bears and stunts and clowns has been mitigated by animal rights activists and also funding for local public zoos. Of course, the rising public perception of clowns as scary figures also fueled the decline of the clown industry. If Big Clown™️ was really smart, they would have really gone for Steven King’s jugular with a defamation lawsuit following the release of IT.
But really, at that point, there was no stopping the wave of negative clown press that was hitting the news following the capture of Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy. For those unfamiliar, Gacy was a clown by trade and a serial killer by conviction. He committed brutal crimes against children that likely were the inspiration behind King’s book IT.
The negative perception of clowns never really covered and even resurfaced recently in 2016 during an unfortunately series of clown sightings that left people in fear across Southeast America. I myself saw a clown walking down the street during that town and it was very unsettling, but now that I think about it, he was probably just wanting attention.
Interestingly enough, I’d argue that while this degradation of clownery has been happening, there’s been a resurgence of clowning happening in queer spaces in terms of drag and queer expression. Drag clowns like Jimbo, Tillie the Clown, Big Top, and more have all been making waves in culture incorporating attributes traditionally ascribed to the art of clowning and combining them with drag culture to create a beautiful hybrid.
I’m positive this cultural and underground whimsy has been around longer than it’s been acknowledged through social media outlets. But like all great pieces of queer culture, the clown aesthetic is being assimilated into more mainstream cultural perspectives in a new aesthetic dubbed “ClownCore.” It’s growing in popularity so quickly that it was identified by Pinterest as in their round-up of predicted trends going into 2026.
Fashion experts have described the clowncore aesthetic as something as simple as a trickle down of high fashion runways that started in the late 2010s. In the most Devil Wears Prada way possible, they write that clowncore is basically a pre-determined set of aesthetics that plebs can access thanks to the hard work of the fashion industry five years ago.
Some other folks describe clowncore as the human response to the pandemic. Maximalism and playing with colors at its best. Wanting to be bright and seen and outside. Dressing with whimsy and a playful spirit.
The reality is that it doesn’t actually matter why clowncore is here, now. What I find interesting is all of the evolutions of clowning that took root in culture over centuries to get us here.
Next week I’ll dive deeper into what I REALLY think is going on here and why clowns are making a dramatic comeback in culture.
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Volume 2 of The Unserious Club is available
and I won’t stop reminding you until it sells out.
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now with free shipping bc charging for shipping is annoying
