Welcome to Notes Of! Each month I make a mood board as a little creative exercise in thematic thinking. In Notes Of I elaborate on each month’s theme and include links to relevant articles, videos, products, and more.
This month’s mood board is inspired by—I can’t believe I’m saying this—clowns. Specifically, the iconic “sad clown” character, Pierrot.
I don’t particularly like clowns. I don’t like pranks, or laughing at people fumbling around or falling down, or anything that could embarrass someone, including me. But I was scrolling through my Saved folder on Instagram last week trying to think of a theme for January’s mood board and I came upon an image of Gloria Vanderbilt dressed as Pierrot that was kind of fun. Plus, we’re living in a hellish circus right now, where funhouse mirrors are distorting truth and ethics and reflecting back ugly oligarchs with a mission to ruin the lives of everyone but themselves… So, clowns it is!
There used to be a clown-themed Jewish deli in Palm Springs called The Gaiety that my family would go to when we visited my grandparents. I’m unclear as to why, of all the Jewish delis in Palm Springs, The Gaiety was my grandma’s dining establishment of choice, but it was. The restaurant opened in the late ‘70s and had a sort of Memphis Milano vibe, but clowns. I’m not sure when it closed, but I think there may be a part of me deep, deep inside that’s nostalgic for it, or at least for all the Saturday nights we spent there.
So, I don’t know, maybe that nostalgia pinged when I saw Gloria in clown garb. Regardless, it spawned a whole afternoon of reading about the origin of Pierrot.
I’m going to give you the world's quickest history of Pierrot, but this guy has been around for like, 400 years, so if you’re really that interested I’ll leave it to you to research further. Anyway, Pierrot is a character that originated in the 17th-century Italian commedia dell’arte (which was a form of improv comedy popular throughout Europe at the time.) He’s typically dressed in a white costume with big black buttons or pom poms, a ruffled collar or sleeve cuffs, white face paint with black accents, and sometimes a conical dunce hat. He’s known as the “sad clown,” but over time, Pierrot has evolved to act as a stand-in for the saddest parts of the human condition: isolation, heartache, vulnerability, unrequited love, loneliness, longing…
The character’s outfit alone has spawned a million interpretations in fashion, art, comedy, and beyond. Pierrot has even had a fashion moment over the last few years that seems to be sticking around. In 2022 Bode released a collection of $550 clown costumes in Pierrot’s signature style, which Michelle Williams was famously photographed in for W Mag in 2023. Christopher John Roberts’ pre-fall 2023 collection was titled “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To” and was chock full of balloon sleeves, black and white fabrics, and even a clown nose or two. Bella Hadid hilariously wore a sequinned, harlequin-patterned jumpsuit down the Moschino Spring 2020 runway. Harry Styles wore a Pierrot-coded Gucci look for Harryween in 2021 and again went clown-adjacent with his look for the Grammys in 2023.
Maybe we’re drawing inspiration from Pierrot to communicate our own feelings about the carnival of chaos we’re living in these days… I don’t know. But for my own homage to Pierrot, I got inspired by his classic look: the monochromatic palette, the pom poms and ruffles, and the theatrics of it all. If we have to live in this circus, we might as well make it look good.
Should you be looking to add some freakshow-chic to your own closet, I’ve collected a few items for consideration:
Don’t worry, there’s room in my clown car for us all.
x
Ali
Sources: Castellini Baldissera’s re-creation of Portaluppi’s garden room at Salone Del Mobile, 2022; ad for Parfum de Rosine by Pail Poiret, c. 1920; chou pastry tower by Andrea Sham; detail from Carven SS25; patterned walker by Blanca Miro Skoudy, 2020; look from Nanushka FW21; type specimen, Samuel Welo, 1927; Fluxus/La Cedille Qui Sourit/Art Total/Poesie/Action, George Brecht, 1967; Gloria Vanderbilt and Cuban-American designer Adolfo Faustino Sardiña, c. 1950s; The Current Standpoint of the Mahatmas, Hilma af Kilnt, 1920; look from Christopher John Rogers pre-fall 2023; the home of Jorge Parra; the Meadow Chair by The Good Living Co.; Jean-Charles Deburau as Pierrot, Nadar, 1855; Juggling Pierrot, George Greaves, 2024; poker sketch by Andrea Ferolla, 2024
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Oh my goodness. You’ve just reminded me. Embarrassingly, when I was young, I was OBSESSED with Pierrot. I used to draw him, collect Pierrot dolls,dress my little sister up as Pierrot and drag her round the neighbourhood. At the Christmas Party for my first Saturday job (I was 16) I even went dressed in a Pierrot inspired outfit - white ruffled blouse, jodhpurs, a pale face with dark eyes and even a little hat at a jaunty angle - it wasn’t a costume party! I have no idea what that was all about. I grew out of it thankfully. Loving your Substack by the way xx
I loved your reflections of Pierrot across the various spectrums and centuries. Inspiring - with a dash of history, a delightful colour palette + a playful mood board. Merci beaucoup!