All Under One Roof With CW

The SSENSE trend cycle formula places 2006 as the dominant year of nostalgia in 2023, so it makes sense why a brand like Hysteric Glamour—loved by the likes of Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera, and Carmen Electra—is now coveted by Bella Hadid, Lil Uzi Vert, and their contemporaries. Founded in 1984 by Japanese designer Nobuhiko Kitamura, the then 21-year-old was eager to see his interests reflected in local fashion at the time. As a student at fashion college, Kitamura noticed that everyone wore brand new clothes to school from prominent Japanese brands like Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto. He liked those brands, too, but didn’t want to dress like everyone else, so he turned to vintage.

“I get inspired from things that I like,” he said in a 2021 interview. “For example, music, vintage clothes, films, art, pornography, and white trash culture. I also like Andy Warhol, so I would parody mass-produced things in a different way.” Hysteric Glamour immediately stood out next to the dark and monochromatic styles of the times, and started to gain popularity with their casual and playful Americana-inspired designs. A global expansion in 1991 landed the brand on some of Kitamura’s biggest inspirations, like Sofia Coppola, Kim Gordon, Courtney Love, Keith Haring, Brad Pitt, and Iggy Pop.

In the twenty-first century the brand evolved, and new It Girls like Sky Ferreira and Ashley Smith starred in Ellen von Unwerth-directed HYS video campaigns. Straight out of an indie sleaze Tumblr fantasy, the 12-minute-long videos, almost Lynchian in their campiness, translate as fan fiction reenactments of gonzo classics like Wild at Heart, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and True Romance. Hysteric Glamour’s unapologetic devotion to the aesthetics of America is part of what makes past collections so sought after at this time. The same desire to stand out at fashion school that fueled Kitamura back in the ’80s is what makes his old designs so appealing to the next generation. Still relatively rare in the North American market, and bolstered by collaborations with X-girl, Supreme, Chrome Hearts, and Kiko Kostadinov, HYS continues to inspire everything from Instagram style accounts like @hysteric.fashion to mumble rap tracks, too.

In a YouTube video from last year titled “Japan Thrift Haul,” the vlogger holds up a HYS cardigan from the Grunge Pops sublabel of the brand, and discusses potential outfits they’d wear with it at length, proud of their find. An all-over print pattern with “FUCK OFF” in baby pink and lavender next to illustrations of teddy bears holding electric guitars adorns the romantic beige pointelle knit sweater. On social media, fashion enthusiasts document their vast Hysteric Glamour collections and “Buyee” HYS hauls—a Japanese proxy service that allows you to shop online from Japan—including distressed flared denim, paper-thin graphic tank tops, slogan-covered tees, and even a HYS hot sandwich cooker that leaves “Hysteric Glamour” emblazoned into golden brown bread. Other HYS catchphrases include “School Is Hell, Do Anything to Be More Fun,” “Feed Your Head,” “Lick Me,” and “Kinky & Slick.” In the Hysteric Glamour universe, sex, cigs, and rock ‘n’ roll never die.

Kiko Kostadinov designers Laura and Deanna Fanning were attracted to HYS for their shared love of counterculture. “We liked how they brought musicians and renowned photographers into their world along with their iconic graphic language and abrasive sense of colour,” they shared over email. “Nobu founded the brand more than 40 years ago and it’s really fascinating to think about growing a global following without the web.” With so many years of preinternet community building, perhaps there’s more to Hysteric Glamour’s resurgence than just modern trend math. So far, the 2020s have been intense. A pandemic and ongoing climate catastrophes have left us shook and craving fantasy—HYS offers that escape. The nonchalance, teenage rebelliousness, and overall fuck you ethos of HYS is an apt antidote to these anxiety-heavy times. Neurotic animated characters like Ren and Stimpy—two of many cartoon mascots incorporated by Kitamura—are fitting, albeit hectic, talismans for our collective unease. “At some point in design it becomes hard to be brave,” wrote the Fanning sisters. “We connect with the boldness, humour, and youth culture that we see in HYS. When we think about these elements it helps us to be brave.”

When asked how he came up with the name Hysteric Glamour, Kitamura said that he started by looking at an English dictionary and writing down words that he found relevant. “I didn’t know how to say the word ‘hysteric’ in Japanese,” he said. “And I didn’t know how to say ‘glamour.’ So I thought it would be hard to find a woman who was hysteric and glamour.” At its core, HYS is a study in opposites. Highs and lows, chaos and calm—juxtapositions that define the current cultural, environmental, and political climate around the world. For a brand based on fantasy, HYS has become grounded in reality now, too. It turns out that we’re all a bit hysterical and glamorous.