Author’s creative collection „The Clown Society“ is a way to showcase the problem that the word „clown“ has become. How people have forgotten the true meaning of it and how it could hurt the people who work in the circus-clown field. This collection is an idea to portray how pop culture and media has changed clowning and gave it a new meaning. This name is like the moon and the sun, because it has a dark side and a bright side- like day and night, and cannot exist without each other.
The name was intended to show and say that clowns have a society they have created in which life boils and clowns are understood differently from the representatives of our everyday society. The second meaning of this name reflects the dark, negative side. “Clown society” is the people themselves, the representatives of society. And thanks to people of this day ,we can also say that people themselves can become ,,The clown society“ with just one movement of a finger.
The character of the colorful jester has had countless roles in various social classes and contexts over several millennia of existence, but today the concept of a clown is far from so diverse. Much of the history and intercontextuality of clowns is lost in the modern media’s focus on only one or a few examples of clowning. In movies, books, and TV shows, clowns are often portrayed as superficial, one-dimensional characters, and their long history is simplified or simply ignored.
Thanks to the media, clowns acquire an ever-increasing shadow of negativity, which persecutes not only the clowns themselves, but also people who have no connection with clowning. Words like “clown” or “circus” are increasingly used online as insults or simply to spread negativity on platforms or in real life.
The author’s creative collection, which has been given the name – “The Clown Society”, wanted to bring people closer to the clown and give new colors to clownism, introduce it into everyday life and give positivity to the word “clown”.
This term encourages the impression that clowns are inseparable from society. This is largely influenced by the extremely long and varied history of clowns, which continues to this day and has an inevitable impact on our society. It can be theorized that there is a part of the clown in every individual.
Various materials were used to bring this collection to life, creating an impression of eclecticism and chaos at first glance. This was done deliberately, in order to reflect the spontaneity and disobedience of established aesthetic norms or rules, which are extremely characteristic of clowns. The collection is inspired by the history of clowns, their clothing shapes, styles, abundance and the changing world. The message of the collection is conveyed through certain details. One such is the rendering of a garment falling. Falling pants represent shame and failure. Exaggerated forms and an attempt to change the human anatomical structure with the help of clothes to honor the facts and development of the history of clowning. A strong silhouette with sharp shapes, many colors were chosen to convey the uniqueness and fun, flexibility and strength of clowns. The idea of the collection is non-conformity to society’s standard and attention to details that people should avoid, or even “point fingers at”, make fun of, thus questioning the understanding of clowning in society.