If you’ve scrolled through TikTok or Twitter the past couple of weeks, you may have seen influencer Cindy Kimberly and JT from The City Girls by way of Poster Girl, getting arrested, booked, and taken to court — or so you thought. Just before the Spring/Summer 24 season kicked off, London-based it-girl brand Poster Girl launched their newest lingerie-inspired collection, slicing through fashion week’s content-induced white noise, creating a campaign that effervescently captures why satire and celebrity nostalgia sells.
The SS24 collection explores style through scandal, featuring lace-accented rompers, leggings, and crop tops, all backdropped by arrests and court cases.
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Founded in 2017 by design duo Francesca Capper and Natasha Somerville, Poster Girl is a “prodigy child” formed through a class project — The pair studied at Central Saint Martins in London.
“We often worked as a duo and knew we were a powerful hybrid when putting our minds together,” Somerville tells Teen Vogue.
Both grew up in South England and often use their upbringing as reference points for their collections. Bold Y2K makeup and form-fitting lingerie-turned-daywear are key components in their nostalgia-based brand imagery. Certain aspects, such as uncensored tabloids and unfiltered pre-social media celebrity presence, have contributed significantly to the “era” that the pair tries to capture. Capper jokes that explaining the early 2000s and tabloid culture to a generation raised entirely on Instagram would be difficult.
“UK celebs like Katie Price would be on the red carpet, and scandalous moments were constantly caught by paps and spread across blogs,” she says. “We’re certainly inspired by '90s scandals and outspoken, outrageous women.”
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Though Capper and Somerville can point to their impressive resumes, working for Vivienne Westwood, Jeremy Scott, and Bulgari, they’ve rejected the aesthetic conservatism and lack of inclusivity that mainstream luxury fashion continually represents. In large luxury houses, strict regulations as a brand can often limit creative expression in design and casting. With fewer limits and rules, the duo emphasizes their ability to execute a diverse and ultra-sensual vision from start to finish.
Poster Girl’s clothes are incredibly feminine, refreshingly so when paired with the duo’s impeccable humor and sartorial world-building.
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“Our designs have a more sensual side with specialist laser-cutting and body-forming techniques that only enhance the fun in our garments,” Somerville says. “Our designs celebrate the female body with touches of sensual prowess, with our cut-out pieces such as Lonica, Haze, and Neptune simultaneously revealing and concealing parts of the body in unobvious ways.”
Instead of relying on a limited cast of models, Poster Girl allows their audience to be their muses — an act that in and of itself is disruptive to contemporary luxury fashion. The brand emphasizes how important it is to listen to its customers and reflect what they want — whether it be their viral shapewear or imagery.
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“We think this topic goes back to how most fashion houses are run today,” Capper says. “There is a disparity of female representation in top positions. We’re lucky enough to hold complete control of our brand — as founders, designers, creative directors, and women, we feel we have a duty to push boundaries.”
Poster Girl has built a strong social media presence, and their latest SS24 campaign combines the perfect mix of nostalgic celebrity scandal with modern internet culture, essentially creating the perfect built-in marketing technique — the meme. Over the past year, memes have become the ultimate form of fashion marketing. Whether a designer creates a product that can be easily meme’d, such as JW Anderson’s $700 pigeon clutch, or a meme-ified cultural moment gives a brand a secondary boost — like the Tabi Swiper debacle. Even popular e-commerce retailers like SSENSE are pivoting to meme-based social media content. In 2023, community-created satire has proven to be the best form of free marketing that fashion can hope for in our viral day and age.
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The one thing that makes the SS24 campaign so different, and therefore so successful, is that it beats the viewer to the punch. The video follows Poster Girl muses on the New York City streets flaunting the newest collection as they’re arrested, subsequently booked, and prosecuted for public indecency.
“We fused courtroom '90s scandal drama and our muses on character storytelling,” Somerville says. “We like to think that we put on the best fashion heist of the ages.”
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By mimicking a plausible real-life scenario, Capper and Somerville knew “Karen’s citizen arrest” would be an instant viral hit and, therefore, set the stage perfectly for the internet to receive their humor —in both a contemporary and nostalgic context — and run with it. By incorporating cinema into their world-building, Poster Girl brings a level of dynamic engagement that can’t be found amongst a sea of runway photos. And they were right. Capper says they love their audience’s memes and have continued to create throughout fashion month. “It's more relatable than fashion show imagery, and we’re looking to do things on our terms.”
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The duo doesn’t take their momentum or their community lightly. Too often, brands will chase the virality that Poster Girl has effortlessly achieved, but they do not take the time to cultivate an interactive brand identity. That connection and community focus are innate brand ethos for Capper and Somerville. Between their all-too-flattering pieces and their understanding of internet culture, Poster Girl is cementing themselves in the zeitgeist. When asked what’s next, Somerville says: “I think there is an adrenaline comedown-type feeling after six months of hard work. You can’t help but keep chasing that buzz.” So don’t worry. Their next idea — and potential meme — is already in the works.
