Cheeseburgers in Paradise
Meet the Brands Turning Brashness, Mischief, and Maximalism Into Business Models
A few weeks ago, I went to a work bachelorette at the Margaritaville Resort in Times Square. Jimmy Buffett’s tropical fever dream dropped into the heart of Midtown. The pitch? Riviera meets NYC, with a sixth-floor pool overlooking skyscrapers. Build it, and they will come. While toasting the bride, a woman in a sequin string bikini and white heeled cowboy boots clutched then dropped her third, piercing-blue frozen concoction. The kind of tourist who books a New York City trip and, without hesitation, packs her swimsuit. We should all be so bold.
Unexpected. A little chaotic. Perfectly on brand for the bride.
A few days later, skimming WWD, I did a double-take. Rachel Antonoff debuted her summer line at the same hotel: Club Ra. It tracked.
We’re deep in what some are calling the boom boom era. A cultural moment where subtlety is out and excess is the point. Taste is being turned on its head. “Rich, tacky, and proud,” as El País said. The weirder, the better. Not just about what you wear, but how loud you're willing to wear it.
It’s about twisting symbols of status until they’re something else. Labubu on a Birkin? The wheels are off. A response to crisis not with restraint, but with spectacle. The first time power shifted, people spoke out. The second time, many went quiet. Now they’re back. Louder. Sharper. Dressed to provoke with a vengeance.
Boom boom isn’t just a spectacle to push back on kings. It’s glitter and grit. Or simply cheeseburgers in paradise with a side of concrete.
The New Rulemakers
It’s no surprise the fashion world is playing along. Rachel Antonoff isn’t the only one leaning into playful absurdity. Two other designers come to mind who speak this fluently. From collections to wordplay to site navigation, every detail is deliberate. Mischief isn’t sprinkled in; it’s part of the product architecture.
Consumers aren’t just buying pieces, they’re joining the movement. For brands, it’s proof that carving out a distinct voice isn’t just aesthetic, it’s strategic. Each one has a point of view you can spot across a room. Boom Boom visionaries.
So what makes their voices impossible to miss?
Grab your boas and let’s dive in.
Camp in Every Hemline
These brands didn’t wake up weird. They’ve been carefully crafting their identities over time.
Rachel Antonoff has been building her world since 2008, stitching personality (and sometimes politics) into every piece. She’s the kind of designer who can launch a movement on a sweatshirt. “I’m With Her” started in her studio before it swept the campaign trail. Her collections read like short stories, but never for bedtime. Each piece is a provocation in disguise—a sweet silhouette laced with satire. Somehow, she’s convinced the world to buy a uterus sweater without blinking. Now that’s cultural commentary in cashmere.
Simon Miller launched as a denim brand in 2008, but it didn’t get interesting until Chelsea Hansford turned up the absurdity. Out went minimalism. In came a full banana-print maxi and a palm leaf purse to match. Suddenly, we’re paying homage to Carmen Miranda as Miss Chiquita, and it’s not even Halloween. Hansford struts the line between theatrics and sophistication. The result is a power move meant to be laughed in.
Lisa Says Gah joined the party in 2015 with a mission to make getting dressed joyful again. What began as a one-woman shop has become a closet of playful contradictions. A pantry stocked with vibrant visual puns. Somehow, caviar is now affordable. Stretchy opulence, splashed across rayon and spandex, hugging your body like a second skin.
Punchlines in the PDP
Some brands sell clothes. These sell commentary. Their tone is unmistakable.
Most brands phone it in, treating product display page copy as filler between images and price. These three sharpen their brat claws into a branding weapon.
Rachel Antonoff writes her product descriptions like your quirky aunt on a caffeine high. Take the Caviar Knit Skirt, which invites you to “put the ‘tin’ in flirting” — artful phrasing delivered with panache. Simon Miller’s about page reads like an acid trip, not a refined first-class ticket to Greece. Lisa Says Gah makes the whole site a playground. The daisy explosion that trails your cursor brings the UX in on the joke.
It’s ridiculous, but that’s the point. An on-the-nose voice is woven through every piece and every pixel. Not subtle. Possibly trying too hard, which is exactly why it works.
Campaigns with Character
In a visual economy where personality wins the scroll, casting and backdrops have never mattered more. Images that shimmy right off your screen, offering a deeper peek into each brand’s signature quirk. A far more engaging play than yet another snapshot against the forgotten white walls of Spring Studios.
Rachel Antonoff skips the models and casts her parents, as if her fashion campaigns were a one-woman Les Misérables staged in her backyard. Maybe because she has no budget. Or maybe because they’re fronting the bill. Either way, it’s ironic gold. Simon Miller goes full surrealist — a banana skirt posed on a pile of bananas. Groundbreaking mayhem. Lisa Says Gah blurs campaign and community, spotlighting user-submitted photos like a living Burn Book. Even the customers lean into the chaos, striking poses in front of a wall of produce. Serving looks that are fresher than the spinach.
Go Loud or Go Home
These are the brands built for the boom boom era, where turning up the volume is the business model. Fitting in? Exhausting. Being yourself? The greatest rebellion life can offer.
Or, as The Cut’s Emilia Petrarca put it:
In a marketplace flooded with sameness, these unmistakable brands cut through the noise. Creating fashion armor, ready for whatever chaos comes next. So shout your look loud. Go bold with Rachel Antonoff, get weird with Simon Miller, or crank the dial up with Lisa Says Gah.
Which brand speaks your style language? Drop your pick in the comments.
Looking for Substacks with real personality? These recent newsletters are in a league of their own:
One read of
’s Sparkles for Summer, and you’ll want sequins on rotation 24/7.- makes a dazzling case for going down swinging. Sometimes the outfit is the coping mechanism.
- ’ “Bohemian Dahling” drop is overdressing at its most devotional. Sequins, fringe, and the art of not holding back.
- spotlights dopamine decor as a niche trend ready to burst. Think lava lamps, bold rugs, and corners that hum with serotonin.
This feels like a “get off my lawn” comment, but I don’t get the boom boom era — I am all for over the top, albeit not for minimalist me, but it’s the 60’s and 70’s that will forever reign supreme; having dressed through the lamé and iconography of the 80’s first go around, I just can’t revisit these looks. But your language and insight is spot on as always!
Yes! Loved how you broke down the sentiment behind “boom boom”. And my dad is the ultimate Jimmy Buffet fan so I live for a JB reference haha.