The 20 Most Ratchet Moments in Recent Fashion History

The fashion industry is a cutthroat world that prides itself on creating startling imagery and pushing the boundaries of beauty and aesthetics. So of course, in the name of frantically chasing these pursuits, things are going to fail miserably, people are going to act a fool, and some wild ignorance is gonna pop off. And these are the moments that can only be described as ratchet.

As New York Fashion Week descends upon us, we are positive that some ratchetry is going to go down before, during, and after the runway shows. In anticipation, we took a hilarious, outrageous, and bizarre trip down memory lane to re-visit The 20 Most Ratchet Moments in Recent Fashion History.

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When: April 2012

When Kanye West dropped "Theraflu" (later titled "Cold"), the second single off of Cruel Summer, the world went nuts. It went so hard that it led to the greatest one-line critique in the history of journalism from Maxim Bady, who said, "that is so much swag, I want to kill myself for not having that much swag." And perhaps the most bluntly ratchet line was Kanye wanting any listener to tell PETA that his mink was dragging on the floor, which is equivalent to running over a solar power activist in a Hummer.

We would have all been content with that level of ratchetness, and no one would have ever thought that PETA would be the ones upping the ratchet levels. In their response, they said "What's draggin' on the floor is Kanye's reputation as a man with no empathy for animals or human beings." Also, he "doesn't seem to have the fashion sense to design anything more than caveman costumes." SO MANY RATCHET DARTS FIRED.

When: September 2012

Most NYFW parties are polite little numbers where you're just there to say hi to the right people and everyone stays just long enough to not offend the host. Leave it to Supreme to do the exact opposite and make these boring-ass events fun and ratchet as hell. Our memories are a little fuzzy from that night, so we asked a few friends who were also there to give us their thoughts on the party, which included an incredible performance by Three 6 Mafia.

Sounds like an old-fashioned party with turnt up bass and ratchet levels. Too bad these are so rare during NYFW...

When: March 2003

The 2013 New York Knicks are possibly the most fashion conscious sports team out there, but none of the players have yet to catch Calvin Klein's attention quite like Latrell Sprewell of the 2003 Knicks. During the closing minutes of a game against the Toronto Raptors, the designer left his courtside seat and walked up to Spre' while the player was trying to inbound the ball. Whatever Klein had to say obviously couldn't wait, so he grabbed Sprewell's arm and started chatting. Security came over and ushered the then 60 year old Klein back to his seat, where he sat back down and yelled "Sprewell!"

When: June 2004 - Today

Dov Charney's sexual exploits with his employees and models are so commonplace that they've become a bad joke. He reportedly masturbates while conducting business meetings with females, sexually preys on his employees, makes models sign insanely confusing contracts that would derail any attempts to sue him, is blatantly racist, and has faced several lawsuits from individuals and groups of women who claim sexual abuse and harassment from the CEO of American Apparel. He definitely embodies the sleazy version of ratchet.

An incomplete timeline of Charney's sexual and moral deviancy is recorded here. From the women and employees who he's come across, Dov has been described as "a monster," and his law team has been able to deflect away any lawsuits from doing serious damage. And the creator of the modern-day hipster continues to sit atop an empire of tube socks and hoodies.

When: November 2011

Skating and high fashion have always had a testy relationship. Like many subcultures, high-end brands have attempted to appropriate skateboarding throughout the years to give them a gritty and edgy image. Skating has not always been so receptive to this.

In spring 2011, things came to a head when the luxury brand Céline had models pose with skateboards while draped in thousands of dollars of clothing that no skater, except Lil' Wayne, would ever endorse or be able to afford. This prompted Kidult to tag a giant pink "SK8" across Céline's Paris location, showcasing the artist's ratchet response to skating culture being appropriated as glamorous, fashionable, and profitable.

When: September 2012

Most runway shows are pretty standard affairs. The music will be loud, the clothes will be great, and the models will stomp their way up and down the catwalk without smiling. So when Mark McNairy sent out Danny Brown, his muse for SS13, to close his premier NYFW show this past summer, people took notice. The confetti cannons going off helped, as did the gold lamé suit custom-made for the gap-toothed rapper.

When DB, who's lyrics and lifestyle embody ratchetness in all its glory, made it to the end of the runway, he stuck his tongue out, threw up two signs of the horns, and strutted backstage, stodgy old people in the crowd were confused, and those in the know could only try and wrap their heads around the ratchet moment that had just occurred. Danny and the Bruiser Brigade crew later posted the BTS video on their Tumblr, and one thing they made sure to point out was the "unsolicited model boobage" that made hanging out backstage such a joy.

When: September 2007

Christopher Kane's London studio was broken into in 2007 and 23 pieces of his spring collection were stolen. The theft came a week before London Fashion Week, and put the burgeoning designer in a pretty desperate situation. To add insult to ratchet injury, the burglars knew all the security codes and disabled alarms before making off with the clothing and with a laptop, meaning they definitely came from or had info from within Kane's camp.

When: Spring 2011

Look at you, Calvin Klein, you ratchety rascal. You may not have been able to get past the New York Knick's security guards, but you certainly got one F-bomb past the FCC for a minute. A billboard standing above the busy intersection of Houston and Lafayette in SoHo, featuring an undressed Lara Stone, raised both eyebrows and trouser-tents in the spring of 2011.

It appeared as if that sneaky devil had snuck a subliminal "FUCK" into the giant billboard. The "F" was formed by the table in the background, the "U" was Lara Stone's area that's normally referred to as a "V," and the CK was the brand's logo. The controversial billboard was just one of a string of racy ads from the brand, all of which proved that Calvin Klein only gives a single fuck, and it was on full display for all of downtown NYC to look at.

When: November 2006

The cutthroat world of professional fashion modeling has had its fair share of ratchet moments, including a massive amount of tragic events dealing with impossible standards of beauty, mistreatment of male and female models, and turning a blind eye to very real problems. One of the saddest instances of these is the case of Ana Carolina Reston.

The already petite Brazilian model was reportedly told that to her face at a casting that she was too fat, leading to her developing anorexia. She stuck to a diet that mainly consisted of apples and tomatoes as she attempted to keep up with the fashion industry's demand for rail-thin models. At the time of her death, Reston weighed 88 pounds. And, in true ratchet nature, the fashion industry continues to ignore the problems that affected Reston and continue on with crazy demands of models and perpetuating unrealistic ideals.

When: October 2010

Original content from brands are more and more enjoyable, but none can contend with this ratchet-ass video of David Blaine swimming with great white sharks in head-to-toe Adam Kimmel. Filmed off the coast of Guadalupe, "Dressed for Dinner" gave Kimmel the chance to show off some of his goods and for Blaine to practice his breath-holding. The magician rocked a sharp tuxedo and two other looks while enormous sharks circled around him, resulting in a ratchet four minutes of clothing, humor, and imminent death.

When: November 2011

Some daring fashion thieves (probably dressed in all-black, both for chicness and practicality) pulled off the fashion heist of the century when they stole the entire spring/summer 2012 Marc Jacobs collection. The clothes were en route from Paris to London for a press viewing, but never made it to the final destination. All 46 looks were yoinked from, reportedly, a delivery van at 8am in the upscale neighborhood of Mayfair, London.

Because they were samples, there were fears that counterfieters would soon be churning out cheap replicas of a collection that had a "sense of the Deep South, dance hall spirit." A duplicate set of samples was safe in NYC, so production went off without a hitch, but numerous European editors weren't able to view the clothes up close and personal due to ratchetness. In a modern-day twist on the Wanted: Dead or Alive flyers of the Wild West, Marc Jacobs tweeted that there'd be a reward for any info leading to the samples being discovered and returned.

When: March 2012

The March, 2012 issue of Vogue Italia featured a fashion editorial entitled "Haute Mess" that featured, according to The Cut, "nearly unrecognizable A-list models sporting outrageous outfits, elaborate hair weaves, drawn-on eyebrows, and mouths full of gold teeth, while pushing baby strollers, toting mini-backpacks, and making fish faces for their bejeweled iPhones." Not to mention one model holding a Colt45 can.

The spread instantly caught major flack as people debated whether it was a mockery or celebration of the "ghetto fabulous" aesthetic and culture. The general consensus was that the feature was was maybe not explicitly racist, but it was definitely done in poor taste and absolutely wasn't helping anyone out. Poor taste and controversy—two required qualities of all things ratchet.

When: July 1997

In 1997, Gianni Versace, the man who made baroque prints and an element of flash a part of everyone's wardrobe, was shot and killed outside his home in Miami. The police concluded that the designer was murdered by serial killer Andrew Cunanan, a high-class male prostitute who was already wanted for four other murders. Cunanan was found later after committing suicide, and it looked like the case was closed.

But if it was just a simple case of murder, it wouldn't be in such ratchet company. Years later, two high-ranking mob informants came forward claiming that Versace was laundering money for the Italian mafia through the $1.4 billion business he was head of at the time of his death. The informants claimed the murder was, in fact, an execution, and was carried out over debts owed to Godfather Paolo De Stefano. And finally, the mysterious dead turtle-dove that was found next to Versace's body was a calling card from the assassin, not the freak accident that the investigation initially chalked it up to be.

When: December 2011

For some incomprehensible reason, the Dutch magazine Jackie referred to Rihanna as "N**** Bitch" in the title of a piece that described her style. The translation of the original article read, "She has street cred, she has a ghetto ass and she has a golden throat. Rihanna, the good girl gone bad, is the ultimate n***abitch and she displays that gladly..."

An editor from Jackie quickly issued an apology on the mag's Facebook page, saying the author "meant no harm — the title of the article was intended as a joke — it was a bad joke, to say the least." Brushing it off as a joke only indicated the pevalent ignorance at Jackie, and eventually the editor resigned. Shaking our damn heads at the dumb ratchetness that the magazine committed, but Rihanna's response to the whole thing was epic and what we've come to expect and love from the star who last gave a fuck in circa 2002.

When: February 2011

Amidst social turmoil, political chaos, and human tragedy, Kenneth Cole used its widely followed Twitter to spread a message that couldn't wait for the bedlam in Cairo to subside and would surely better the violence that was occurring at the time. Just kidding! They exploited the travails in Egypt to let you know that their spring collection had just dropped.

The backlash was immediate, the tweet was soon deleted, and an apology was issued on the company's Facebook page that read "I apologize to everyone who was offended by my insensitive tweet about the situation in Egypt. I've dedicated my life to raising awareness about serious social issues, and in hindsight my attempt at humor regarding a nation liberating themselves against oppression was poorly timed and absolutely inappropriate. Kenneth Cole, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer."

This wasn't the first time Kenneth Cole had put his square-toed foot in his mouth. After 9/11, Cole told the NY Daily News "Important moments like this are a time to reflect... To remind us, sometimes, that it's not only important what you wear, but it's also important to be aware."

When: May 2012

In what's become a signature move, Kidult sardonically tagged the Marc Jacobs SoHo storefront with "ART" in giant, pink letters. The usual way things happen after he does this is people pay attention for a few days, the store releases a statement or ignores it, cleans it up, and then everyone moves on.

This time, though, the contending king of ratchet fired back. Marc Jacobs took it upon himself to screenprint a t-shirt with a photo of his vandalized store, slapped some "ART BY ART JACOB$" text on it, and sold it for $680. Then shit got real Inception-esque as graphic t-shirt designer Wilfry started selling the Marc Jacobs t-shirt within a t-shirt for a mere $35. And when Kidult started selling his own version of the t-shirt with a photo of him bombing the storefront, the needle on the ratchet gauge broke through the glass, and even Leonardio DiCaprio and Christopher Nolan were confused.

When: February 2011

Scandal broke in the spring of 2011 when allegations of John Galliano, the darling of the fashion world, making anti-Semitic surfaced and forced Dior to suspend the designer while investigation was underway. All doubt was removed when a clearly wasted Galliano was caught on video telling fellow café patrons, "I love Hitler. People like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would be fucking gassed and fucking dead."

More allegations came forth that Galliano had harassed an Asian and Jewish couple, saying to them, "Dirty Jewish face, you should be dead," and "Fucking Asian bastard, I will kill you." A third accuser came forward as well. The allegations led to Dior dismissing Galliano, and the designer's rapid fall from grace as he dealt with alcoholism and other substance abuse. Most of the fashion industry said "good riddance" to such despicable actions, but Galilano's influential inner circle continued to (quietly) support him for his work, and have seemingly brought about an eventual comeback for the reformed designer.

When: September 2012

It was the slap heard around the world, and arguably the biggest story of last year's New York Fashion Week. The next day, no one was scrambling to check the Zac Posen collection on Style.com, but instead were reading about how Jennifer Eymere of the French magazine Jalouse smacked publicist Lynn Tesoro after Eymere's mother lost a VIP seat in the front row.

It all started when the fire marshall removed 60 seats from the show's front rows, making Tesoro explain to a testy crowd why their assigned seats had been changed. One unlucky attendee was Ms. Eymere's mother and the publisher of Jalouse, Marie-Jose Susskind-Jalou. Eymere took exception to the way Tesoro was addressing her mom, and afterwards recalled the incident. "I said 'Don't speak to my mom like this ... Be careful. I am going to slap you.' And she kept doing it and it just happened."

And no, that's not where the ratchness ends. Eymere went on saying, "I am sorry, I know it's bad to do that. It was a small slap. It was not strong. I didn't hurt her, it was just to humiliate her. She humiliated my mom, and I humiliated her in front of her crew. Voilà. I just said at the end, 'Now you know you don't fuck with French people.'"

When: March 1995

In 1995, Maurizio Gucci, the grandson of the House's founder and heir to the Gucci fortune, was gunned down outside of his office. As details emerged and pursuit of a killer developed, the case became so bizarre and so ratchet that the entire fashion world and country of Italy could not look away. As the New York Times put it in 1998, "The case brought together some of the country's favorite obsessions: sex, money, designer footwear and astrology."

Maurizio was married to the eccenctric socialite Patrizia Reggiani, a woman born in the lap of luxury who famously once said she'd rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle. A younger woman was the reason for their divorce, but the last straw was when Maurizio only offered her $650,000 in a settlement, way below the milli that Patrizia wanted. This set off the following chain of events that are so ratchet we can't even comment on them.

Patrizia told her astrologist to hire a hitman, who killed Maurizio. The astrologist snitched, and the hitman went to jail for life. When Patrizia was arrested and put on trial, she claimed the astrologist was blackmailing her, but despite that she was happy about the murder. Patrizia got sentenced to 26 years in jail. After 13 years, she rejected parole because she doesn't want to get a job on the outside. She said "I would prefer to stay in my cell and water my plants" and take care of her pet ferret.