It Was Popular In The 80s, Now It's A Strange Aesthetic We Don't Want In Our Homes

When you ask people about their greatest phobias, there are a few common responses — snakes, spiders, sharks — but there's one fear-inducing figure that's really taken in off in recent decades. For thousands of years, clowns had a reputation as a source of comedic entertainment and innocent fun rather than the more creepy, dark-sided tricksters that many see them as today. They were frequent visitors at birthday parties, often entertained at fairs, and one even became the mascot of one of the world's most popular fast-food chains. In the 1980s, Pierrot clowns, in particular, took off in popularity, placing a more sad, subdued, and mature twist on the often colorful and over-the-top entertainers. Images of feminine, cartoonish characters with light-colored face paint, large eyes, and pastel-toned costumes found their way onto everything from duvet covers to notebooks. 

While there are plenty of retro trends making a comeback, we feel comfortable keeping this fad firmly in the past. Thanks to the real-life horrors perpetrated by John Wayne Gacy in the '70s, popular movies like "It" and "Saw," and the instinctual discomfort caused by exaggerated face paint, public perception of clowns has swayed heavily from daffy to disturbing. Nowadays, you're more likely to find clowns outfitting the aisles of a Spirit Halloween than your local HomeGoods, but if you're someone who appreciates clowns beyond their application in creepy Halloween decor, it might be worth poking around your local secondhand shop.

One of the major drivers of the Pierrot clown craze was Mirano Fujita, a Japanese artist who originally started out her career creating illustrations for a girl's magazine. After being commissioned to create posters for a French company, her work reached a wider audience. While it may now seem strange to outfit your home in clowns, her illustrations are undeniably beautiful, featuring gentle, coy figures wearing face paint that toes the line between cartoonish clown makeup and modern beauty trends. In an era that also saw the popularity of artists like Patrick Nagel and pastel, breezy color palettes, it's not shocking that Fujita's art took off and began outfitting just about every consumer good imaginable.

With that being said, however, opinions on this craze were mixed, even at the time. "My grannie bought me the duvet cover. I found it deeply creepy. I don't mind other sorts of clowns at all," one Facebook commenter shared in the "'70s '80s Kids UK" group. Others, however, were massive fans, collecting whatever items they could get their hands on. Today, lovers of nostalgic pieces still gravitate toward these items, as they're a vintage find that can help inspire your '80s decor.

While Fujita's work was certainly a major driver of this craze, she wasn't the only source of clown-inspired items. Clown figurines, Venetian masks, and more general Pierrot-printed merchandise also popped up around this time, but it had largely fallen out of popularity by the '90s. Today, it's fairly easy to find clown decor secondhand, but with so many people claiming a deep fear of these figures, you're likely better off passing on it for the sake of your guests.