Since the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s assassination, the shooter has become an internet sensation. Conspiracists and armchair detectives alike have been analysing his every move. So, of course when the suspect, Luigi Mangione, was seen in that Starbucks CCTV footage, the internet ran to ID the khaki hooded jacket he was wearing.
A Reddit user identified the jacket as a Levi’s Men’s Sherpa Lined Two Pocket Hooded Trucker Jacket, and people flocked to cop that assassin drip. The $225 jacket spiked in popularity on the Macy’s website, with over 700 pieces copped in 48 hours – the trucker is now unavailable on the site.
Are people purchasing the jacket as a form of protest and socialist solidarity? Americans are angry with their very expensive healthcare system, so Mangione has become a pop culture sensation. But isn’t buying a jacket as a way of protesting capitalism a bit counterintuitive? In a dystopian turn of events, the jacket was on sale a few days ago, but Macy’s noticed the surge of buys and returned it to full price.
Similarly, on e-commerce platforms like Etsy, Redbubble and TikTok Shop, independent sellers are producing shooter merch, featuring designs inspired by the fatal shooting, such as T-shirts, stickers and bullet pendants with the words “Deny, Defend, Depose”, like it was engraved on the fatal bullet. Some designs even incorporate Mangione himself.
Americans are inspired and want to look like the “folk hero” – there was even a “shooter lookalike contest” held at Washington Square. But, there’s a dystopian, unserious memefication aspect to the whole thing. Someone commented “killer outfit” on a viral TikTok skit, and there was another comment saying: “black hoods and green jackets are in”.
Why is our generation revolting through ironic fits? We fr love expressing ourselves through clothes.
Featured image NYPD©
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