the return of the polka dot
and the rise of self obliteration
I may not be the only one that has noted the rise of polka dots in fashion lately; polka dots that we once considered tacky and cliche. The Instagram account databutmakeitfashion noted (in an ad, i might add) a month ago that polka dots were on track to take over florals as the pattern for spring (groundbreaking!). I see them all over all of my feeds, in different amalgamations of size and color. Don’t get me wrong, I think they can be cute, but I cannot ignore the factors at play in the return of the polka dot.
You see, I’ve been doing a lot (and i mean a LOT) of reading about punctuation for a research project I’m working on. There have been many books I’ve opened that talk about the strictness of punctuation and how it should be conformed to a grammatical system on the page and that we should ignore it and use it the way we are supposed to and that is it. But there have also been some books that explore punctuation more conceptually, and these are the ones that really matter to me. Punctuation isn’t something that should be ignored; it is something that has influence over a lot of areas of our lives--including fashion. In the book "Punctuation: Art, Politics, and Play” by Jennifer DeVere, she discusses how the polka dot, while not necessarily a mark of punctuation, can help us understand punctuation’s political reach in the world. Specifically, her example of Yayoi Kusama’s performance art has been sitting in my brain, waiting for me to make this connection.
Much of Kusama’s work involved polka dotting surfaces, herself, and others (both naked and clothed) and participating in demonstrations across New York City in the height of anti-war peace protests of the 1960s. “The dots do not rely on a canvas for support. Such dancing dots are out of line: they disrupt (patriarchal) succession in their queer disorderly and unorderly display. Their directionality is undetermined—they are omnipresent, peripheral, proliferating.1” Part of her goal was to assault the world with her politics; her politics of feminism, anti-capitalism, anti-war and calls for peace, and the myth of Eurocentrism. Many such demonstrations were captured on film, as part of a work titled Self Obliteration. Kusama covers objects and people with cut-out and painted dots, while psychedelic music plays over the top, and occasionally a bell tolls. Every object we see gets the polka dot treatment, no matter what the objects seem to represent. DeVere quotes the critic Paul Shartis on the film, saying “The obsessive act of covering (destruction of boundaries-identities) gradually becomes equivalent to the ritual of uncovering (stripping away of ego); individual self, destroyed in mask/parody/clustering, is transcended.2” Kusama’s polka dots are not a decorative addition to the objects, in fact they are the opposite. The dots serve as an erasure of identity. When Kusama covers herself in polka dots in the beginning of the film, she is telling the viewer that part of her identity has been stripped away.
Kusama is what is sometimes known as a "hyphenate American,” meaning an American whose identity has two parts. Hyphenation can come from a lot of different forms of identification, the most common one being immigration or racial identification. The hyphen is a quintessential part of Americanism; without hyphenates, there is no “melting pot” and no true American dream. That is what America is supposed to be: a refuge, an ideal, a place where we can relish in our diversity and celebrate our differences. By covering herself in dots, Kusama is stripping herself of her hyphenation, removing part of her identity that makes her unique and allowing herself to meld with the other people (of unknown identities), to force herself and the other individuals to become one and the same. Kusama the person is still there underneath the polka dots, but parts of her identity have been stripped. In the 1960s, this was not considered to necessarily be a bad thing, especially for anti-war protestors. Kusama herself stated: “Obliterate your personality with polka dots. Become one with eternity. Become part of your environment. Take off your clothes. Make love. Forget yourself. Self destruction is the only way to peace.3” I don’t entirely disagree with her sentiments, as they do support freedom of expression and make sense for the historical moment in which this work was created and revealed. However, I think the polka dot’s obliteration habits have turned into something more destructive today.
We’ve known about the speeding up of the trend cycle for a while now, with the introduction of microtrends and fast fashion, so the rise of polka dots in 2025 shouldn’t be all that surprising. But its timing is especially interesting to me: in an era of the political obliteration of hyphenate Americans and the rise of conservatism in the younger generation, this particular uptick in polka dots reads as something more sinister than just another microtrend. These polka dots signify the loss of originality, the loss of personality and individual opinion and the desire to fit in with the crowd and to not go against what you perceive to be public opinion. In an era of obliteration of originality in art and writing due to generative AI, it is extraordinarily important (vital, even) to maintain your originality, to maintain your personal identity as an artist! By participating in these trends you are removing part of yourself! Conservatives don’t want you to be weird and original; they don’t want you to be a hyphenate!
Two days ago, I thrifted a shirt covered in polka dots. When I took it home and hung it in my closet, I thought of Yayoi Kusama and her obliterating dots. I thought of how much I value my freedom of expression and how simply purchasing and wearing an item of clothing can be symbolic of my personal identity. I don’t want to be a part of the erasure of individuality by participating in the trend of polka dots, but I do want to honor Kusama’s efforts to encourage us to consider who we are and to recognize when we are being obliterated.
if you are so inclined, take a look at the film for Self Obliteration: part 1 part 2 part 3. I’ll also link an article to a more permanent exhibition by Kusama of the same name that I find equally as intriguing.
my recommendation for the week is to think about what your favorite punctuation mark is and what that punctuation may be doing out in the world and off the page. report back to me on your findings im curious. also for the record my favorite punctuation is a newer discover for me (I’m currently reading Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston)- its the interrobang ‽ (a combination of ?!) which denotes an exclamatory question. ive decided to use it much more in my daily life.
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