To Live.. Live.. In a Psycho Fool City with Bri Wilson

Words by Matthew Spence:

By show of hands: How many of you deep-dive through your Pinterest for inspo for an hour or two? Cool, ok by show of hands…again, how many of you dumpster dive through your closet to figure out what outfit to wear and ultimately say, “Fuck it, I’ll stay home.” Cool, Ok last one, by show of hands, how many of you actually raised your hands? Ehh. No judgment. It happens to the best of us; yearning for an extensive wardrobe is something people would use their 3rd Genie wish on.

Rejuvenating your wardrobe is a must, and sometimes we can kick ourselves in the fashion gut trying to do the most by trying to get the most flashy and extravagant. Sometimes taking it back to the basics can be cute, simple, and effect have you ready to tear the fuck out of the dancefloor and a runway. Many brands can come into play, but there’s a brand that’s been a ladies’ best friend as of lately. Get a Red Sharpie and write this name down: 777psychofool.

Founded by Bri Wilson: designer, writer, psychic, and rave clown, it’s the New Haven-based fashion brand creating ravewear and quality clothing that range from reworks and original pieces that can have motherfuckers feeling like they belong at the “360” It Girl Table. Not as Gabriette or Julia Fox, but as themselves: confident and stylish. Making rounds through CT, it’s the brand that’s carved the statement “Bitch, I’m Here Now” on the desk of local culture.

777, like many ideas, just started off as a blank piece of paper in the mental, but like any student (or well, the ones who actually give a fuck), Bri took the time to fill in the blanks. Sentence by sentence. Like a sparkler waiting to be lit and a glowstick necklace waiting to be worn. “It’s been a long time coming; I mean, I’ve wanted to start a clothing brand (specifically reworks) for so long. I just genuinely couldn’t find the time or space to.” Even with encouragement from others (shout-out to that therapist) and possibly more signs to do so, there was a solid few years where she was still on the rocks on whether she should go through with it. Due to a common neighborhood asshole named imposter syndrome, a giant billboard on Sunset Boulevard that said “BRI WILSON DO IT NOW” wouldn’t have been enough. While there was resistance, she eventually crossed over that bridge: “I’m high-key a perfectionist, but it really just got to the point where I just asked myself, ‘If not now, then when?’ Just a bunch of excuses, I was telling myself, so one day I decided to stop making excuses and just do it.”.

Don McLean wrote about “The Day the Music Died.” Well, I’m writing about the day Psycho Fool was born. Time? I don’t know; probably a Wednesday morning. Scratch off those details, either way. Putting the puzzle together, Bri’s idea was somewhat of an early bloomer, while many take days, weeks, possibly months, or years to figure out their project: their name, their goals, their setup, products, etc. She laid everything out in about an hour or so. Thanks to spiritual mathematics “Because of my background in Tarot and Reiki, I’m really deeply in tune with my own intuition and inner voice, so I made the decision I wanna start a clothing brand, then I sat down with myself, sat with my eyes closed, and just started visualizing what felt right and anything that came up I was writing down.” While some may argue that she or everyone should spend more time to flesh out an idea of that magnitude. Bri may respectfully beg to differ: “I feel overthinking completely; the whole point of creativity is about in-tune intuition and self, so I didn’t let myself overthink when starting my brand.” It’s all about the vibes and stuff. Now, whether you agree or disagree, one thing is agreed upon by unanimous vote: no matter the amount of time she took—an hour or 5 years—she managed to create a new entity while sharing her same personality. “I heard 777PsychoFool in my head, like, ‘OK, that’s the name.” She continues, “I know I wanted the numbers to have angel numbers in them; I know I wanted the name to have to do with clowns and psychological. Crazy? Insane? Insane Clown Posse was taking <chuckles>”.

Which, in her favor, people have flocked to her brand. Market to market, corner to corner, club to club, closet to closet, Psycho Fool has developed a buzz in the local CT fashion scene, like MGMT on college campuses in 06 or smencils in elementary schools. With her entree of gear of reworks and original pieces that are either 1-of-1 or made to order. Pick your drink, from tank tops like the “SEXI” tank and “SWAG” tank, the Psycho Tee, Psycho button-up, corsets, shorts, trampstamp dress, and a bunch of stuff for now and the future that will scratch your fashion itch. Encompassing the spirit of the 2000s and 2010s Indie Sleaze, club, and rave culture, her line recycles and reworks the energy of fun and no fucks given those eras carried. Which is fitting; she’s been to a fair share of raves and events in her time. Plus, she listens to Charli XCX Bolier’s Room set in the morning (and probably listens to the Project X soundtrack in the evening and the Dare at night). Let’s say she most definitely has expertise at a fair level.

Essentials for Raving from the Rave Clown

Glasses
Carbs (Snacks)
Water/Gatorade

Now, I bet at least 65% of people may read this and think “Rave Essentials List? WHERE ARE THE DRUGS?!?!?!” Simple answer, not needed, for her at least.

While on the surface, you could take a hint that she’s bringing the vibes with her brand, whether for a movie night in or a night out listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and wondering how you ended up shoeless behind a Shop Rite dumpster at 6am.

Yet, to dig deeper, she elaborates on what she hopes to express with Psycho Fool. “Honestly, like true personal style, and when I say true, I mean like tune out what people consider cool. I don’t do or make anything trying to be cool. The clothes I design are an ode to my inner child and my middle school self because I used to sit and envision myself in different types of clothes I couldn’t buy at the store, so I’m making those clothes now. I don’t necessarily try to do anything different; I just try to be myself and do what I wanna do before thinking of what people want me to do. Well, if her younger self saw what she’s become, she’d probably crack a smile and cheer, then immediately go back to watching Brandy and Mr. Whiskers.

From reworking family hand-me-downs to becoming part of a wave of through in CT women’s fashion and in general. Due to hard work and constant vending, Bri has taken the summer (well, the year generally) to sell, share, and slang her brand like no other. In the words of Brittany Spears, “You Better Work Bitch.” Like bands doing backyards and local bars and that kid that sells the snacks and Capri-Suns in his lunch bag. Going from CT to NYC, 777 buzz around the tristate area is well earned. “That was one of my goals: build a community at home first locally. I think that’s super important to have that foundation; it made no sense to me to jump online and try to build a following of people a thousand miles away from me.” She continues, “Yeah, obviously, that’s successful and makes money, but what was really important to me was having respect from my community before blossoming out of it.”

Coinciding with BRAT Summer as her backdrop, her brand couldn’t have found a better year to take off. With pop music going crazy, indie sleaze, and everyone seemingly having the time of their lives, the 2024 summer of music was divided into two worlds: one side had people crip walking to Kendrick, calling Drake a pedophile, while the other had the girlies and the gays up to 5am looking like Chloë Sevigny due to Charli XCX & Billie Eilish and a bunch of other talented women making dance music. Speaking on the latter half, she had a takeaway from this summer of mainstream music of dopeness: “Humans are capable of making cool shit. I think for awhile it was just one or two people making cool shit, but they weren’t even pushed into the front of the media. You had to really be exposed to it. It was just so cool to see so much coolness in the mainstream.”.

Festivals Dos & Don’ts

Dos’

Carry Wet Wipes
Ear Plugs
Wear Deodorant
Scarf, Hoodie, Sunglasses for the vibes

Don’t’s

Bring a Poop Bucket
Prioritize fashion
Forget to Eat and Hydrate

Now, she’s making the coolness through fashion with genuineness. Along with a plethora of people doing cool shit in the local fashion scene: Eiress of MINIPNG and Cass of Paintedladyvinage (I call the 3 of them “BRAT Pack” or “the Firm”; there’s no real correlation to anything with the names; I like just naming shit), there’s a lot going on in the Y2K/Vintage fashion scene in CT, regarding women in specifics. Bri doesn’t just want to hop in and hop out but hopes to add to the scene with dopeness: “I want to add’scene’ vibes’. I was very much so scene in 08, 09, 2010, that’s my contribution in my head. Y2K, then you have the middle of the 00s like 05-07, and 08-2011 has distinct fashion, and I’d like to think I fill in that gap of 08-11 fashion.” Now the scene kid has a cult following and a cult classic following behind her, and it’s dope for us but surreal for her… but also dope for her.

“It definitely feels surreal. Especially feels surreal, because this is what I visualized for myself and wanted for myself. As a kid, I wanted to be a fashion designer, but obviously you get a little older and it doesn’t seem like a feasible career choice, then you pivot to something else. It came full circle this year when I chose to start my brand. Continuing, she says, “So seeing the love I see from my brand while also remaining true to myself the entire time has felt really good.” Now, she’d love to keep it a cult classic if she had it her Whatever happens, happens, no matter the gender, sexuality, or preference in pizza toppings. However, she’s for the cause. Whatever happens, happens, no matter the gender, sexuality, or preference in pizza toppings. Whether you are a partier or not, introvert or extrovert, In the words of Devin the Dude, “Do what the fuck you wanna do.” No gatekeeping, or at least there’ll probably be a healthy level of it vs. a toxic level.

As the old saying goes, you get out of it what you put into it (or something like that). Now, it seems her pure love of her community and positive energy circled back to her, as now she has fans from CT to NY to Philly “It’s at the point where people know me, and yet I don’t know them.” However, this road wasn’t toll-free to some extent; like any creative, there’s pressure to fall on your morals and chase the virality of whatever it may be. However, Bri manages to catch herself in case she trips and almost tumbles. Always keeping in the back of her mind: artists merit and integrity. “I do fashion for art. Yeah, it’s my brand, my business, and I make money from it, but ultimately, it’s my art.” So I have really strict boundaries with that, as people should.” Fair upon fair point, however, it ain’t easy. Pressure is a bitch and a half yo.

Even the strongest-skinned person with the strongest black knight armor can get knicked a bit by its’ weight. Especially if you’re a kid, kids are fucking mean, as me and Bri agreed during our convo. As she set her boundaries now, for her brand and her own well-being, it all can be traced back to experiences in middle school of being bullied by “a bunch of very basic standard CT white people who are down with anything that’s not boxed in with what they find normal” and chastised and succumbing to pressure. It is never fun yo, to succumb and try to be anything other than yourself. It’s like having an outer-body experience of you watching yourself lose the plot. It sucks ass. My words, not hers.

Her words were, “It felt so soul-sucking to me, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not doing this again'”. So now in her adult life, she took those formative years and adapted, so she does her best to be aligned with her morals and values to enjoy what she gravitates towards (and being a bit stubborn helps her). That includes wearing her own stuff and having others wear her stuff. Neat.

In other words, if she says “Fuck You,” she means “Fuck You,” and when she doesn’t say “Fuck You,” she means “Fuck You.” In essence at least, however, being vocal and outspoken isn’t a new attribute. “I’ve always been this way; I’ve always been super outspoken and confrontational. Not like unnecessarily, but I just mean I don’t have any issues with confrontation.” Elaborating further “Outspoken isn’t a bad thing; I’m like a revenge-fueled person, so if you’re gonna make fun of something, I’m just gonna ramp it up and not pull back. Luckily that superpower hasn’t gone to waste, as Bri not only speaks through her art in fashion but in other forms, such as being a writer in her spare time and even had her own blog up until this year (R.I.P). I can attest, her writing was very brash, potent, and far from callow. Yet, with 777 riding high, it’s a priority that’s been arranged from another slot number. “I still plan to write; it’s not necessarily on hold; I just do what I’m called to do at the moment.” To paraphrase André 3000, the wind blew her in another direction; the same goes for her other passion: Tarot reading. It’s another chapter in her story; she’s not editing it out but simmering down regarding it. Catch her on a good day, and with preparation, you may get one. But she’s not out here handing out an endless supply of readings like Chandler handing out an endless supply of sarcasm. Don’t expect a free 8-bar verse.

Now in the midst of fun questions such as styling Lana Del Rey for a cover shoot or Charli XCX for a music video (she chose Lana, btw, FYI) and what 777 movie night looks like, our convo once more turns to introspectiveness as I ask about full circle moments, and she explains how she’s living it now: “Everything I do with 777 is for my inner child and my own inner-self. So seeing all the love and the support and every design and every piece I make, I’m continuously having the full circle moment.”.

With the year getting closer to the end and another year will bite the dust on the calendar, Bri had an impressive year. What’s next? Taking a breath. “To rest and relax a bit. Just rest, relax, and create while I have the time to because this summer has been very busy. I was outside all the time this summer, which was fun, but now it’s time to chill.” Bri’s breakout summer and year is one of many words: Dope, BRAT, Cunt, Neat, Cool, pick an adjective you like to use in your everyday vocab, they all apply. But it’s a case study of Great spirit + Big Dreams x Consistency + Knowledge of self = 777 dopeness. With her level of self confidence. She’ll be going far: “I don’t really have specific influences that Im constantly inspired by. It’s moreso like everything of my own interest, cause I take the most inspiration and influence from myself throughout the years.”

Feel free to check out and shop at Psycho Fool and follow Bri on whatever social media you prefer to usually use.