The night before I meet Angela Ruis – the co-founder and designer of OGBFF, a DIY brand whose cheeky “HOT PERSON AT WORK” baby tees and winkingly self-aware “MINISKIRT”-emblazoned skirts have set TikTok on fire – I'm transported back to the dressing room of the now-vanished retailer, Limited Too. It was there, in a shop famous as the pastel-camisole-wearing little sister to the more suburban-mall-sophisticated Limited brand, that I first encountered a piece of graphic apparel that's yet to fade from my memories of tweendom: baby-blue gym shorts with “CHEER” emblazoned on the derrière, which I somehow convinced my grandma to let me buy and wear to Adventureland. The role of graphic garments as mirrors of any given era's cultural shorthand is undeniable. And OGBFF more than understands that assignment.
The brand's particular shorthand draws on both Ruis's formative years as a “very early internet girly”, paired with co-founder Lauren Schiller's self-professed chronic onlineness, the very quality that's helped them to accrue 40.3k followers and 2.2m TikTok likes since launching in 2021. (They debuted on Instagram with clothing available for purchase through DMs, including shorts that shouted “DUMP HIM”.) These days, picture Lil Nas X looking cute in their “TITS FOR BRAINS” tee and candy-coloured beaded necklace; your friend showing up for dinner in a baby tee that wonders (don't we all?) “ARE YOU MAD AT ME”; or a classic pair of pink short-shorts that read “MOVE I'M GAY” on the butt, and whose website description resembles your favourite
