The queer fashion Easter egg hidden within the new season of 'BoJack Horseman'

By Fusion Staff | July 27, 2016 | 5:36pm

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BoJack Horseman is many things. Along with being one of the most emotionally resonant depictions of depression in the history of TV—and certainly the most emotionally resonant depiction of depression in the history of TV shows about Bob Saget-esque cartoon horses—the Netflix original series is a visual repository for blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pop cultural sight gags. The Jon Hamm headshot of an anthropomorphized pig? Fashion magazine Manatee Fair staffed by haute and cold manatees in heels? Ahhhh.

The third season, which hit Netflix last Friday, carries on this goofy tradition of burying clever yet mostly plot-irrelevant Easter eggs in every scene, and there’s one in particular that took me completely by surprise. The sixth episode, “Brrap Brrap Pew Pew,” finds Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie) inadvertently creating a PR nightmare for Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) and her client, dolphin pop star Sextina Aquafina (Aisha Tyler). The episode also finds Sextina Aquafina wearing what appears to be a couture look crafted by none other than one of Brooklyn’s hottest young fashion designers.

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BCALLA is the fashion label brainchild of 28-year-old Brooklyn designer Bradley Callahan, whose original handmade looks have been spotted on the likes of musicians Azealia Banks and Miley Cyrus, artist and model Juliana Huxtable, and countless fixtures in the queer nightlife community that Callahan’s a part of.

The tour outfits Callahan designed for Banks back in 2014 apparently caught BoJack production designer and illustrator Lisa Hanawalt‘s eye, and she seems to have used an amalgamation of them to create Sextina Aquafina’s season three, episode six ensemble. In fact, only a couple of weeks ago she was raving about Banks’ futuristic jumpsuits on her podcast, Baby Geniuses.

“[If I were a pop star, I would wear] these outfits that Azealia Banks was wearing a lot,” Hanawalt told co-host Emily Heller. “They’re kind of sporty, and they look sort of aquatic. They almost look like wetsuits, but there are straps all over them… I just like that they’re very formfitting, but they also cover everything and there’s, like, weird random holes in them. I feel like I would get a costume designer to design something like that tailored to my body [if I were a pop star].”

BCALLA designer Bradley Callahan noticed the homage as well. “Imagine my surprise while I’m in the middle of watching @bojackhorseman, and all [of a] sudden this very #Bcalla @azealiabanks look pops up!” he captioned a recent Instagram post. “GAG!”

What other pop cultural references have you spotted on the new season of BoJack Horseman? Don’t leave them in the comments below because I am only on episode seven and leaving them in the comments below would be tantamount to CYBERBULLYING.

Bad at filling out bios seeks same.