7 Ridiculous April Fool’s Day Fashion Pranks

No, those teeny Hunter rain boots for dogs aren’t real. And neither are those adjustable heels.

I’m ready for this day to be over. Mostly this is because I’m a very gullible person, but I’m also not that great at remembering what date or even month it is. (I blame this partly on my job, as I’m always working three months ahead. So while you’re focusing on back-to-school shopping, I’m figuring out what holiday trends I’m going to cover. It can leave me a bit … jumbled.) The fact that it’s April Fool’s Day didn’t even occur to me until halfway through the afternoon.

In any case, there are some pranks we fell for (a not-to-be-named assistant lifestyle editor actually did believe that Goorin Bros. is selling a $5,000 diamond-encrusted hat that powers Bluetooth by the heat of your head) and some that were sort of annoying (the Ant Watch, which seems to have totally backfired). Here are five weird, funny and maybe-sorta-kinda-could’ve-been-real pranks played by brands both big and small. 

 1. The Ant Farm watch.
Philly-based Analog Watch Co. announced that a live Ant Watch was available for pre-order via their e-store. Only animal rights activists got really angry. Animal welfare website The Dodo published a blog post about the watch, in which a rep from Analog confirmed it was, in fact, a real product. Later, the Dodo updated this post to include a quote from Analog saying the watch was actually a prank.

And this is where it gets weird: We published this post. Analog reached out to us via email and claimed they’d never told the Dodo the Ant Watch was fake. When we responded and asked whether or not the product was going into production, a rep responded with the following email: “Due to an extreme reaction by animal rights activists, and vigilantes we believe to of impersonated us and effected our internal mail and phone systems, we have been advised by our legal council at this time to not further comment on the product launch.” (sic) In any case, Analog copped to the prank today.

2. The $5,000 James Bond hat.
Some of the $5,000 hat’s features, from the press email:

• “Flip-From-the-Brim polarized protective eyewear — sleek, lightweight and stylish with 187% UV protection, fabricated from the same Lexan materials used on space shuttle head shields.”
• “Head Sync proprietary blue-tooth enabled ear-bud technology is seamless’y integrated into the head-band — powered by the head from the top of your head.”
• “An RPC chip is carefully woven into the hat-band, so you can be found in the event of an avalanche in the alps.”
• Oh, and a diamond-studded hat pin.

3. Tiny Hunter rain boots. For dogs.

Discover the Original Dog Boot, a new style coming soon for spring/summer 2015 pic.twitter.com/KsfrrAABTc

— Hunter (@HunterBoots) April 1, 2015

4. The clip-on bun for men. This is barely okay when it’s real hair.

Boys, get the look without the hassle: introducing the clip-in man bun! http://t.co/4Epxek3v1m pic.twitter.com/cvLiPoskRs — ASOS (@ASOS) April 1, 2015

5. The Selfie shoe.
The new wave of wearable tech?

6. The Kenneth Cole doggie poop “**It Bag.”

Introducing the electric blue **It Bag. “You know what that smell is? That’s the smell of style.”

7. Ted Baker’s adjustable heels.
Download an app to control the height of your heels. The stiletto heels can raise to six inches, or adjust down two only two inches. Okay, this is actually a great idea. Can someone figure this out, please?