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While last year’s Zara spot dress found its fame as it was in everyone’s closet, Lirika Matoshi’s strawberry dress has found its own for the opposite reason: a collective fantasy of owning it.
Love for the midi dress has gone beyond early-adopters Tess Holliday, Violetta Komyshan and Marzia Kjellberg, becoming a fashion go-to while finding a surprising home amongst cottagecore-loving TikTokers and fandom culture.
The $490 puff-sleeve midi dress is simply hailed “the strawberry dress” amongst those in the know. Whimsical, frothy and covered in glittering strawberries, it now has a mask to match with influencers such as The Young Emperors wearing the print from head-to-toe.
With a deep V neckline, double tie waist and ruffle hem, its flouncy skirt is practically built for slow-mo spinning on TikTok - naturally set to the dress’ unofficial theme song 'Strawberry Blonde' by Mitski.
Lirika Matoshi is no stranger to influencer hype as the brand’s early tulle socks and embellished stockings attracted Dua Lipa and Ke$ha. While excessive glitter and baubles aren’t everyday wear for most, the brand’s impractical fantastical ethos is a major part of the strawberry dress’ ongoing success.
TikTok-famous seamstress Sarah Hambly recreated her own version in a DIY video watched over 3.4 million times. The 26-year-old explains: “It’s almost an aspirational purchase since it’s so pricey and it represents a hopefully dreamy summer since we are all stuck inside [because of] COVID.”
@officialhambly I know I love everything I make but this strawberry dress is truly 🥺 ##SummerDIY ##strawberrydress ##diysewing ##sewing ##sewingskills ##cottagecore
♬ Intentions (Instrumental Version) [Originally Performed by Justin Bieber & Quavo] - Elliot Van Coup
She adds that it fits into the “cottagecore aesthetic really well.” Cottagecore is a nostalgic nature-focused movement popular on social media, conjuring up images of straw boater-wearing women racing through sunflower fields. It’s since gone mainstream, with Taylor Swift adopting the aesthetic for her latest album folklore.
Model Tess Holliday, who wore the dress to the 2020 Grammys, tells Evening Standard Insider: “I can totally see someone wearing it and having a beautiful little picnic in their backyard...Even if we aren’t going anywhere, we still deserve to feel good at home.”
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Though the dress debuted last summer and Holliday wore the dress in January, it divided red carpet critics at the time (though Holliday says Rick Ross stopped to tell her “how beautiful I looked”).
Holliday has since called out the double standard in the way the dress is now being received following its late explosion of popularity.
She tweeted, “I like how this dress had me on worst dressed lists when I wore it in January but now bc a bunch of skinny ppl wore it on TikTok everyone cares.”
However, Holliday continues that a part of the brand’s success is “absolutely” down to its inclusive dress sizing.
The strawberry dress goes up to XXL and can be customised to specific measurements. “I truly believe that if more designers aren’t inclusive with their sizing and diverse with who they are marketing to they will be left behind. I understand that not everyone wants to cater to plus sizes, but it’s 2020.”
The strawberry dress has also surprisingly become enmeshed with internet fandom culture - with Animal Crossing fans painstakingly recreating it in-game as fan artists have drawn everyone from Kpop boyband members to Brie Larson in the gown.
The dress also inadvertently sparked its own fanbase, with artists imagining different colourways, TikTokers reviewing knock-offs and others like Hambly doing popular DIYs.
Others have also since found creative ways to channel the spirit of the dress, with some even turning to strawberry dress-inspired nail art.
A big part of the fashion brand's success also comes from social media marketing, as it enthusiastically shares fan art to its Instagram stories and grid as well as memes and images of those wearing it.
Most notably, when fans began creating and clamouring for a black version of the strawberry dress, the brand delivered with one on Instagram ideal for the autumn/winter season.
Fans even crowdfunded the cost of the dress so that cosplayer Mailleur Maker could purchase it, with the cosplayer delivering on cottagecore-perfect Instagram photoshoots. A video of her ecstatically unboxing the dress has over 5 million views on TikTok as many celebrated in the comments: each living vicariously through her as their shared dream became a reality.