An artist is recreating designer looks using household items like toilet paper, shaving foam, and COVID-19 masks

Hicks, 29, is a New York City-based British artist who's built up over 85,000 followers on her @angelicahicks Instagram account. She posts illustrations inspired by fashion and culture, and more recently, budget recreations of high fashion designs including Teresa Giudice's wedding dress using toilet paper and Naomi Campbell's 2022 Balenciaga show gown using trash bags.

According to her website, Hicks' artwork has led to collaborations with The Metropolitan Museum of Art ahead of the 2019 Met Gala, as well as Gucci and Yoox Net-a-Porter Group.

Speaking about her popular format of recreating designer looks, Hicks told Insider: "It's like playing dress-up for a grown-up."

Hicks said she completed her degree at University College London and felt peer pressure to take a more traditional route into art.

"People were asking, 'Which art gallery are you going to go and work for?" And I was like, 'I really don't want to do that,'" Hicks told Insider. She added that she found more flexibility as a freelance illustrator when she moved to New York City after graduation, and fashion became a natural source of inspiration for her work.

Hicks previously had a "who wore it best?" Instagram series where she posted side-by-side images of her take on a runway or celebrity look. In the summer of 2021, she developed it into a video series showing the design process.

Often using COVID-19 masks as bras, aluminum foil as jewelry, and trash bags in place of black latex, Hicks has become an expert in turning everyday household items into ensembles fresh off the red carpet, like Utkarsh Ambudkar's Tony Awards after-party look.

"I really try to not buy stuff because that's part of the comedy for me," she said of her materials. She added that she didn't want to incur "waste on a grand level" and will only purchase small items such as mounting tape and leave the rest to creativity.

Hicks told Insider that she's always used Instagram as a portfolio, but said that she noticed the engagement on her photos and illustrations dropped in recent months.

"I did one video and I could tell that people were actually seeing it," she said.

Hicks said it allowed her to switch up her working style and come up with new ideas outside of her illustration posts, such as her June 23 recreation of a Y/Project spring 2023 runway look using trash bags and aluminum foil.

One of Hicks' popular looks was Julia Fox's Oscars 2022 after-party look, where she wore a floor-length leather dress with a statement neckline that looked like a hand gripping her neck.

In Hicks' video, which was posted on March 31 and has over 86,000 views at the time of writing, she takes off a fake mustache and uses it to recreate Fox's graphic eyeliner, and has a glove taped to her gown to mimic the hand.

Hicks also spray-painted suction shower hooks and used parchment paper to recreate Doja Cat's Schiaparelli Haute couture gown for the 2022 Billboard Music Awards. The video, posted on May 16, received over 5,100 likes at the time of writing.

Hicks recalled her struggles with whipped cream in a bid to recreate a white Dolce & Gabbana 2022 Alta Moda bridal look, consisting of a white tulle gown with a dramatic textured headdress and opera gloves, as seen in Vogue.

Hicks said she learned the hard way that whipped cream melts on the skin despite what she'd seen in movies. "I was doing it in my mom's place and in her office room. It went everywhere. It was so sticky," she said. Instead of giving up, Hicks used her Barbie doll and realized shaving foam would work better.

The look was posted to Hicks' Instagram page on July 13, and shows her using balloons as gloves on her doll to complete the look.

At the end of each video, Hicks faces the camera and raises her eyebrows at the viewer, as if, in her own words, to say: "Pretty good rip-off, right?" Hicks said fashion can often feel out of reach for those who can't afford luxury price tags but hopes to remind people "you can't buy style."

In March, Hicks recreated Lady Gaga's 2022 Critics Choice Awards gown, a yellow satin and black lace design with an exposed bra. The Instagram video was played over 174,000 times.

Hicks said she used COVID-19 masks to form the bra and managed to find lace and a similar yellow skirt in her wardrobe to recreate the look. The resemblance is so uncanny that it's easy to forget Hicks used the masks, which she said addresses the "artifice of social media."

Hicks said her videos come from a place of admiration rather than mocking. She said they're "definitely testaments to the original creations, just kind of on a budget."

She added that the fashion industry has taken well to her videos and seems to laugh with her, but some Instagram comments from the general public accuse her of "trolling."

Hicks said her March 28 video where she uses Ferrero Rocher packaging to recreate Maggie Gyllenhaal's Oscars 2022 gown, which received over 1.2 million views at the time of writing, is proof that the industry can laugh at itself.

Hicks added that the actress reposted the video to her Instagram story, which was her biggest "wow" moment.

Despite her appreciation for all things red carpet and runway, Hicks is not without her criticisms of the fashion industry. She said it's been heartening to see how much progress has been made with size inclusivity since she was young, but unrealistic beauty standards are not a thing of the past just because runways and models are more diverse.

"That damaging culture is alive and fucking well on Instagram," she said, adding that it's worsened by the prevalence of face-altering filters.

Hicks said she hopes the industry at large continues to change so young people can take the right messages forward and feel included.