This is how the strawberry dress became TikTok's hottest summer item, inspiring knock-offs and controversy along the way
- Lirika Matoshi's "strawberry dress" has become the most inescapable fashion item of the summer.
- The dress has become popular on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram, and is strongly associated with the online cottagecore aesthetic, which idealizes pastoral life.
- After sustained popularity online, the dress itself has become a meme, with people drawing their favorite characters or celebrities in Matoshi's design.
The "strawberry dress" is, without a doubt, this summer's hottest TikTok fashion item. Covered in glittering strawberries and made from floating fabric that will fill any bitter heart with whimsy, designer Lirika Matoshi's viral midi dress is all over the internet.
Fresh out of an idyllic garden fantasy, the dress offers an escape from the claustrophobic repetition of quarantine. Even for those who aren't attempting to buy it for themeselves, the dress is a recognizable signal that many are using as creative inspiration.
The strawberry dress had a life before it went viral
As Vogue reported, Matoshi first posted about the dress on Instagram in July 2019.
Model Tess Holliday wore it in January to the Grammys, but received some criticism for the choice at the time. In August, after the dress had gone viral, she suggested that she was only criticized for wearing the dress before it was famous because of her size.
There's been a massive spike in interest in the dress in recent months
The New York Post reported that demand for the dress, which costs $490 and is available in sizes XS - XXXL, has increased by 738% within the first 10 days of August as compared to July.
A Google Trends search for the term "strawberry dress" also shows a sharp increase in searches for the term that, to date, peaked on August 9. Matoshi told the New York Post that she's been working "24/7" to keep up with demand and that the dress itself takes three people and two days to make.
On TikTok, the #strawberrydress hashtag has over 7.3 million views and is filled with people gleefully wearing, drawing, and fawning over the garment. The #lirikamatoshi hashtag has 4.7 views million views. In one video (below) with over 1 million likes, TikToker @mailleur_maker waits at the door for the dress package, calling out, "Where are you, my little strawberry dream?" In another, TikToker and musician @mxmtoon kicks up her heel as Harry Styles croons the lyric "strawberries on a summer evening."
Imitation strawberry dresses have popped up online
Given the dress' viral nature, knock-offs of the dress have flooded the internet.
Matoshi, the designer, told The New York Post that she's been trying to curtail the spread of fake strawberry dresses through working with copyright lawyers. While they're not difficult to find, people have posted on social media about their less-than-stellar experiences with the dupe dresses, some of which are being sold from retailers like Amazon for less than a tenth of what the original dress costs, with one listing appearing to use the same photos that are on Matoshi's website.
The strawberry dress plays into recent online trends
The strawberry dress has found unusual fanfare in distinctly online spaces for a viral item of clothing. That could be due to the fact that it plays into existing online trends. The cottagecore online aesthetic, which is built on a soft, idealized pastoral lifestyle, has seen a boom within the last year. Mitski's "Strawberry Blonde" has been having a moment on TikTok as well.
As a result, the strawberry dress has become an icon that regularly shows up in fanart just as much as it does as the newest addition to people's closets.
Ultimately, the strawberry dress has become a meme in and of itself, just as likely to show up as someone's favorite new purchase as it is drawn onto anime characters or edited onto celebrities like BTS' Jimin or Harry Styles. It's a symbol of greener pastures, and as Vogue's Sarah Spellings wrote, popular because it's not practical: with events postponed and fancy parties tabled, the dress doesn't have to serve any particular purpose. It's enough that it makes people happy.
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