Dollar Store Couture is Giving Trash Good PR
Words: Grace Ellington | Brand: Anja Cecilia | Styling: Ryle Ferguson | Hair: Joel Whitley | Makeup: Robin Stright | Nails: Jocy Rodriguez | Top Photos: Kelli McGuire | Middle Photos: Reveka Pasternakh | Bottom Photos: Gracie Gianoukos
Anja Cecilia is the New York based designer creating wild, weird and wonderful looks with items from the dollar store. Strange plastic trinkets, a 99c shower curtain, sheets of off brand anime stickers, any item that sparks Cecilia’s imagination can find its way into one of her looks, the more surreal the better.
“Some people call these materials trash. I call it couture with bad PR,” says Cecilia, “We’re taught that value lives in the logo or the resale price,” she says. “But at the dollar store, the logic flips. The most precious items aren’t the trendiest or most expensive. They’re the weird leftovers. The random things that somehow make your heart flutter.”
Cecilia transforms her quirky raw materials into looks worthy of the runway by applying couture techniques such as hand stitching and layers of embellishment. This painstaking process imbues her garments with the value of time and labour creating a item that is precious for the creativity and care taken in its construction, despite its humble origins.
We sat down with Anja Cecilia after her debut NYFW show staged, fittingly, in a Brooklyn dollar store, and got to ask a few questions about the show and her process.
How did start making clothes?
I never went to school for fashion. I learned by experimenting, cutting things up, and teaching myself what I needed along the way. I’ve worked in vintage shops for years, which gave me an eye for clothing that feels alive and a little offbeat. Eventually I started making my own pieces because I wanted things that didn’t exist yet. It started small, just me hand sewing one-offs in my room, and grew into something bigger once I realized people connected with the playfulness and weirdness of it all.
Where do you start when making a look?
Usually the object comes first. I’ll find a material or item that sparks something for me, and then I think about its concept, what role it plays, or how people interact with it. That’s what ends up guiding the design. The piece kind of grows out of the object instead of me trying to force something onto it.
We are obsessed with the details of your show! Who did you work with behind the scenes
My good friend LJ Jaeger took the lead with casting, and then my stylist Ryle Ferguson and I filled it in. Instagram was huge for it, and we also called on friends we’ve worked with before. Never underestimate the power of a Create Mode story post…
Hair was led by my friend Joey Whitley. I gave them some loose concepts like “asymmetry” or “cartoon,” but they really took the lead in inventing the looks. I also handed them a giant bag of dollar store hair accessories to go wild with. They’re the best.
Makeup was led by Robin Stright, who is just the sweetest. I actually reached out to her the evening of Fourth of July and she got back to me right away, which felt so meant to be. I love her eye and the way she understands what makes a look. Because of her we ended up going with fun lipstick colors instead of eye makeup, and I’m obsessed with how it turned out. It felt super cute and a little different.
Nails were by Jocy Rodriguez. I came to her with a few ideas like punched hang tag nails and a coke nail made out of a key, but she took them to another level. One set had all different lengths cut at a diagonal to play up asymmetry. I’m obsessed with her brain.
What’s your favourite look from your collection?
I have a very soft spot for the cutesy bag dress because it captures my favorite things about the dollar store. The cartoon shopping bags, the weird hair clips and hair extensions, the printed tape. It felt really personal.
I also love the second look with the half skirt, half pant. It feels funky yet sleek. I want to make more of those bottoms, maybe out of denim.
You talk about how your work values time over cost, which look took the longest to make and can you describe some of the techniques you used?
Honestly the bag dress took the longest because I had to hand sew literally everything onto it. A lot of the bags weren’t made to be durable, so I interfaced most of them before I could even start constructing the dress. It was such a fun piece to put together though, because I love playing with arrangement and balance.
There were also a few looks that started with a printed fabric and then were overlaid with the “real” version of that print. Things like metal studs, sequins, or measuring tapes. Those definitely took a while too, since I wanted the real and fake to blend together seamlessly.
Who would be your dream person to dress?
Gaga!!! She’s the dream. I feel like she would really appreciate the humor and playfulness in my work. I’d also love to dress Björk, Charli, Addison Rae, Violet Chachki, Julia Fox… They all have this energy and fearlessness with fashion that I really admire
