Analyzing The Strawberry Dress Phenomenon 

I can't believe people are complaining about the price of a dress made by a small and individual company, when there are designer brands selling socks or a headband for thousands...

“It’s a dress that Cinderella, a toddler, and an a-list celebrity would all happily wear” Well if that doesn’t describe my entire fashion aesthetic...

I think it's a little strange that people are so outraged by the price. Yes. It is a lot of money, but a designer made it. We arent angry at Chanel or Prada for their prices

"We're too spoiled by fast fashion." Big fat YES

also i read that because of the "cottagecore" trend that's coming up, the strawberry dress is the perfect accompaniment to this aesthetic

I think the rise of Cottagecore, especially on tiktok, is part of why it went viral. It feels all sunny and nature-y so it fits the aesthetic.

I cannot personally afford a $490 dress, but that doesn't mean the dress is not worth $490.

As someone who can sew I find it massively annoying when people show me something like this and don't understand why I can't just whip it up in a day for $10 bucks.

challenge: strawberry dress, but make it victorian

Me, never seeing/paying attention to this particular strawberry dress: Me, clicking on the video anyway because it's Meme Mom: *InTeReStiNg*

I would love to see meme mom put a historical twist on this dress

There’s a difference between “that dress is too expensive” and “I can’t afford that dress”.

Honestly people making a fuss about this when there are ugly sweatpants being sold for thousands of dollars 🤦🏻‍♀️

I have a couple of dresses by this designer, and they’re honestly so worth the price. There are so many layers of fabric and they’re such good quality.

People drastically underestimate the pricing of anything artistic. Clothing, paintings, photography, etc. They often don't know the true price for just the materials and production and then completely neglect the time and effort required, not to mention the knowledge needed and all the time, effort, and maybe money needed to obtain that knowledge. And then artists are forced to either sell something for way less than its value in order to make at least SOME profit or wait it out in the hopes that someone will come along and actually pay a fair price.

My wedding dress was also designed and made by the same designer. I can’t recommend them enough! Gorgeous work, and considering everything was made to my custom measurements within 2 months and shipped a week after - I am so impressed. Worth every penny. These dresses have so much care and detail and quality.

ethically made clothes always cost more because of the amount of attention to everything going on behind-the-scenes (the stuff that you mentioned), which costs a shit ton of money for it to be ethical in the first place. We think we're paying for only a dress, but we're actually paying for the amount of effort and hours of creativity and work going into this. i agree that the strawberry dress isn't a necessity at all, and not everyone can afford the original one. But knockoffs are disrespectful to the artist imo. much love from India, Karolina

I am a small independent designer too and I never understood the scandal of the strawberry dress. Our dresses are around 150- 1300 € depending on complexity. We are a team of two working in Romania. After fabric and labour (paying ourselves) we have income taxes, business taxes, payment processor taxes ( PayPal and Paylike), an accountant and bills to pay. Trust me we are not becoming millionaires. And we can keep our prices small because we live and work in Romania. If we lived in a more expensive country where the taxes were higher and the wages of the accountant and so on were higher... we would have to double our prices. Since we started our business the only items we buy fast fashion are underwear bottoms 🙊. We are yet to find a local/ independent designer to make them. We just stopped buying fast fashion and make everything ourselves or buy from other designers. This is how the world should be.

And this estimate doesn't even include: - factory rent and utilities - shipping from the factory to their US location (unless they ship directly to customers from the factory, which is honestly rare) (- customs and taxes) - upkeep on the website (domain, server rent, fees for payment solutions, site design, the list goes on) - rent and utilities for their design atelier, and for a brick and mortar store if they have that Those are just the expenses. On top of that, the owners (which in this case admittedly are the designers, so there's some overlap here) need to make a profit, because they have living expenses like all the rest of us, and because they probably want to invest in and grow their business. In addition, it's basically always more expensive to produce in a small scale, because large companies A) have more leverage when negotiating prices with their suppliers and other business partners, and B) can guarantee that they'll bring in far more business at a steadier rate to their partners and suppliers than a smaller business can, and that security gets them better prices.

i hate when people say “this -insert art here- is so simple, i could have made this” well but u didn’t!!!!

I don't own the strawberry dress, but I did commission a seamstress friend to make me a dress inspired by it but themed to Sorcerer Mickey (for a disneybound). Even that dress, made with much cheaper materials, sewed by a friend at a discount, and without the extra costs of marketing/design cost me about $300 in total. So the $490 cost is completely understandable and it could be sold at a much higher price

*My mom:* everything's made in China, made in China, ugh! It should be made in USA! *Also my mom:* I'm not paying more than $8 for a shirt! *Me:* I don't think you understand how this works, mom.

I think it's kinda good to think about that yes it's a lot of money but no it's not expensive. That might sound a bit weird but what I mean with that is that for the design and quality it's a fair price, so it's worth it. That doesn't mean that everyone can buy it ofcourse, but honestly noone really needs it. If something is really beautiful and well made, it might be worth it for you to save up for if you have that possibility

TL;DR: The dress isn't overpriced we're just used to child slave prices

one of my facebook friends bought a knockoff of the dress and was LEGIT crying because she wanted the real thing and we're all just like "you paid $17, of course its terrible."

Me: It's pretty...but this shade of pink wouldn't look good on me... Also me: OHHH IT COMES IN BLACK!!!!!

I think theres an unrecognized reason for it going viral: cottagecore lesbians Edit: I expected this to go unnoticed but I'm glad the replies are full of sapphics

I remember when I got into sewing clothes I thought I would save so much money sewing my own dresses and costumes and capes and whatnot. Then I realized how expensive fabric is. And how hard it is to sew good looking stuff. 😆

"That's why [fast fashion] clothes are cheap -- they're produced for free basically." Say it louder for the folks in the back!

The laces are actually tentacles the dress uses to reach every angle of the internet available.

When she said there was controversy about the price of the dress I was expecting her to say something like $4,000. Now I don't pay $500 for dresses myself...ever, but I know that trendy fashion is expensive, so when she gave the price I was surprised. That's in the low/mid range for an average prom or wedding dress. Why are people so upset? That dress is potentially attainable if you're determined, patient and frugal.

I think the root of the problem when people think ethical, high-quality clothing is too expensive isn't that the clothes are actually costing too much, it's that we live in a world where the average person is super under-paid. Granted I live in the US and I know it's not always like this in other countries, and lots of places have it even worse, but in a better world a person would probably have the means to save up the money for a dress like that in a couple of months, but sadly most of us live paycheck to paycheck and just can't afford stuff like that. The dress's price isn't the problem, society undervaluing and underpaying workers is the problem.

But like, people are buying prom dresses for 3x the price to wear it ONCE.

The internet: *THE STRAWBERRY DRESS* Me: * stares at the $20 hoodie I really want but can't afford *

12:50 "please confess to the meme mother if you sinfully bought a knock-off" is what I heard

It's important to mention that the designer and her sis (the sister also has a fashion brand, a bit more high end) are both creating jobs for women in Kosovo, which is crucial to pick up the economy after the war. Such a nice move from their side, giving back to the community. Only makes me want to support them more!

"WE HAVE STRAWBERRY DRESS AT HOME!" I died.

It looks like it has the scent of a strawberry shortcake doll.

It looks like something a Barbie doll from the 90s would be dressed in.

Strawberry Dress: * fabulously exists * Some people: ughhhh that’s soooo expensive Supreme Shirt (literally just a white shirt with the word supreme) Some people: I’ll happily pay the price for this!

This is why society systematically attacks poor people even without meaning to most of the time. If you're poor but want something nice you can't save up for the truly valuable version, instead you either have to go with the knock off, go without, or buy into fast fashion like you said, where people are paid literal pennies per hour. It's one of the reasons why I'm beginning to make my own clothes but like you said, good fabric really isn't that cheap.

One of the RU-vidrs you showed in the intro made a replica of the dress with the closest fabric she could find the cost of materials alone were a little over $400and it took her I think 3 days to finish it. The designers work shop is New York based employing I think 15 seamstresses. Factoring all the cost of the materials, rent and utilities to keep open a work shop in the middle of NYC and pay the living wage of an America worker for three days work it makes it seem like that dress maybe doesn’t even have a mark up and if it does is less than $50.

Meme mom and Bernadette collabing to make a Victorian version of this dress would be a dream come true.

Lirika Matoshi is an ethical brand. They pay their workers a liveable wage and in safe conditions. It should be worth the money.

“It’s a dress that Cinderella, a toddler, and an a-list celebrity would all happily wear”

I had a very different strawberry printed dress when I was ten. It was made of printed cotton broadcloth, and it had a circle skirt with flutter sleeves. I think it just might be one of the most fun dresses I’ve ever owned. This current, viral strawberry dress gives me major nostalgia vibes because of the one I owned 25 years ago. Maybe other women are feeling nostalgic for a piece of their past?

I'm actually planning on doing a historical version of this dress, with embroidery instead and I can confirm that the fabric prices are indeed that much approximately. Then add the time and effort and yeah... $490 isn't that steep all things considered. Context is an incredible thing

when you talked about how low our workers get paid per hour in our country (Bangladesh) my heart just shatterd🥺 I remembered how hard they work and basically get paid nothing. It's worse now that the pandemic is here. They get paid even less for working more

Ooh that's my face at the beginning!!! Thank you for the inclusion and credit :) It is a very interesting fashion phenomenon, great video on the topic! 💕

Everyone at the beginning: "The strawberry dress!" "The strawberry dress!" "The strawberry dress is all over the internet!" Me: "What's the strawberry dress?"

The dress is only $490? Dang, that’s super reasonable. I’m a Canadian clothing designer, and our minimum wage here is $15 per hour, so like even a basic skirt is going to cost you like $90 if we’re paying everyone fairly ($15/hr x 1hr labour, $10 fabric, $5 supplies is $30 for manufacturing costs, then multiply that by three to cover design fees, marketing, patterning, machinery upkeep, insurance, web hosting, office supplies, business licenses, etc., and still make some profit to keep the business growing sustainably.) Now factor in the cost when you make something with more fabric or sewing hours, and suddenly $490 for the Strawberry Dress looks normal.

......wow Micarah really must be working some kind of magic to have made that entire Ariana grande dress for $40 😂

Knowing you're poor: when someone says "urban outfitters" is cheap and you think, "no way".. 🤦‍♀️😭😆

One word, "cottagecore". That's what made it go viral.

6:03 As a Bengali, I gasped hearing the NON-EXISTENT hourly wage in my country and to think that Kylie Jenner, a *billionaire* , would shy away from paying 9-freaking-cents( which is 1 taka) to the factory workers is honestly contemptible.

If you buy some clothing that is cheap is because of these reasons: A) crap quality (cheap materials = your dress wears out easily) B) crap designing (aka your dress will break somewhere somehow bc not enough thought was put into it, not fitting bc bad pattern) C) crap finishing sewing techinques (see above) D) they don't pay enough the sewers (aka exploitation of labor) I am a (graduate) fashion designer. When I go shopping with my friends I'm always the one who says "do you really need that?" When they want to buy a 4.99 euros tshirt. I mean not everyone can afford expensive clothes and *that's fine* but guys, try to spend your money better and think of the people who are behind what you buy. Also overbuying and throwing away clothes more often is bad for the environment. Fashion industries are making their efforts to use less chemical colors (in europe there are LAWS that regulate that, but not in the whole world) On the other hand, FAST FASHION oh! They don't care that much as long as it's cheap to produce and the masses buy a lot of those items Buy less Buy smart What she said is super well explained. Thanks for addressing the issue. As a designer i am always said by the people around me "to be competitive" AND I HATE IT. Who sould i compete with? Bangladesh kids that starve??? I wouldn't lower my prices THAT MUCH bc i need to live too. As she said it's not worth it to buy something done BADLY bc would you wear it? No.

Thank you for doing this breakdown of material and labour costs. I find the outrage over the price of this dress particularly offensive on two levels; I can see how Americans and Australians see "Made in Kosovo" and immediately picture a slum or a shanty town and automatically expect a super low price, and as an Eastern European that's very offensive to me. The other thing is that I hate how people expect to be paid fairly for their labour, but want to pay as little as possible for everything they need. This is what caused fast fashion and the proliferation of websites like Wish, AliExpress, Alibaba etc, and it's not just genuine financial hardship. I live in Australia and I see people living on a very comfortable income who still rather buy the crap sold in Kmart than the much higher-quality goods from local artisans, which are not that much more expensive. A handmade leather satchel might set you back $150, but it will easily last a decade or more and you've kept this money into the local economy, helping a local craftsman stay employed, meanwhile the $25 faux leather purse from a fast fashion brand lasts a season and you've padded the pocket of the CEO of a company that ultimately uses slave labour overseas. This consumer behaviour drives local artists and craftsmen out of business, takes money out of the local economy, raises unemployment, and brings down wages across the board, because if those people are unemployed, they can't afford to buy other local goods in their turn, which makes local market less competitive and less able to offer employment to more people and give them a higher wage. I am myself not swimming in money, I'm lower middle class, but I still buy everything locally; I'd rather buy one garment or accessory piece a season and get quality, than order ten pieces of garbage from Wish for the same price.

I'd love to see or even make a cherry version...

Here is also a explanation for the price: Ok so I’m from Kosovo and I spend about 2 months annually there. Kosovo has a huugggeeee market for dresses. One of the biggest events in a Kosovo-Albanians live is marriage. You get invited to at least 2-3 marriages every year. So you don’t want to look underdressed because everyone has a wonderful dress. And you can’t wear the same dress multiple times too. So people buy dresses a lot. Now you don’t want the same dress as everyone, that’s why you buy one of a kind dress. Every dress is handmade, because most shops are specialized to only make one dress. That’s why dresses, especially this one too, are so expensive. And another factor for the price is that most fabrics are imported from turkey, which adds the transport.

The fact that people had a hundred white, plain, supreme shirt and then have the audacity to complain about this.

WE NEED A VICTORIAN STRAWBERRY DRESSSS!

$400 isn't a lot for a dress? People who think thats unreasonable have never actually made a full sized fluffy dress and it shows Edit: go read searching for knowledge's comments

The 1930's had the most whimsical and elaborate designs of the 20th century. There is something to be said for escapism in times of stress and turmoil.

I LAUGHED SO HARD AT THE “mom can we get a strawberry dress?” “no, we have a strawberry dress at home” part

I honestly think that lots of people are, like you said, so used to “free” fast fashion and have never had to buy a dress for a fancy dance or something because this dress is in the very normal price range for dresses for those occasions. also it makes me cry with anger when i see people just disrespect designers and small brands by saying “ I’ll just steal their design and make it for *blank* amount less 🥺😭😭

2:04 "Why did a picture of egg went viral on Instagram? Probably for the eggxactly same reason"

"Even the strawberries look kinda sad." The truth in this statement Sending lots of positive vibes and well wishes from California xo

"The strawberry dress is all over the internet, tiktok, instagram...." And I am just now hearing about it today. In fact, finding out WTF is a strawberry dress is why I clicked on this title.

I'd just feel like I was an adult playing dress up as Strawberry Shortcake wearing it.

12:18 for those who can’t read that fast the sister’s brand is “teuta matoshi”

ok consider this: what if clothes aren't expensive but YOU are the one who isn't paid enough to buy anything remotely nice and of good quality?? *gasps in capitalism*

Also if you read about this dress, the strawberries are hand drawn.

People frequently underestimate hidden costs in the production of all sorts of things.

When people say the strawberry dress is too expensive, all I hear is "I don't want to pay the designers and manufacturers for their labour". Most people wouldn't even think of it like that, but it's honestly what it's down to. $500 is a reasonable price in my opinion because it's had so much put into its creation. I was nodding when you said "we've been spoilt by fast fashion". Good quality items aren't supposed to be cheap. The people buying knockoffs are disrespectful to Lirika Matoshi and her craftsmanship. I'm experienced enough at sewing to know that quality is an investment, and quantity is not going to last! Anyway, the whole thing has been super interesting to follow for all the garment seamstresses out there, as we rub our hands together in excitement for fashion memes coming into mainstream 🤩

You would nail a historical version and just flex on all those tik tokers.

the way she used urban outfitters as an example of a cheap retailer and that’s expensive for me

what i'm happy about with this strawberry dress boom is that the autor was still credited for their work

There was a time when most people had very small wardrobes. People didn’t have 30 pairs of shoes and closets bursting with cheap clothes. I pay for quality. I have clothes that are classic styles and have worn them for 30 years. You cannot beat quality.

I own socks by Lirika Matoshi, only thing i could afford XD Bought from her back when she was only on etsy, she made really cool stockings, with stones and butterflies and leaves and stuff. I really wanted those stockings, but like i said, only could afford socks XD.

The dress reminds me of a big, fluffy confection. Like a dessert you can wear, it's eye candy. Also as you said, definately a fairy princess vibe to it, which gives it two cravable elements which makes women want to just gobble up this very pretty, fun dress. 🍓🍧🍦🍨🍓

the journo who's saying "it's too expensive" is the same that berates fast fashion for employing cheap Bangladeshi workers.

I read that the dress is made to order, comes in a lot of sizes and the strawberry detailing is handsewn and that alone justifies the price AND a tip for me

I understand the annoyance for people who are upset about the price of the dress but I get being very poor and wanting pretty things. I'm sure some people are just complaining about the price who can completely afford it, but there are people like me who just don't have the money to buy things like this but would still want it. i wish there was a way for people who can't afford things like this to still have things like this

Shopping ethically on a low budget but also wanting to feel like a princess is... Rough.

I will argue that this dress takes pretty long, even for a very skilled seamstress (The Matoshi sisters have a pretty big workshop for an independent brand, that seems like a nice environment to work in) because after cutting the pattern you still have to drape every single bodice and that can take pretty long. The fabric is custom made i believe. Then as you mentioned all the employees involved in direct labor, manufacturing, sales, distribution, marketing, community management, web services (non-manufacturing cost) design, patternmaking and grading, the direct materials and the manufacturing overhead. Its a lot to run an independent direct to customer fashion label. Plus, its Lirika Matoshi, she's been around for a while and its a respected designer who its known for great fit and innovating yet chic designs. Glad you made this video.

Miss Karolina coming through with content while I have a mini breakdown over a group project

We are indeed spoiled by fast fashion. I stopped buying fast fashion about 7 years ago because, surprise, everything falls apart way too easily. I started thrifting like it was an addiction and my wardrobe not only looks better, but everything still looks magnificent and hasn't even begun to show signs of wear (excluding shoes). I have purchased some shoes that needed to be resoled and some outer wear that needed some reinforcement stitches, all ultimately minor yet important repairs.

I think Tess was more ignored than criticized. I researched the web, i saw at least 12 lists of "best and worst dressed" of the 2020 grammy's and she only figured in two. One in the best dressed and the other one in between. In the second they said it was a little too fun for the event, but that it looked cute and was very well accessorized with the red sandals. Personally, I think it's gorgeous and that she looked fantastic

Just knowing that the designer makes a range of sizes, including plus size makes me love it even more.

Thank you for breaking down the cost to put it into perspective. I was really shocked at how many people were surprised/disappointed at the price. I actually thought $490 was really cheap for a dress like that lol

I've been following Lirika Matoshi for years. Her work is absolutely stunning in a candyland/fairy tale kind of way.

I think people are mostly mad because Lirika Matoshi is not a known brand. If this was idk, Chanel, they'd just laugh at people spending that much money, but not turn against the company itself. I've been a fan of this brand on ig form some time and I was really surprised this one went viral. It's not different from their other product, they are all really cute. As you said, pure luck. I hope the designer will get somethign out of this, at least some recognition.

Victorian-style strawberry dress sounds like it would belong in Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Independent/freelance artists run into these issues and complaints all of the time >.< Lots of complaints about how high commission prices are to the point people tell us it’s a privilege to draw and should be offering our services for free 🙃 great video! I don’t know much about the fashion industry but it is interesting to see the parallels with the 2D and 3D art industry.

"Mom can we get the strawberry dress?" "We got a strawberry dress at home!" 🤣🍓🤣🍓🤣🍓🤣🍓🤣🍓🤣🍓🤣🍓🤣

“15th photo in your camera roll is why you’re single” Mine: video of me singing ... Ouch

Can you imagine this dress from the perspective of our grandmothers or great grandmothers (depending on your age)? My grandmother bought, made, or reworked two new dresses, two blouses, and two skirts each year. If you were adding a new dress to your modest wardrobe, this dress seems like an impractical choice. Every third or fourth date, you’d show up in this very memorable frock. You would have this dress in your wardrobe for years. I can’t see my grandmother thinking this was a wise choice, even if she could afford such an expensive garment. I don’t know why my mind went to this place, but it did.

This dress totally flew over my head when it was becoming popular, and now with all the videos... This dress is fricking gorgeous, so are her other designs. Like wow. Just well wow. I study fashion, and what you said, 100%. Even assuming they buy fabric in bulk making it slightly cheaper, it is impossible for it to be cheaper than like, €200, likely more (and it is) when you want decent quality, because there goes lots of work into making clothing. I plan to make myself a matching set for autumn and I wan tto make it from wool. I alreayd know that said matching set will be what I wear most of autumn and winter out of necessity, as I won't have money for other clothes, just because of the fabric 😅 as my own labor is free and the pattern paper and muslin I buy in bulk. (I have enough outfits to survive though)

"I'm not in the fashion industry" *proceeds to explain in detail the process of making the dress and the prices*

I think that the reason this may have gone viral is possibly that since everyone has been extremely bored, left with their own thoughts, they are seeking out happiness in many things, including fashion, self care, makeup, etc. Personally, I was totally unproductive and depressed with the current situation. So I decided to make the best out of it by rearranging my room, adding candles, colorful accent pieces, and actually making my bed in the morning. I have developed a self care routine as well. I think positivity and things that influence positivity are going to be something that most people are going to be seeking out, especially in the horrible climate (political, social, etc.) of the United States.