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...

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

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

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

“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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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*

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

*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 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. 😆

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!

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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."

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.

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

"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.

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.

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.

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

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 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

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

There's also the price of shipping the fabrics around, and shipping the dresses from Kosovo back to the US... 490 is quite reasonable to me too... It's a shame people don't actively think about all these costs, and just assume clothing should be cheap :(

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

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

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

Pixie locks explainned that it was etically made, paying living wages to the seamstress etc. So now I feel that is "cheap".

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

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! 💕

I just went on Lirika's website to look for fashion inspiration for my drawings, and I found a dress there that's named after her sister Teuta. That's so friken adorable.

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.

One of the KZfaqrs 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.

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*

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

I mean I'm not saying the reason this dress is popular is cottagecore lesbians. But....the gays like it a lot.

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

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

Three hours to make this? I think one day is more realistic.

It's always interesting to me when someone's complaint about a price usually starts with "I can't afford it" instead of "you haven't made that item worth what you are selling it for".... like it's okay if you can't afford something, that doesn't mean that it isn't worth its price

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

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.

I see it like this: imagine buying a wedding dress at a wedding boutique vs ordering one on AliExpress. You know what you're paying for - it's the same for this designer dress.

Polyamide tulle with glittered strawberries sounds a little cheap looking in my mind . This silhouette would be gorgeous in a cotton lawn fabric.

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?

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

I appreciate these kinds of discussions because far too many think a handmade item made by an independent individual or brand is too expensive when it is in fact appropriately priced. The way I look at fashion is the items priced in the middle tier is usually appropriately priced. Keep in mind this is a general statement and not applicable to every item. A plain t-shirt will not likely differ too much in terms of complexity because a t-shirt is a t-shirt. The only major differences would be fabric and wages. But for complex garments, or garments made from sustainable sources, then middle tier prices are usually appropriate. Anything made for the luxury market in general is what I consider overpriced. As a general rule, there's a ton of brand markup in those crazy prices that have nothing to do with craftsmanship.

I’ve always been a fan of period fashion, but your editing in your videos completely elevate the experience for me. Thank you

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

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

My mom knows about sewing, and when I showed her the dress she said: well, that must be an expensive dress And also she said a lot of things that you mentioned. A quality dress costs a lot.

The dress actually reminds me most of the early 1980's. Princess Diana's wedding dress meets a four-year-old girl's dream in pink.

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

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

I can imagine those posts in like 15 years with people being like "if you don't remember the strawberry dress you're too young "

We need this dress shape and design to come in more options too because the shape is amazing and so flattering! So glad her dress is getting recognition.

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

WE NEED A VICTORIAN STRAWBERRY DRESSSS!

I have a strawberry dress back home that I love. It's white with a full skirt to just below the knee, has short sleeves, and a matching tie belt. It makes me think of the 50s or early 60s. It has green topped strawberries, red ones and pink ones, all over it. It's comfy and soft, some kind of micro knit polyester blend or something. I got it at a local thrift shop years ago, for I think 8 dollars. I also found later, in another thrift shop, some earrings with painted leather strawberries that match the red berries on the dress perfectly! I love my strawberry dress 💓 and I get compliments on it whenever I wear it!

When she said depression buying...I was like dang that explains my many many recent purchases...

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 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'm absolutely in love with your earrings!!!!! 😍

In recent years my perspective on "cheap/expensive" has changed a lot, mostly due to my change in work. But also because I no longer grow out of clothes or change styles as quickly as I used to. I am able to afford nicer items now and I can really see the difference. The cheap fast fashion items are more expensive than the higher quality ones, if you look at the price per wear and the use you get out of them. People who claim their fast fashion clothes last for years have so many of them, that each item is worn less frequently. Of course, for example 100€ is a lot for some people and a drop in the bucket for others. But the fact that you can't afford something or don't want to spend that much, doesn't mean that an item is overpriced. It might be out of an individual's budget, but in the grand scheme of things it's a normal price. When I hear my parents or older relatives talk "back in the day they would never dare to charge X€ for y", they often fail to see how prices for everything and the value of money have changed over time. And even if stuff had indeed been objectively cheaper in the past, how is that going to change the current situation? Some of the higher pricing is due to inflation, some of it is because of different ways of production. We try to protect the environment and the workers, instead of finding ever faster and cheaper ways of production. Some cheaper resources are limited now or turned out to be harmful and can no longer be used. Smaller businesses are more expensive because they have to cover theirs costs and can't produce in bulk. They often seem additionally expensive because we have become so used to cheap mass-produced goods. Hardly anyone knows the real value of products anymore.

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

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

I kept looking at your hair, you are soooo pretty

Thank you for sharing info about both of the Matoshi sisters. I could stare at their designs all day!

$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

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 love that you pointed out that fashion is art. ngl i forget that all the time. buying from them is the same as supporting any other small artist and I feel like everyone loves to do that.

This is the first I've heard/seen of this dress, but I appreciate the commentary.