Angelica Hicks Can Turn Literally Anything in Your House Into High Fashion

As an artist with a niche talent for recreating runway and red carpet looks, Angelica Hicks knew she could DIY Zendaya's Louis Vuitton outfit from Paris Fashion Week. So, the Brooklyn-based Brit borrowed her boyfriend's tuxedo jacket, scrunched a set of bedsheets into a bubble skirt identical to Z's, and ripped the white 'We Heart Our Customers' cover off her dry cleaning to strategically use it as lapels. A red Coca-Cola label became a brooch, and a black plastic bag from last night's Chinese takeout turned into a designer handbag. The pièce de résistance, in Hicks's opinion, was the crocodile Haribo gummy flipped marshmallow side up—a perfect interpretation of the white button on Zendaya's blazer.

"I found the Haribo crocodiles at the deli check-out when I was buying the Coke [to use as the Louis Vuitton brooch]," the social media superstar says over the phone. "I had this light bulb moment and just knew the candies were the perfect final touch. That ah-ha moment doesn't come every time, but when it does, it's extremely satisfying, and it's [usually] when I [start to] think, 'Oh shit—this look might pop off."

And she’s often right. Hicks has had more than a few creations go viral, drawing 740,000 Instagram followers and over 616,000 TikTok fans eager to see her transform trash into surrealist high-fashion replicas. "You are truly one of the most imaginative creative beings on the internet," one Instagram commenter wrote on her Zendaya-Louis Vuitton video.

She's also caught the national media's attention. You may have seen Hicks on Good Morning America earlier this year when she remade Ariana Grande's 2024 Oscars dress with baby pink tees and balled-up newspapers shoved inside a down comforter. Or her take on Taylor Swift's 2024 Grammys outfit using bed linens, cardstock, duct tape, tinsel, and a Ricola lozenge. The latter did the rounds on TikTok and currently counts over forty-four million views and three-point-seven million likes.

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♬ original sound - ANGELICA HICKS

Some of her sharp eye for detail is likely traced back to her studies as an art history student at the University College London and early career as an illustrator crafting fashion drawings laced with witty wordplay—think an amphibian dubbed "Jil Salamander" or loaves of bread cleverly labeled as Gucci loafers. In 2021, she started recreating high-fashion looks with household materials and posting them as quick-cut, under-60-second videos on social media. Her goal? Pure cheeky fun. “I see [the recreation videos] as an extension of my illustrations and a hysterical way to engage with fashion,” she explains. For the absurdist artist, fashion’s charm lies in its inherent silliness.

“Fashion is about imagination—it’s childlike,” Hicks says. “As kids, we turn a cardboard box into a fort. My work abstracts objects in the same playful way. It's magical when you can find that childlike, make-believe imagination as an adult.”

In this installment of Have You Met, Hicks takes Marie Claire inside her creative process and the whimsical approach that’s made her an internet sensation and a designer in her own right—proving that sometimes fashion can make the most impact when it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Marie Claire: When did you make the connection between comedy and high-fashion recreations?

Angelica Hicks: When I look at a red carpet or runway, to me, the funniness has always been, 'Oh, this looks like that, but it's not.' So, about four years ago, I just started making videos to explore that idea.

I enjoy the trompe l'oeil nature of a Ferrero Rocher wrapper that approximates what a Schiappareli button looks like. There's also the ridiculousness and comedy in the abstraction of an everyday object, like using an AC vent to do a Louis Vuitton sleeve. That's fun.

When I was younger, kids wanted to either be funny or cool and, to me, being funny was always the best and biggest compliment. So, when I receive comments, like, ‘Oh my God, I really needed to laugh today,’ it makes me so happy. That's the highest praise I can get and when I hear that today, I am like, ‘Yes!’ I mean, making people laugh—is there anything better?

MC: When did your fascination with fashion begin?

AH: My mom was a fashion designer, and her strong sense of style shaped me early on. She taught me that expensive doesn’t always mean better and instilled an appreciation for finding treasures in vintage shops. Some of my earliest memories are of shopping with her and watching her get dressed, which gave me a deep respect for the art of putting together an outfit.

MC: Your video editing is such a key part of your content. How did you discover that format?

AH: I remember doing a still image comparison of a Gucci runway look with a Dr. Jart face mask early on in my videos. This was around when videos were getting big [on social media], and I realized using them would be cool to help [drive home] the joke even more. Not everyone knows what a Dr. Jart face mask is, so if I'm unpackaging it, putting it on, and doing it deadpan, it's an extension of the joke—almost like a mime.

MC: How does an idea take shape?

AH: I begin mapping out a look by walking around my apartment to see what’s available. But sometimes I’ll get an idea of, ‘Okay, well, I really want to use cabbage here.’ So, I’ll have to go out and buy cabbage.

People respond to watching someone eat, so using edible materials is great because I also get a little treat. When I don’t have an edible element, I get comments like, ‘Oh my God, no snack this time!’ So, sometimes I’ll do [videos] where I eat a bit of chocolate even though it’s completely unnecessary for the look, and people seem happier.

MC: What’s your mindset when you step in front of the camera?

AH: I put on my outfits and slip into this confident character. I do my little two-step and wink at the end of the videos. I'm moving confidently, even though my ass is hanging out on the back because the front is all I care about recreating.

MC: What are you wearing when you’re not making clothes from scraps and bedsheets?

AH: I think I'm good at putting prints together, and I wear a lot of them.

I also really like Alix of Bohemia’s designs. They have a very limited run of stuff, and the price point reflects that they are not mass-produced. I really like what the founder, Alix Verley-Pietrafesa, is doing; she’s not following trends.

MC: How has your relationship with designer brands and labels evolved?

When I was younger, I was obsessed with designer things. I would go to secondhand shops and buy items based not on whether they were nice but on their labels. I remember a Marc Jacobs dress in particular. It was okay, but I bought it because it was Marc Jacobs. I was so obsessed with these designer brands—or, more importantly, the idea of them.

I wanted to push back against that entire way of thinking because now, a lot of online fashion content is the same idea—promoting a bag with a label without any real personality behind the content. Now I'm like, "That bag is cool! I’ll make it."

MC: What’s the state of your closet?

AH: I appreciate the Marie Kondo way of doing things. I know it’s really helpful for some people, but I'm sort of the opposite of that. I would never be able to do [a Marie Kondo closet clean out] because I sort of hoard things. My closet is filled with clothes I've owned for years. I have some of my mom's and grandma's old clothes. But everything I have I wear. Even if it's been three years, it'll be recycled back into [my rotation], and I'll eventually start wearing it again.

MC: What’s a recent purchase you’re excited to wear?

AH: I recently got a pair of high-waisted black suit pants that are very long—like on-the-floor long. I've been looking for long pants for a while because I'm a bit tall at five 10 and a half, and I’m tired of suit pants that are ankle swingers.

MC: When you’re not DIYing high-fashion looks, how do you fill your time?

AH: I like The Real Real a lot. Recently, I’ve been making RealReal baskets and then emptying them just for fun

I just read Switch Bitch by Road Dahl, which is a big collection of short stories, and I enjoyed that, and I just finished The Great British Bake Off and was actually shocked at the finale. I also loved Wicked. I saw it twice.

In our Have You Met series, we get to know stylish creatives, changemakers, and founders.