For Indie Designers, What's the ROI of Dressing It-Girls?

It’s been a big week for fashion designers Caroline Zimbalist and Elena Velez. On Monday and Tuesday, respectively, they presented their Spring/Summer 2025 collections at New York Fashion Week. On Wednesday night, they had another cause for celebration: Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift’s big wins at the VMAs. Roan, who won Best New Artist, wore a hand-painted floral appliqué Zimbalist dress on set for The Tonight Show back in June—a look that inspired a hand-painted biosilk tunic Zimbalist presented at fashion week. 

With Swift’s big win for “Fortnight,” which was awarded Video of the Year, it was hard not to feel like Velez had practically won, too. The dramatic black ruffled gown from her Fall/Winter 2024 collection worn by Swift in the video is a star in its own right. And Tinashe, whose “Nasty” snagged a nomination for Best Trending Music Video, walked Velez’s runway barely a day before. 

But what does all of that exposure actually do for an independent designer whose name or brand isn’t owned by a luxury conglomerate or subsidized by an army of investors? In the same way stans may cheer their faves for inking an ambassadorship with a big-name fashion house, design enthusiasts like to believe that being linked to an A-Lister or rising star will impact makers they admire. In an interview with Surface, Velez and Zimbalist delve into the issue’s complicated reality. 

Tell me about the before and after of dressing your first it-girl. Who was she and what was the impact on your business? 

EV: My first high profile celebrity moment was with Brooke Candy for Crack Magazine. I was a few weeks out from graduating, and seeing my senior thesis work on a star was a hit of the euphoria I was sure I would feel once I became a star myself—as a jetsetting and world-class fashion designer. Print is fabulous, but it rarely directs any needle-moving amount of traffic to my domains, and I was too fresh to have anything purposeful to do with views anyways. I printed out the pictures and squirreled them away in a binder to show my prospective internships. 

One thing nobody tells you about celebrity dressing is that the talent does not tag. The engagement generated is usually localized to my pre-existing community and perhaps a few additional follows from die-hards who follow celebrity closet repost accounts. The devil works hard, but @carolinesclosetplz works harder.

CZ: My hand-painted, bio appliqué dress was worn by Chappell Roan for a press event on The Tonight Show. Aside from a surge in Instagram followers, one pleasant benefit was a few models for my SS25 show might not have been cast, but seeing the Roan dress, they became fans of my work. [They] might normally have been out of budget. Another plus is that all of my clothing at my PR agency is on loan. Every single piece has been taken by stylists and influencers for shoots and to wear.

This summer has been huge for audacious, sensational women musicians. Did Brat Summer impact your business? 

EV: We run a majority of our units through international wholesalers who are predicting their purchases on much more sinister geopolitical phenomenons than Brat Summer. E-commerce was unremarkable for us this summer.

CZ: Smaller tops and bra silhouettes were on the rise this summer. One of my bioplastic halter bras became a top-selling piece; sexy, unique, yet not too revealing.

So our readers better understand the kinds of numbers we’re talking about here, can you share any of the following estimates?

The approximate value and/or cost of upkeep for samples loaned/gifted to friends, family, and front-row celebs during Fashion Month:

EV: $200–$500.

CZ: My entire available line is out on loan this week. $10,000+ in merchandise. 

What a custom commission, such as the look Chappell wore, might cost you to make both in time, materials, and labor:

CZ: $1,600.

The approximate value and cost of upkeep for dupe samples in a wider range of sizes than runway/editorial standards:

EV: We are unable to accommodate size-ranged duplicates. Occasionally, for the right client, we can pull from our e-commerce but we personally accommodate the average size of the talent who pull our garments into our sample size. 

CZ: $500–$1,000.

In what specific ways does dressing celebrities impact your business financially? 

EV: It takes a lot of corporate architecture to be able to juice a celebrity placement: a social media wiz to proliferate the imagery, web merchandisers to curate and promote a similar online offering, paid ad strategists to know how to tag onto the SEOs, newsletter copywriters to blast the update and the action item to the other 80 percent of your following, and finally, probably a lawyer to get you out of the trouble you’re in for reposting a paparazzi photo you didn’t think to buy the rights to. It’s all a bit too much hullabaloo for me.

CZ: Costs are immediately felt. A handmade, couture dress that gets borrowed for no payment by celebrities will depreciate with a single wear. I’ve had some clothing ruined after being lent out. I know extremely talented designers who have their clothes on luminaries and still have financial difficulties. 

My opinion is that celebrities will bring brand recognition that might one day allow a diffusion line to be possible. The money, with exceptions, seems to come from selling RTW en masse, which is the ubiquitous clothing that a personality doesn’t want. The challenge will be for a designer to stay solvent long enough for their diffusion lines to make it to market.

Short answer: Celebrity dressing actually costs the designer more up front with a potential (not assured) financial gain further down the road.

What are some of the considerations you make around whether a particular dressing opportunity is “worth it”? 

CZ: Is the stylist reliable, reputable? This is key. If I trust the stylist and they have treated my clothes and time with respect, they can have anything they want. I’ll even make a custom piece for such stylists. The second consideration is the exposure of the celebrity. Then I consider if the stylist is willing to cover shipping (and sometimes production) costs. Lastly, I consider the overall vibe of the celebrity. For example, Chappell is close to her mother; I am as well.

Is there a tangible impact—financial or otherwise—to your business when a celebrity is photographed and tagged in one of your looks?

EV: I’m grateful to all the celebrities who see themselves in our creative universe and to all the wonderful industry accolades that have polished the brand’s rough edges, but the only things that can improve these sorts of metrics are R&D, ironclad sales strategies, and a religious commitment to margin compliance. That being said, feel free to tag me in something, Charli XCX—for science!

CZ: There is no empirical way to measure any financial impact a celebrity has. Yes, it always helps the brand strength to have more eyes and recognition. But that certainly doesn’t guarantee any financial return.

Can you imagine visiting a museum and taking a valuable painting home to use for your dinner party and returning it the next day with a little ketchup spilled on the canvas? I think designers have a harder path than most realize. The labor of their love and sweat can be used without pay by people who expect favors. I fully understand the resentment a lot of talented designers have when they struggle to keep their brand alive. 

For myself? It is always worth it. I will paraphrase a [Rainer Maria] Rilke quote: “If I think I can live without designing, perhaps I should not design at all.” This is me. I am not holding this standard to anyone but myself. I will keep my current 9-to-5 job forever if need be. I will always make clothing and art and will always say “yes” to lending a cool celebrity my clothing.