Exclusive: The Delia*s Catalog Is Back
Here's easy way to get a hundred DMs in five minutes: post a photo of a Delia*s catalog in your Instagram story. Last week, designer Shaudi Lynn shared a single image from 1995, unleashing a flood of OMGs and LOLs. “It doesn’t matter what generation you are,” says Lynn. “You can be 18, 25, 35, 45… every woman knows about Delia*s, whether she owned it, bought it for her little sister, stole it from her older sister, or just saw it on a Tumblr about ‘90s style.” With that kind of brand recognition, reviving the Delia*s label for Lynn's own e-comm empire Dolls Kill was a no-brainer—albeit one that required a hands-off strategy about design.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Are you making new stuff?’” Lynn says from her San Francisco HQ. “They think, maybe based on the way we style a lot of things on Dolls Kill, that we’re going to try and make it really edgy. But I had the Delia*s catalogs as a kid; I still have a few of them; I get photos from magazines and from [Delia*s parent company] Alloy. We made a few [new] pieces, but a lot of the key things are because people in the office said , “Hey, I had this. I’ve been trying to find it online and it’s impossible. We need to remake it!” So we did.
Left: Delia*s 1995. Right: Delia*s 2018
The throwback hits include a vinyl rainbow miniskirt, striped skater knitwear, and (of course) tiny butterfly clips the color of Skittles. There’s also a butterfly-print denim jacket and matching slim-cut jeans that look straight off Versace’s runway—but priced under $100. “They were an actual pair of Delia*s jeans that one of our buyers found online,” Lynn says. “There are always people who will be like, ‘You copied this!’ but fashion is a circle. Someone always did it before you. Someone will always do it after you.” And someone—namely, the 18-year-old model hanging out at Delia*s HQ—will always think the ‘90s is cool, even if they weren’t born until 2000.
But when Kendall Jenner and Devon Windsor are showing up dressed as ‘90s babes for Halloween, can the rest of us wear Delia*s without looking like we’re in costume?
“We run into that question with [the main] Dolls Kill [line] all the time,” answers Lynn. “If you look at our imagery, you think, ‘Oh, that’s like fashion goth.’ But we actually look at the runways. We care about how people are wearing fashion at many different levels. And what we’re bringing to all our lines, including the Delia*s line, is that you can take any one piece and wear it how you want, with whatever you want, so it fits in your own life.” Which means the Delia*s black-and-white teddy coat could top an #OldCéline black bubble dress, or the mod flower print dress gets layered under a black Aritzia puffer, without any issues—or any serious cash investment, as all pieces are $88 or under.
The same can’t be said for the original catalog images. “We thought about wallpapering our LA storefront with pages from the old Delia*s catalogs,” Lynn says. “But they’re so hard to get on eBay. Each one costs hundreds of dollars.”
Delia*s by Dolls Kill launches today online or at pop-up stores in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
