Those who know Brigette Pheloung online as Acquired Style know that nothing is ever “casual” when it comes to her fashion choices, especially during the holidays.
This past Thanksgiving, the content creator’s 1.4 million TikTok followers watched her turn her family’s low-key get-together into a fashion show with an $8,800 Parker Zinn cable-knit gown that she went viral for online.
But after successfully pulling off the over-the-top look, Brigette, who created a style tradition of dressing extravagantly for her relatives’ holiday parties in 2021, wasted no time thinking about what she was going to wear on Christmas Eve.
“I loved the idea of repeating [an outfit worn by] a Holiday Barbie. After looking at all the iconic ones, I thought the 2007 one was perfect,” the 27-year-old tells PEOPLE.
Right after Thanksgiving, she reached out to Kate March, the founder of Undone by Kate, an N.Y.C.-based label that’s made clothing items for Selena Gomez, Kelsea Ballerini and Julia Fox, about creating a life-size version of the festive doll outfit.
In less than three weeks, the pair squeezed in three fittings with time to spare for the brand to actually create the finished product (a feat in itself considering it usually takes them up to six months to pull a design together, says Brigette).
The finished product was an exact replica of the early 2000s Mrs. Claus-like doll ensemble.
Made with Italian duchesse ruby satin trimmed with faux fur and custom black Chantilly lace adorned with bow motifs for an “extra special touch,” it was exactly what Brigette had hoped for. She even accessorized the gown with a furry white headband and opera gloves to really be on theme.
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As impressive as it was to look at, the dress, Brigette says, had some physical restraints because it weighed about “6-10 pounds due to the amount of crinoline, boning and necessary materials to give it the Barbie amount of volume!” Plus, the length made it hard to walk in after she’d retired her heels.
However, the bespoke item wasn’t “too hard to hang out and chill in.” Besides, she didn’t wear it the whole night (an outfit change is routine for Brigette on the holidays because most times she has to take careful measures to ensure her looks, many of them gifted or borrowed, stay clean). “I kept it on for the first two and a half hours of Christmas Eve and changed right before we ate,” she says.
The entire look cost $6,000 to create, the price tag including the fittings, sketches, fabrics and unlimited alterations, plus the prototype dress used for fittings and the actual one worn on Christmas Eve.
Brigette, who along with her twin sister, Danielle, worked with March on their recent Sabrina Carpenter Halloween costumes, says a bespoke Undone by Kate piece usually costs around $3,000-$10,000 to make. Other pieces that are non-custom can be purchased for a few hundred — or couple thousand — dollars on the company’s website.
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The big reveal didn’t disappoint either, and her followers and her “Gap-jeans” clad family were both impressed.
A TikTok video garnering over 5 million views captures the reactions Brigette’s relatives had upon seeing the dress. It also showed them taking photos with her — and her very own 2007 Holiday Barbie.
“My one uncle said ‘I’m not sure my jeans are fancy enough to be in the same room as you right now.’ We were all laughing.”
If you’re wondering if Brigette’s already looking forward to next year’s Thanksgiving, the answer is yes. There might be just a little over 300 days to go, but she’s already updating her moodboard as the days go by. “A lot of my followers are sending me inspiration pics, so I’m keeping everything in a photo album on my phone.”
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