style

Handsomegirly Takes New York Fashion Week by Storm

Shot by Claire Zhu for ONE37pm

Published Sep 15, 2023

NYFW this year was plagued by some of the sweatiest and most putrid weather in recent memory. Coming off of a week that finally gave us a peek into the much needed respite of fall, I'm sure Grace Liggins aka Handsomegirly wasn't thrilled to keep hearing us reference the bliss of the previous week. Nonetheless, she and I had an opportunity to catch up sheltered from the trickling rain under a shallow awning on Lafayette St. in Soho to hear about the trajectory of her brand, and the excitement of getting flown out to New York to celebrate a very special collaboration. For NYFW, Grace and Handsomegirly partnered with STARRY—the new lemon lime flavored soda—for the brand’s first entry into the world of fashion with the creation of the STARRY EarMuffs.

Grace, who has been producing an array of hats, earmuffs, necklaces and more under the Handsomegirly moniker for the past few years, has found much of her inspiration from nostalgia and many of the things she cherished as a child. The Handsomegirly x STARRY EarMuffs were a perfect fit for her design pracice, bringing the flavor (and color) to Grace' TikTok-famous StarMuffs featuring the STARRY dynamic duo, Lem & Lime. Below, embark on Grace's NYFW journey with her through a series of pictures capturing the week.

ONE37pm: How did you get into design?

Handsomegirly: I started designing clothes right when the pandemic started. I got a sewing machine with the stimulus check that we got, and I used all of that money to buy a sewing machine and a shit ton of fabric. And I just started sewing every day from there on. Just using YouTube tutorials. Literally just anything I could find to learn from.

Handsomegirly and I conducting our interview on the streets of Soho / Claire Zhu

The first things I was making were mostly shirts, and I really tried to learn how to make pants. Then I went on into making hats, which was another thing I really loved to make.

ONE37pm: Have you always been into fashion?

Handsomegirly: I've always been into clothes. I started making my own clothes for my Bratz dolls, and I use that to get inspiration for a lot of my new designs now. It's like, ‘What was I making when I was a kid?’ I loved making like shirts for my dolls, or hats for my dolls. So it's stuff like that—I just make it into real life now.

A trip to the Hudson Yards office to pick up her Starry earmuffs

- Handsomegirly

ONE37pm: What's your favorite thing about running your brand?

Handsomegirly: My favorite thing really is, a lot of people have told me that my earmuffs and hats have helped with their autism, and really helped them want to be out in public, because my earmuffs are noise canceling. A lot of my hats are very comforting, and make them feel very safe, which is something I took to heart, knowing I have a product that can help people.

ONE37pm: What do you look to for inspiration in your design?

I just go back to my childhood, really. So like Happy Bunny, Bratz, a lot of childhood things. I had a lot of earmuffs growing up. I had a lot of hats growing up. So it's like, I take those things into, what would I want as an adult now? And how can I make that as an adult? And how can I make it work for other people?