Hey, I Like Your Style! Fashion creator Lilli Van takes us through her “costume closet”
image via @lillivan/INSTAGRAM
as told to daisy henry
From ‘The Clique’ to ‘Angela Anaconda’.
We know personal style is a journey (I’m looking at you, Tumblr years) and our series Hey, I Like Your Style! dives into the fashion psyche of our favourite creatives and It girls. We’re talking the good, the bad and the 2007.
These are the stories behind the wardrobes, exploring how we develop our own personal style. There’s a brilliance behind the way we choose to express ourselves and at FJ, we know every outfit has a story. This week, we’re diving into the playful wardrobe of Melbourne-based fashion creator and social media coordinator, Lilli Van.
For more fashion news, shoots, articles and features, head to our Fashion section.
Ever since she was a teenager, Lilli’s approach to fashion has been all-in, whether that was strutting around her hometown in Canberra in eight-inch Bratz-inspired boots, or asking her parents for a bright pink mannequin (inspired by Massie from The Clique) so she could plan out her outfits.
This love for dressing up has only grown with time. “I love experimenting with colour, patterns and different silhouettes,” Lill says, describing herself as a maximalist. “My inner child is constantly screaming: more is more is more.”
Her wardrobe is a curation of colours, patterns and mismatched chaos – it brings to mind a costume department of a 2000s movie set. Florals sit side-by-side with polka dots; voluminous skirts hang next to her beloved vintage fur jacket.
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Fashion Journal: Hey Lilli! Tell us about yourself and what you like to wear.
Lilli: My wardrobe is like a costume closet. It’s full of colours, patterns and mismatched chaos. It’s packed with pieces that aren’t organised in the slightest but somehow come together. It’s this disorganisation of polka dots next to florals that inspires me to mix and match.
Have you ever felt like you needed to fit into a particular fashion box?
I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve never felt like I needed to fit into any box. I can attribute that to my parents, who always encouraged me to be exactly who I wanted to be. I also went to a school that encouraged creativity and had no uniform, so I’ve always worn what I wanted and felt safe and supported to experiment. I think together, these are both big reasons why I feel like I have such a strong sense of my own personal style and never really cared what other people thought.
That isn’t to say people wouldn’t try to put me in a box – they did, especially as I grew up in Canberra, which didn’t have much of a fashion scene. Because of this, people would constantly judge me or look at me funny with my big vintage fur coat and eight-inch Bratz-inspired boots (which I could barely walk in). Even if my style evolved and changed, I knew I was the one making that decision.
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Take us back to your teenage years. What was influencing your style at the time?
I was absolutely obsessed with The Clique. This movie was adapted from Lisi Harrison’s book series, and the fashion in the film was heavily 2000s-inspired, with cute mini skirts, patterns and chunky heels.
Massie, one of the main characters, had a mannequin torso which she’d use to plan her school outfits for the next day. I vividly remember the first time I watched the movie because I asked for a mannequin torso for Christmas so I could plan my own outfits like Massie, and I ended up getting a bright pink one under the Christmas tree.
I remember the book covers all had different plaid patterns, and I remember laying them all out and admiring the patterns on my bedroom floor.
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How would you describe your style now?
I would say my style is colourful, bold, playful and quirky. I love experimenting with colour, patterns and different silhouettes. I’ve always loved to layer clothes because it feels like playing dress-up. If I can’t decide what to wear out of a few items, I’ll put them all on and see if it works. And to my surprise, it usually does!
Your stop-motion video edits on Instagram are so creative! How do you come up with the idea?
A lot of my visual inspiration comes from children’s media I loved and feel nostalgic about, like Angela Anaconda and Bottle Top Bill. I really love to lean into play. It’s that sense of imagination that helps me experiment with my own styling and edits.
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Where do you sit on the minimalist-to-maximalist spectrum?
I’m definitely a maximalist. I always want bold colours and patterns paired with statement pieces to create dynamic, eye-catching outfits. Even in the video edits I make, I love to have as much colour, layering and visuals as possible. I see it as a form of self-expression, and it allows me to tell a story through different elements. I can appreciate minimalistic styling, however, my inner child is constantly screaming: more is more is more.
What local brands do you love wearing?
Homie is one of my favourite Melbourne brands – I used them in so many of my assignments at university as a leading social enterprise fashion brand. They’ve also come out with heaps of new streetwear styles which I love.
Another label that I love with my whole heart is Variety Hour. My favourite thing is walking down the street and instantly being able to spot when someone is wearing one of their pieces. I absolutely love their patterns and always feel the most like myself when I’m wearing them.
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What’s a fail-safe outfit pairing you know always works?
I feel like you can’t go wrong with a pair of bright, eye-catching tights. They always add so much depth to a look. I also love layering flowy pants underneath skirts. Skirts always just give more texture to an outfit and help break it up.
What are some of the investment pieces in your wardrobe, or items that have stood the test of time?
One time I found this beautiful long coat with faux fur lining the front, cuffs and all around the collar at a market in Canberra and I fell in love instantly. I walked around the whole market worried someone else was going to grab it. But eventually I decided it was worth it, so with the money I had made working at my job as an escape room host, I went halves with my mum. It’s gotten me through many winters, and I love it as much as the day I bought it.
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Where do you find style inspiration?
Mum used to buy me these beautiful, intricate My Fairy pop-up books, and hidden inside these books were interactive paper dollhouses. They had the most beautiful, unique art style by the very talented Louise Comfort. Inside, there were these tiny characters that you could press out and place in the dollhouse. They had these detailed, flowy flower-inspired dresses designed to match the mushroom ballrooms and jungle bedrooms. These books were filled with patterns and bursts of colour. Whenever I open them, I still feel just as inspired as I did all those years ago.
Whose wardrobe would you steal if you could and why?
Reece Witherspoon! I saw an interview that said that after filming Legally Blonde, she had it put into her contract that she got to keep her entire wardrobe from the second movie, including 77 pairs of Jimmy Choos. Imagine keeping all those iconic colourful outfits and accessories.
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What pieces do you currently have on repeat?
At the moment, I’m wearing these incredible pinstripe pants I got from my most recent trip to Vietnam. I love them because it’s a parachute pant silhouette, but the style is almost corporate, which is a fun fusion. I’m also loving my Coach sunglasses from Sunglass Hut, especially since I thought I left them in Vietnam. I turned my own apartment upside down and found them a week later in the glasses case.
Keep up with Lilli here.
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