Working from their home office in Jersey City’s Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood, twin sisters Yvette and Eva Estime have created an award-winning brand of women’s fashion accessories called “Dirty Celebrity” notable for sustainability.
According to Urban Dictionary, “Dirty Celebrity” is a “style of fashion worn by modelxcore girls” and consists of “designer clothes mixed with grunge or punk styles.”
“We were inspired to create a brand that can evolve with the consumer in any walk of life while maintaining a youthful feel,” said Eva Estime.
Two items, in particular, that have proven to be popular with customers are the “City Stalker” handbag made from cotton velvet and featuring two pockets with flaps on either side, lacing and stud details, and inscriptions of five cities from around the world; and “Glitter Glock,” molded gun rings made from resin and infused with sparkles and rhinestone trim. The rings are symbols of the sisters’ stance against gun violence.
Based on being sustainable, women-owned and persons of color, the twins were awarded a 2023 Council of Fashion Designers of America/Advisories Council Launchpad Fellowship — one of three teams awarded this honor.
“The concept was simply to use all of our fabric until it was gone creating a zero-waste brand,” explained co-owner and lead designer Yvette Estime.
Judges were impressed by the wide variety of accessories, including hats, berets, scarves, jewelry, handbags, earmuffs, bows, and headbands reflecting styles associated with American pop culture, Japanese streetwear and anime. The twins were also inspired by Betsey Johnson, Alexander McQueen, and Jeremy Scott.
Since launching in December 2020, the sisters have received these accolades: 2021 Klarna Initiative winners of $40,000 for advertising; 2022 Luminary winners providing co-working space for women; 2023 Selfmade mentorship for women-owned brands; and 2023 Cornlus/PNC winners of a co-funding venture fund.
“It is just an honor (to win recognition),” said co-owner Eva Estime. “This is testament that hard work pays off if you treat obstacles as temporary setbacks.”
The setbacks included a lack of a fashion nucleus in Jersey City and difficulty sourcing local materials.
The fabric shop in Journal Square they used to get their materials from was closing. So, the sisters got inventive and began using resin pouring and 3D printing, which required few resources, instead.
Yvette typically handled the crocheting and printing, and Eva tackled the resin.
They get the bulk of their business through their website, shopdirtyceleb.com, but they recently started filling wholesale orders” Yvette said.
“Sometimes,” she added, “the store requests visual merchandising, and we send a custom display over as well.”
Prices range from $65 to $500 per item.
To help with publicizing their brand, the sisters hold local events and rely on dedicated photographers and their in-house models to portray their story on social media and their website.
To further market their brand, the sisters have applied for entry into the next round of Jersey City’s Pop Up Jackson Hill incubator, which is located in Jackson Square and provides micro-entrepreneurs low-cost storefronts from which they can promote their wares from late spring to early fall and host more events.
In the near future, though, Yvette said, “we do see ourselves with office staff, and we’re slowly outsourcing for outside partners” to expand the business to include clothing.