Inside the Elaborate Process Behind Joe Ando's Viral Gowns for Celebs Like Millie Bobby Brown and Dakota Johnson (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Joe Ando.Photo:Mars Alba

Mars Alba

If Joe Ando approaches you with a mini mic, say “yes” without hesitation.

The 28-year-old fashion designer who doubles as a content creator online (with over 5 million followers acrossInstagramandTikTok) amassed viral fame upon stitching together six words in the form of a question: “Can I make you a dress?”

However, the FIT graduate’s post-college pursuit was not to create content on social media full-time, despite the ample views his original videos attracted when filming mini comedic sketches. In fact, the hopes he had for a career trajectory were nonetheless traditional.

Joe Ando/Instagram (2)

“I think content is such a stressful world,” Ando tells PEOPLE exclusively of what caused the shift from creating videos centered around his relationship to honing in on his fashion-centric craft. “It’s so fast-paced. The feeling of validation and any kind of good feeling associated with it is so fleeting.”

Ando rerouted, basically making a U-turn down the traditional career path he intended to take upon graduating from one of the top-rated design schools in the country, but TikTok gave it a modern-day, Gen-Z twist. It stemmed from “having an education and wanting to do something with it,” he said.

With the intent of wanting to “differentiate” himself from others on the platform, paired with his desire to exercise his “creative” mind, Ando ultimately decided to “pivot” his content to fashion and design full-time.

“How can I start doing something that feels a little bit more long term?” he thought, in an attempt to “start fixing [his] brain” to “make it a little healthier.” He explains, “When you’re putting relationships out on the internet quite like that, it can become a lot of pressure and weight.”

“It became just a choice to do my own thing,” Ando recalls of his decision to pivot from couples content with fellow influencer Niamh Adkins. “The ‘Can I make you a dress?’ thing was the easiest thing,” he says of how the concept behind his viral content derived. “I was really lucky. It was a perfect storm.”

Joe Ando designing.Joe Ando

Joe Ando

The secret to his success online was also in part due to his comedic mind, having a background in acting as well. Now, his design videos are supplemented with engaging promotional clips that star the celebrity he’s making the dress for.

“It helps us both,” Ando says of the behind-the-scenes content he captures with the talent, whether it be themid-design process like he didwithDakota Johnsonorat the actual eventlike he did with indie rock artistHolly Humberstoneat her concert. “That’s honestly been the biggest part for me lately.”

He explains, “I get them all this great footage, and they get to use it if they want it… getting the pictures has been the most fun. That’s the most memorable.”

As for the design process, Ando says he keeps it “as collaborative” as the talent wants it to be. “I’ll send them the fabric as we go, the design from the get-go, specific details, what kind of fit we’re going to do. Things change along the way, but… if they want to be involved, I try to pull them in.”

The turnaround time between concept to creation, meanwhile, is oftentimes pretty quick. While “it varies” from person to person, Ando reveals the fastest design he had to whip up took three days… and that’s on “a bad week,” he admits.

“Sometimes we’ll wait on approval on style and certain details and it’ll take forever because people have so much going on,” he says, recalling one instance that was a “straight 72-hour run” to get the garment done. “A month in advance is so rare,” he makes known.

Joe Ando and Ella Emhoff.Joe Ando/Instagram

Joe Ando/Instagram

Getting in contact with his A-list clients has been an evolution since he has created a respectable name for himself in the fashion space. In 2024 alone, Ando has designed forMillie Bobbie Brown forDamsel,Johnson forMadame WebandKamala Harris' stepdaughterElla Emhofffor the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

“It’s become a huge mix of everything,” he says of locking in a client. “I work for some record labels, for some movie studios to dress for shows or red carpets… When I started, it was fully just me reaching out to people,” he recalls. “It’s evolved.”

Ando recognizes that so much has happened within the year alone, but for him mentally, he says “it feels like a slow burn.” He explains, “I don’t really notice things as they happen, maybe that’s just my brain.”

But if there’s one moment in particular that stands out, let alone changed his own perspective of himself as a professional fashion designer? “The dress for the DNC was great,” he says of his dress for Emhoff.

“That was a big change because everything prior was concerts and stuff, but that felt like a real thing for someone. For a big moment for them,” he continues. “That was weird. I felt like that kind of shifted perspective on me.”

When looking at the year ahead, there’s a lot of excitement that comes to mind for Ando. While the clients and events are at the core of his self-started career, the “real pursuit” that drives him to be the designer he envisioned for himself upon graduating from FIT is at the forefront.

“Before, it was just doing things on TikTok,” he says. “It’s people trusting me more to make them things for real things. There’s a bunch of stuff coming up that we’re doing for people’s concerts. It’s people that I really like and respect.”

“Having people trust me more and having them view me as more of a real person who does this for a living,” says Ando, “That’s just been the fun change.”

source: people.com