Lillea Designs

Lillea Designs Fashion Designer and Maker of colourful and eclectic clothing for one of a kind humans!

Styled by Lillea Goian re-worked thrift and vintage, one of a kind pieces, original art curated by LillzKillz

September 2018. I was 20 years old and somehow showing at New York Fashion Week.The collection was called Eat My Shorts....
08/31/2026

September 2018. I was 20 years old and somehow showing at New York Fashion Week.
The collection was called Eat My Shorts. The concept was a family, a be**er car, a dad coming home from work and desperately trying to find the remote so he could watch the football game. I went to an actual car yard and pulled seat belts, upholstery, rear view mirrors etc. straight off the vehicles. I cubed toy cars and stitched them onto jeans. One of the jerseys said “where the f**k is the remote.”
A reporter backstage called me a fashion troll. I genuinely still think about that as one of the best things anyone has ever said about my work lol 💃🏻
The construction was rough! I knew it then and I definitely know it now. But something about that collection still sits with me, because there is a version of making things that is completely unhinged and totally unserious and somehow exactly right, and I think I had that figured out at 20 before I had almost anything else figured out.
Next up: where things went from New York❤️

Fall events are coming, and if you’ve been staring at your closet wondering why nothing feels like you, that’s not a you...
08/29/2026

Fall events are coming, and if you’ve been staring at your closet wondering why nothing feels like you, that’s not a you problem. That’s a fashion industry problem!!!
My dresses are gender expansive, made in fabrics you won’t find on a rack, built with silhouettes that actually make a statement, and yes, they always have pockets ☺️ Every piece is made for one specific person.
If you have a wedding, holiday party, anniversary dinner, or any moment this fall where you want to feel like yourself, DM me and let’s figure it out together 😘

I couldn’t find what I needed, so I made it.For the collection that went to Tokyo, I designed the fabrics from scratch, ...
08/25/2026

I couldn’t find what I needed, so I made it.
For the collection that went to Tokyo, I designed the fabrics from scratch, the concepts, the ideas, the specific weird things I couldn’t find anywhere in the world. My graphic designer Mel was the one who built them into actual prints, and together we put them into existence. The 8 ball print. The f**k school print. The 69 print. Neon checkers. Exploding Cars. Profaniski Mountains.
There is something about designing your own fabric that hits completely differently to sourcing it. When you build a print from nothing and then watch it walk a runway in Tokyo, or show up in Vogue, or get worn by someone who has never in their life found something that felt like them in a store, that feeling never gets old.
I fell completely in love with it. The prints multiplied. The obsession grew. The Profanity brand was born out of that same energy, loud, specific, and made for people who have always wanted something that didn’t exist yet.
That love affair with fabric and print is still very much alive for me ☺️ It just looks a little different now. More structured. More refined. But the same obsession underneath it all!

The summer of 2017 was a lot.I was 19, designing and sewing my very first runway collection, planning a trip to Europe, ...
08/24/2026

The summer of 2017 was a lot.
I was 19, designing and sewing my very first runway collection, planning a trip to Europe, and working full time, all at once. I was barely past my hot glue and safety pin era in terms of actual garment construction, and I remember sitting at my sewing machine crying after spending 5 hours on a very detailed pair of pants, only to realize I had made the same pant leg twice 🥵
I cried a lot that summer actually, and kept going anyway, mostly because the people around me refused to let me quit on myself!
On show day I was so ready. My segment was first up, and I was standing behind the curtain completely in my own world when someone yelled “Lillea, get out there!” I had no idea what was happening but I did what I was told and ran out onto the runway. That’s when I saw my mom running up to meet me, sobbing happy sobs.
I was in shock. I genuinely couldn’t hear properly for a moment, and then it cut through clearly: my mom’s voice, and probably everyone else who was paying attention. “YOU’RE GOING TO TOKYO FASHION WEEK.”
I had won the Nancy Mak Award from Vancouver Fashion Week 🥺
That moment cracked open a whole new world for me, and it’s still what gets me to the studio every day. If you have something in mind that you haven’t been able to find anywhere, let’s chat! 😘

A couple of days after Vancouver Fashion Week, my phone rang again.JCI Institute was launching their very first fashion ...
08/21/2026

A couple of days after Vancouver Fashion Week, my phone rang again.
JCI Institute was launching their very first fashion design course and they wanted me in the first round! At this point I figured it was probably time to learn how to actually construct a garment properly, seeing as things had been falling apart on people’s bodies fairly regularly for the first two years of my career, so I took out another round of student loans and got to work.
Design school was not what I expected. I thought I’d love it more than I did, honestly, and my grades weren’t great. I still couldn’t draw and had zero interest in learning, and tech flats in Illustrator were an absolute nope. What I loved was just having an idea, drafting the pattern, and making the thing, so that’s mostly what I did.
Six months later I had the basics and I ran with them. Less than a month after finishing the program I launched Profanity, making fishnet shirts, neon rave capes, checkered sets, and printed tees, whatever I knew how to make and selling it to whoever would buy it. I was working my full time vintage job on the side, figuring out this whole “being a business owner” thing as I went.
And then my phone rang again 🙈
Vancouver Fashion Week wanted me to showcase my own 100% handmade collection on the runway. The neon set in these photos was the very first thing I ever made completely from scratch, and the rave cape is still selling 10 years later.
Making clothes was never just about clothes. It was the one place I got to say exactly what I wanted to say without having to explain myself. I started because I couldn’t find what I wanted in a store, and I think underneath that was always something louder, the need to make something that was completely, unapologetically mine.
Turns out I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. If you’ve been looking for something that doesn’t exist yet, that’s exactly what I do now. DM me and let’s make it ❤️❤️❤️

The moment the lights went down and Dirty Harry started playing, I KNEW.I had 3 weeks to put together an 8 look collecti...
08/19/2026

The moment the lights went down and Dirty Harry started playing, I KNEW.
I had 3 weeks to put together an 8 look collection for Vancouver Fashion Week. No sewing skills. No proper studio. Just a pile of thrifted motocross gear, every sequinned thing I could find at Value Village, and a hot glue gun I was not afraid to use.
I thrifted. I safety pinned, bleached & glued. I made it work!
And when that first model walked out onto the runway, I felt something click into place that I honestly hadn’t felt before. This was it. Not styling someone else’s vision. Not marketing someone else’s brand. Making something that didn’t exist until I made it.
What I didn’t expect was that Elle Canada would be there. I had my first ever interview and feature that same day, and I walked out of that venue a completely different person than the girl who walked in.
That was 2016. I was 18. I called my collection “motocross and sequins” and I genuinely cannot think about it without giggling a little 🙈
A lot has changed since then. The materials are more refined. The clients are getting married, performing, living their most iconoclast lives. But the thing that made me say yes to that show in the first place, making something that doesn’t exist anywhere else for someone who can’t find themselves in a store, that part hasn’t changed at all 🥹
More of this story coming ❤️❤️❤️

Where did you see your career going when you were 17?I thought I was going to be a stylist. I moved to the big city one ...
08/19/2026

Where did you see your career going when you were 17?
I thought I was going to be a stylist. I moved to the big city one month after graduation, got an apartment downtown, and dove straight into fashion marketing at JCI Institute. I didn’t take fashion design because I genuinely believed there was no way I could have a career in it, I couldn’t draw, and in my head, that was the whole job.
That year I worked in a vintage store, styled myself in the most funky outfits every single day, and slowly realized that even styling didn’t quite fit. Then came our graduating project, a fashion show with a theme that was so far from my taste I basically rebelled against it. I couldn’t find what I needed in stores so I bleached, safety pinned, hand sewed, ripped apart, and spray-painted thrifted pieces until they were something I’d actually want to see on the runway. There was something about making original pieces that didn’t exist anywhere else that truly filled my cup.
I didn’t know how to draw. I barely knew how to sew. And somehow I was making it happen anyway.
That was over 10 years ago! I’m almost 29 now, and the thread that started with a rebellious graduating project has taken me through multiple fashion weeks, media features, into the most creative & exciting custom garments I’ve ever made. The girl who couldn’t find what she wanted in a store became the person who makes it for other people who can’t either ❤️
This is the start of a new series, fashion experiences, pivots, and where things are going next for me. Stick around!

✨ Last-minute festival customs ✨I’ve decided to open up 1–2 last-minute custom order spots for festival season! ❤️If you...
07/13/2026

✨ Last-minute festival customs ✨

I’ve decided to open up 1–2 last-minute custom order spots for festival season! ❤️

If you’ve been dreaming about a custom look for Shambhala (or any festivals coming up), this is your chance!!

•One-of-a-kind pieces made just for you
•Vancouver pickup available
•Delivery to the Shambhala farm is also an option for next week

Spots are first come, first served, so send me a DM to inquire 🥰

Mooooooove over regular cross body bags, the black cow print PANT PACK is takin over!!!!! Available to order via DM in t...
05/16/2026

Mooooooove over regular cross body bags, the black cow print PANT PACK is takin over!!!!! Available to order via DM in this size AND in the mini shoulder bag version too 🐮🐮🐮🤠

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