Canadian artist Jillea says celebrity wearing her handmade costume is 'life changing'
Fashion fans praised the small-town New Brunswick cosplayer for her 'museum worthy' design.
A Canadian cosplayer is going viral for the show-stopping costume she made for TikToker Emma Norton.
Jillea, a musician, content creator and cosplayer from Quispamsis, N.B., says the attention is "life changing" for someone like her.
For Halloween, Jillea was commissioned by Norton — who has over 9 million TikTok followers — to design a Statue of Liberty costume for the iconic Heidi Klum Halloween party.
The look involved a green corset with elaborate detailing, a draped skirt with tassels, a torch and a crown.
It went viral on TikTok after fashion content creator Mix reviewed the costume and said, "this has to be one of my favourite looks I've seen of the whole year." In a stitched video, Jillea said she was grateful for the positive feedback.
"I can't believe it's being thrown around in the same ring as Heidi and Christian Siriano and people that I've looked up to my entire life, and I'm just literally going to cry," the artist said with happy tears.
"Thank you Emma for bringing this costume to life and thank you everybody for all the kind comments. It's life changing for somebody like me. I don't have a brand. I'm not a store. I'm literally just a girl on the internet — so thank you."
In the caption of her TikTok, Jillea said "little me can't believe what she is seeing." She explained in the comments her hometown has a population of 18,000 people, and added "You have no idea how surreal this feeling is."
Norton thanked Jillea in the comments.
"You are amazing! I am so honoured to wear your incredible art. Thank you for being such a beautiful human who was generous to share that beauty with me," Norton wrote.
Many Atlantic Canadians were thrilled to come across the artist's work at such a high-profile event.
"New Brunswick? I never ever hear of people from our little province doing things OMG!" one TikTok user commented.
"OMG! I saw your other video and can't believe you're from [Quispamsis]! I grew up there in the trailer park off the highway — congrats!" another added.
"East Coast slay," someone quipped in all-caps.
On Oct. 14, Jillea shared a TikTok of her process creating the Statue of Liberty costume entirely from scratch.
She teased, "Wait till you see who's wearing this and where," in the video.
Her followers and fashion content creators rushed to the comments to praise Jillea's talent.
"Hot take. But cosplayers should be making the costumes for the Met Gala. Because this is museum worthy!" one person said.
"That's a work of art… stunning," someone wrote, whole another claimed, "You should be in the fashion industry love."
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