Photos: @creepykelli
Styling assistant: @7ru6y
Makeup: @w0rldbeforme
Models: Alexa @sipastak124 Anya @anyabonato_ Erin @erin__mae
Story: Koko Ntuen
Fashion can feel so serious these days.
Luxury has become algorithmic. Trends arrive in plastic boxes. Creativity is often filtered through brand decks, investor expectations, and whatever shade of beige happens to be dominating the runway this season.
Then there’s The Twink Next Door.
Part designer, part Dali, part stylist, part sculptor, part world-builder, The Twink Next Door has quietly become one of New York Fashion Week’s most exciting underground forces by doing something radical: making fashion fun again.
If you’ve attended a Twink by Twink show, you know the feeling. The room buzzes with anticipation. Feathers brush past strangers. Camp collides with craftsmanship. Queer joy isn’t treated as a trend—it’s the foundation.
Before becoming one of Fashion Week’s most talked-about independent designers, The Twink Next Door was simply an artist trying to survive New York.
“I went to art school my whole life,” Twink says, “When I moved to New York, I lost the space to make physical art. Everyone lives in closets here.”
Unable to hoard paint, canvases, and sculpture materials, the artist turned toward styling. One of his earliest clients was Azealia Banks, but something still felt missing.
“I always felt a lack of physically doing something myself.”
That desire eventually led to sewing.
What started as experimentation quickly evolved into a fashion universe entirely his own.
The Twink Next Door first runway show was in 2023 in perhaps the most iconic New York location imaginable: Dallas BBQ.
The idea began as a joke.
“I wanted something that felt iconic and stapled to New York.”
Instead of chasing inaccessible venues, Twink called Dallas BBQ. They happened to have an event space. It was cheaper than traditional fashion venues. The rest is fashion history.
The result was delightfully chaotic, deeply camp, and unmistakably New York.
Today, those unconventional spaces have become part of the brand’s DNA. Whether staging shows at Dallas BBQ, collaborating with hotels, or dreaming up increasingly ambitious productions, The Twink Next Door creates environments where fashion insiders and everyday people occupy the same room.
“I try to merge mainstream fashion and all walks of life.”
The energy is infectious.
Fashion Week can often feel gated and exclusionary, but Twink by Twink shows operate differently. They’re immersive celebrations where audience participation matters as much as the clothes themselves.
That philosophy extends into the garments. It’s also why Twink’s work feels so distinct in an industry increasingly obsessed with repetition.
While many brands chase minimalism, Twink by Twink embraces maximalism.
While others seek perfection, he celebrates personality.
While fashion often asks us to blend in, Twink’s work dares us to become larger versions of ourselves.
The name itself carries a similar spirit.
What began as a playful Instagram handle eventually became a brand.
People started calling him The Twink Next Door in real life.
So he kept it.
Now, the name has evolved into something bigger than a joke.
“Another whole point of the brand is taking the stigma out of the twink and making it a lifestyle.”
It’s a perfect description of his work.
Twink by Twink isn’t really about identity labels. It’s about freedom.
Freedom to be weird. Freedom to be joyful. Freedom to be glamorous. Freedom to create your own world. That freedom has attracted a growing audience of artists, musicians, collectors, and fashion obsessives who recognize something rare when they see it: authenticity.
Despite the buzz, The Twink Next Door remains refreshingly honest about the realities of independent artistry.
Fashion shows are expensive. Funding is difficult. Creative ambition rarely aligns with financial security. Still, he keeps building. Still, he keeps dreaming.
His next vision? Camp Twink.
A fully immersive summer camp-inspired fashion experience complete with larger-than-life sets, interactive environments, and enough camp to satisfy even the most devoted devotees of queer culture. It feels like the natural next chapter. After all, camp isn’t just an aesthetic. It’s a way of surviving. A way of turning art into a home.
And perhaps that’s what makes The Twink Next Door so compelling.
Beneath the feathers, fur, sparkle, and spectacle is an artist doing what artists have always done: building a world they wish existed and inviting the rest of us inside.
Fortunately for us, the invitation is open.
CONNECT WITH THE TWINK NEXT DOOR