13 Trendy Insights About dELiA*s

Millennial women throughout the U.S. fondly recall sprinting to their mailboxes post-school to snag the most sought-after catalog of the 1990s: dELiA*s. Launched in 1994, this innovative magalog was distributing an impressive 55 million copies annually by 1998. Dive into some fascinating tidbits about dELiA*s.

The brand was established by two Yale alumni.

Stephen Kahn and Christopher Edgar, former Yale roommates, were in their twenties when they launched dELiA*s in New York in 1993. Kahn, who had studied political philosophy and Victorian history at Oxford after Yale, was working at PaineWebber and pursuing an MBA at night. However, he felt unfulfilled and yearned to build his own business. “I wanted to channel my creativity,” Kahn shared with Crain’s New York Business in 1998. “And I aimed to achieve financial success.” He persuaded Edgar to abandon his comparative literature Ph.D. program at Columbia University to join him in this venture. Kahn invested $100,000 of his own savings, supplemented by another $100,000 from his father.

dELiA*s initially targeted college-aged women.

During the early 1990s, 90 percent of catalogs catered to women aged 30 to 50. However, observing stylish undergraduates at Columbia inspired Kahn and Edgar to create a catalog specifically for college-aged women. They named it “dELiA*s,” though the origin of the name remains unknown. In 1994, they produced 20,000 catalogs and enlisted students to distribute them on college campuses.

However, the reaction from college women, as Kahn explained to Chief Marketer in 1998, was “tepid.” After advertising in a few magazines, they discovered a new audience: the younger sisters of college students. “We received an overwhelming response from high schoolers,” Kahn noted. “Essentially, the market chose us.”

They broadened their target demographic to include girls aged 10 to 24, aiming to provide fashionable clothing options for those in areas with limited shopping opportunities. (Fortune’s 1997 analysis of the company’s strategy is worth mentioning: “A 14-year-old in Des Moines is just as fashion-savvy as her counterpart in suburban Los Angeles … She craves trendy items like shiny avalanche pants and baby-T’s but is limited to shopping at her local Wal-Mart. Delia’s body glitter, akin to Dorothy’s red shoes, whisks her from rural life to the glamour of Melrose Avenue.”) “We believed this group was underserved,” Edgar stated in The New York Times in 1997. “These kids weren’t recognized as serious consumers.”

The first catalog debuted on campuses in fall 1994 and quickly gained popularity. Within four years, the company’s annual sales reached $158 million. When dELiA*s went public in 1996, Kahn’s 57 percent stake was valued at $163 million.

Kahn and Edgar attracted investors by likening dELiA*s to MTV.

During the 1990s, convincing investors to fund catalogs was challenging. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, many “questioned whether teens would take the time to flip through pages and use measuring tapes.” However, dELiA*s secured funding by drawing parallels between its catalog and MTV’s programming. “We encouraged them to view us as a ‘channel’ offering a variety of apparel brands,” Evan Guillemin, the company’s CFO, explained to the Los Angeles Times in 1997. “Like MTV, we remain consistent … but we continuously update our designs and brand offerings.”

For the first year, creative director Charlene Benson balanced a day job while working on dELiA*s during her evenings.

From its unique capitalization to its captivating visuals, dELiA*s stood out immediately. This approach was crafted by creative director Charlene Benson and her team. At the time, Benson was the art director for Mademoiselle magazine, and she juggled her day job for a year while creating the catalog during her evenings.

Benson’s journey to joining dELiA*s is what she describes as a “folksy” tale: A friend, writer Hilton Als, met Kahn at an art show, and their conversation turned to the catalog. Benson attended an interview and found the office surprisingly informal. “It seemed like they’d gathered furniture from the streets,” Benson recalled to Mytour in 2017. “They didn’t have a clear vision yet. They wanted to know if I could handle photo shoots, layouts, and printer communications. It was more about the practical side of things.”

Given complete creative freedom—though on a tight budget—Benson brought in some assistance and worked tirelessly … at night, after her day job. While she adored her role at Mademoiselle (which she called “wonderful”), dELiA*s offered her a unique creative outlet. “I got to do everything I couldn’t at Mademoiselle—pick photos of girls making funny faces, design more chaotic layouts, and capture a sense of fun and authenticity that I missed at a Condé Nast fashion magazine,” she shared.

This included intentionally irregular capitalization. “We loved the mix of uppercase and lowercase letters,” Benson explained. “Sassy had experimented with something similar before, and we admired it. Since I wasn’t the best typist, my typing often looked like that, so it felt natural.”

Benson didn’t conduct formal market research for the catalog but drew inspiration from teen magazines of the era. “When I looked at teen content, it was filled with articles like ‘how to kiss a boy’ or ‘how to tell if he likes you.’” She and her team decided to take a different approach: “We thought, ‘Let’s create something where that isn’t the focus—where she’s more about creativity, individuality, and her friendships.’”

The catalog’s quirky text (like “wOulD YoU rAtHeR bE iN a cAve oF sNakEs oR a bAthTub fUlL oF sluGs?”) resonated with readers, especially parents. Benson shared, “I received heartfelt notes from moms saying, ‘Thank you for the humorous copy. My daughter and I shared a special moment reading it together.’”

The initial catalog, which Benson admitted “wasn’t fully polished,” became a massive hit. Edgar returned to Benson just two months later, announcing they had sold out of every item. “He said, ‘We want to do another one,’ and I replied, ‘Wow, wasn’t the first one challenging enough?’” Benson recalled with a laugh. “But we did another one. ... I kept this up for a year while still working at Mademoiselle, and I basically had no personal life.” After that year, Kahn and Edgar offered Benson a full-time role, and she left Mademoiselle. “That’s when the catalog truly began to flourish.”

A “fictional Delia” existed.

While the origin of the name Delia remains unknown (Benson refers to it as “one of the great mysteries”), according to Jim Trzaska, the photo producer for dELiA*s, there was a fictional Delia who “embodied a girl’s girl, someone who cherished time with friends above all else and dressed for herself, not to impress boys. This ethos influenced the tone of the photo shoots.”

The team had a unique approach to keeping photo shoots enjoyable.

In dELiA*s catalogs, the models rarely smiled; instead, they often made quirky faces or appeared to be having a blast. Benson explains they sought a specific type of girl—someone expressive. “I’d sometimes ask, ‘Do you dream of becoming an actress?’ The shoots were incredibly fun. Our crew was hilarious, and our regular stylist, Galadriel Masterson, had a knack for teaching the girls how to behave on set and express themselves. She excelled at styling because we avoided matchy-matchy or overly coordinated outfits. We simply shot tons of film until we captured the playful, candid moments we wanted.” Benson initially hired Kevin Hatt to photograph the catalogs, and later, Mei Tao took over.

Models who took part in those shoots—many of whom had already been featured in teen magazines like Seventeen—confirmed they were a blast. “Every single shoot was enjoyable,” model Kim Matulova (above) shared with MTV. “The atmosphere was always lively, relaxed, and spontaneous. The photographer would play music, let us be ourselves, and capture the moment.”

The photographer used Polaroid cameras, and the models were allowed to keep some photos after the shoot. “I have a large box at my mom’s house filled with old Polaroids and outtakes,” Matulova revealed.

The team had a clever trick to help the models relax. “Our lead stylist, Galadriel Masterson, invented a fictional character named ‘Billy,’” Trzaska explained to Refinery 29. “Depending on the mood we needed, ‘Billy’ could be anything from a troublesome ex-boyfriend to a mischievous little brother or a supportive gay best friend. He often helped us capture the perfect shot.”

Famous faces might be hiding in your old dELiA*s catalogs.

Miranda Kerr, Brooklyn Decker, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Cassie, and Krysten Ritter all posed for dELiA*s in their earlier years.

At its height, the company received thousands of catalog requests every day.

By August 1998, dELiA*s was fielding 3000 to 5000 catalog requests daily, as reported by Chief Marketer. (Some sources even claim the number reached 7000 requests per day.) The company’s database contained an impressive 5 million names, each linked to detailed order histories. A 2014 article in The Cut noted that 4 million people—roughly 10 percent of the 40 million Millennial women in the U.S. at the time—had requested a dELiA*s catalog.

Numerous imitators emerged.

Unsurprisingly, dELiA*s’s enormous success inspired several “magalog” rivals, such as Zoe, Wet Seal, moXiegirl (or mXg), Alloy, Airshop, and Just Nikki. However, Kahn remained unfazed by the competition. “Others will try to catch up,” he told Chief Marketer. “There will be a fallout among the imitators. Most of them will hemorrhage money for years.”

A spin-off catalog for boys, named “Droog,” was introduced.

Droog, essentially dELiA*s for boys, debuted in 1998. While it targeted a market Kahn and his team believed was underserved, its style diverged from its sister brand: Instead of studio shoots, Droog’s photos were taken in fields and parking lots. Its centerfold showcased a car with a license plate reading “Droog.” The name emerged from a company contest. Kahn described it to Catalog Age in 1999 as a “natural extension of dELiA*s,” offering “streetwear, workwear, and urban and athletic styles.” Unfortunately, Droog didn’t achieve the same success as dELiA*s and, per Catalog Age, closed in 2000.

A catalog dedicated to home furnishings was also created.

Contents, which showcased teen room decor, launched in the late 1990s. Benson worked with designer Whitney Delgado on the project. “I adore the photos,” she said, “and the imaginative rooms we designed.”

The physical stores presented a unique challenge for Benson.

After launching its website in 1998 (which, as reported by Chain Store Age, generated two to three percent of the company’s total sales within just two weeks), dELiA*s started opening physical stores in 1999. Designing the stores’ aesthetic was, according to Benson, a difficult yet fulfilling task.

To tackle this, the company brought in visual merchandiser Renee Viola and store designer John Farnum, who had previously worked with Nike. “The challenge was figuring out how to translate the catalog’s vibe into the stores,” Benson explained. “We didn’t want to lose our identity. From a design and team-building perspective, it was incredibly enjoyable—I haven’t experienced such a collaborative store development process since. It was truly special.”

The company was sold, went bankrupt, and later made a comeback.

In 2003, facing declining sales, dELiA*s was acquired by Alloy, its former rival, for $50 million. (Catalog Age dubbed it “one of the most buzzworthy teen pairings since Britney and Justin.”) Alloy initially absorbed the company but spun it off as a separate entity two years later. By 2014, after losing $57 million, dELiA*s filed for bankruptcy, and all its stores and website closed by March 2015.

However, that wasn’t the end. In early 2015, Steve Russo and other investors bought Delia’s and relaunched it that August. “Women who grew up in the ‘90s told us they eagerly awaited their dELiA*s catalog after school,” Russo told The Huffington Post. “The company was ahead of its time, offering a diverse product range. We saw a chance to reignite that excitement through print catalogs, innovative social media campaigns, and a robust e-commerce platform.”

Unfortunately, that effort didn’t succeed, but dELiA*s found a new lease on life: In 2018, the clothing brand Dolls Kill licensed the dELiA*s name. “Many people ask, ‘Are you creating new items?’” Dolls Kill designer Shaudi Lynn shared with Elle in 2018. “They assume, perhaps because of our styling on Dolls Kill, that we’ll make it edgy. But I grew up with Delia*s catalogs; I still own a few and reference photos from magazines and [Delia*s parent company] Alloy. We designed some new pieces, but many key items were inspired by office nostalgia. People would say, ‘I owned this! I’ve searched for it online with no luck. We need to bring it back!’ So we did.” You can shop here.