TikTok creator Ashby (@ashbymb)—outside of the app, where millions have seen her as a twinkling Lorax—debuted at the TikTok Awards in red-hot sparkle: a dress with “I <3 Ashby” written out in sequins. It was a self-referential, tongue-in-cheek look custom-made for the platform that values personality-led storytelling.
The signal was clear, and cheeky: This would be a night to celebrate creators and the communities that support them, and Ashby went all in on the brand she had built. Fans who know her as the internet’s Lorax noticed the pivot quickly—and this time there was no orange fur, just unapologetic main-character energy in red.
- A visual gag that also functions as real strategy
- Not the Lorax anymore, and that was exactly the point
- A nod to pop design history and its enduring symbols
- Why the look works so well on TikTok’s fast-moving feed
- Red-carpet dressing reimagined for the modern creator era
- What’s next for the look as it evolves across creator spaces
- The takeaway: a playful look built for cultural velocity
A visual gag that also functions as real strategy
On TikTok, a powerful visual cue can substitute for a thousand words. You get the “I <3” sign in one quick-glance, legible second, and Ashby’s version transformed a red-carpet appearance into a looping, shareable punchline that lives as well in three seconds of scroll as it does inside your head. Which makes it ideal for clips, stitches, and edits.
TikTok’s own trend analyses have emphasized how recognizable symbols and repeatable formats can enhance recall. Wearing a meme-ready slogan that also served as her own name, Ashby ensured every photo and repost rehashed her brand—an on-body watermark.
Not the Lorax anymore, and that was exactly the point
Ashby’s orange Lorax visage has since served as a calling card, an iconographic shorthand that helped her break out on the app. Choosing red sequins was a sign of evolution, not retreat, showing audiences that she can go from character to creator without leaving behind the playful DNA that built her following.
“You’re not just a culture of one,” creator branding experts warn; you do not want to get stuck, often repeating one shtick. Ashby’s pivot is a nifty response to that challenge: Keep the humor, keep the clarity, switch out the costume. It’s the sort of play that maintains a lifeline in a feed that prizes reinvention.
A nod to pop design history and its enduring symbols
The “I <3” formula is perhaps the most widely recognizable visual language of contemporary culture, given currency by Milton Glaser’s iconic city slogan. Fashion has played over and over again with that template, from runway riffs to streetwear drops, because it reads easily and photographs well, especially from way off.
Ashby’s dress was a plug into that history, connected straight to the creator economy. It was a way to marry internet-native humor with a half-century of design shorthand, all in one clean graphic—something that would read as well as a press photo and a tiny thumbnail on an article page or, crucially, in the vertical frame of a phone.
Why the look works so well on TikTok’s fast-moving feed
Short-form video lives or dies on being instantly understood. Studies frequently demonstrate that clear, repeated cues boost brand recall; per TikTok’s trend reports as well, simple, bold visuals travel further because they withstand compression, cropping, and fast consumption.
Fashion data companies like The Lyst Index have recorded that viral moments can lead to search spikes for particular colors, motifs, and even slogans in a matter of hours. A red, high-gloss, slogan-laden dress is precisely the sort of garment that performs well on discovery feeds and then moves into fan art, edits, and cosplay.
Red-carpet dressing reimagined for the modern creator era
While traditional celebrity red carpets have always worked to court designer prestige, creator carpets are increasingly designed to court shareability. Ashby’s dress was a check in both columns: glamorous enough for the flashbulbs and graphic enough for the algorithm.
For an audience that discovers stars on a phone before anywhere else, clothing is copy. Before any interview, the message on the bodice said everything you needed to know: Ashby knows what made Ashby famous, and she’s in on the joke.
What’s next for the look as it evolves across creator spaces
Look for fan-made versions and thrift flips with an “I <3” treatment everywhere in creator spaces. That’s the standard life cycle of a successful TikTok fashion moment: advanced iterations, micro-trend offshoots, and at some point, merch.
If history’s any guide, the dress will also help fuel Ashby’s own content pipeline—behind-the-scenes clips, transition videos, and wink-nudge callbacks to the Lorax-era orange. It’s a feedback loop that forces audiences to stick around and enhances the palette of characters she can draw from.
The takeaway: a playful look built for cultural velocity
Ashby’s “I <3 Ashby” joking-around turn at the TikTok Awards was more than a gag; it was a pointedly sharp read on how culture disseminates these days. The exchange of the Lorax costume for a high-impact slogan dress displayed an artist fluent in the feed’s language—bold and legible, built to share.
In an ecosystem that has well over a billion users, moments that travel win. Ashby’s dress managed to do precisely that, transforming a single step down the red carpet into a portable, loopable brand statement that will outlast the runway by light years.
