Gagged Chokers Designers Talk Princess Necklaces and Broadway Dreams

For most of us, managing a fashion brand and flying on a magic carpet are not two things you get to do in a single day, let alone in a lifetime. For the CEO and founder of Gagged Chokers Courtney Reed however, this is the regular. When Courtney and the other co-founders of Gagged introduced their whimsical brand in 2016, they had a concrete plan: to create accessories that they would want to wear, that would make women feel beautiful, powerful, and like they are part of a tribe.

Across the Broadway community (and beyond) the ladies of the Gagged Girl Gang (#GGG) have become well known, and their chokers have become a serious fashion statement for both the red carpet and day-to-day wear. The brand's slogan, “Made By A Princess,” is truer than most people realize. Courtney currently stars in, and originated the role, of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Broadway production of Aladdin. Yes, that’s right, these chokers are quite literally made by a princess. Her co-founders — LJ Wright, a stylist and dresser at Aladdin; Teale Dvornik, a lifestyle blogger and dresser at Broadway's Wicked; and Abby DePhillips, a production associate at Broadway Style Guide — are no strangers to the princess lifestyle, either. They both work in some capacity on the Great White Way and have individually made a mark with their iconic fashion choices through styling, blogging, and social media.

What's more, the ladies of Gagged Chokers have managed to create pieces of jewelry that are unlike any other accessories out there, and they've built this brand from the ground up. The crew curates all of their own photo shoots, designs all of the branding, and even makes each individual choker by hand.

The hilarious and hard-working women of Gagged Chokers took time to sit down with Teen Vogue and chat about what inspired their collection, how they balance their busy schedules with their booming business, and their plans for the future of their brand.

Teen Vogue: The most important question: why chokers?

Courtney Reed: Chokers chose us, really. I had gotten rid of all my chokers, I had zero. When they came back in full force, I couldn’t find a place to buy really cute ones that were affordable and high-quality. Everyone was wearing them, specifically celebrities and the women that we follow on social media.

LJ Wright: Courtney figured out how to make chokers as a passion project, and it developed slowly from there. We weren’t trying to find a business to start, or SEEKING out something like Gagged. We just realized we couldn’t find any chokers and we love them, so we created a brand.

TV: What made you decide to create a business?

CR: It was the fans. They would see that we would make them on social media, and ask “When can we buy them?” and after a while, we decided to just give them the ability to do so. They were really inspiring.

TV: What inspired the name Gagged Chokers?

CR: LJ had the idea for the name “Gagged,” funnily enough, in the bathroom at the theater one day. We use the word “gagged” in conversation a lot, and it made sense for a choker brand given that chokers go around your neck. We looked at each other and started screaming after she said it and Teale immediately made LJ get back into the bathroom to come up with more ideas.

TV: What gave you the idea for the branding, slogan, and design?

CR: Honestly, it was all based on the Kylie Lip Kit. Kylie Jenner does really well in the beauty space and it works. It’s important to look at the brands you like and learn from what works. Teale came up with the packaging, LJ came up with the name, and Abby came up with the logo with the lip and neck. We have our one-year anniversary on July 26th and thinking back, we really didn’t have any clue what we were doing at first. It was weeks and weeks of a learning process.

LJW: A lot of conversations had to happen — “What if we tried this packaging?” and “What if we try this?“ It was super collaborative and it was really trial by error, which I think helped us to learn very fast. To be honest, things took off so quickly at the beginning — we weren’t really on top of it. We were selling our first collection before we had a branded logo and before we had a website. We were just sending them out and creating chokers nonstop.

CR: We started wearing them and posting them on social media, and then it evolved into this whole bigger business shortly after.

TV: How do your social media accounts play a role in the business you are running?

CR: We have always used our social media to share our newest choker ideas, even before Gagged was what it is now. Our success on social media gave us the confidence we needed to create a business out of it. We have never paid for any sort of advertising and it has all been through word of mouth and social, which really highlights the power of things like Instagram and Twitter in running our day-to-day. When we launched the Broadway Collection, we had Broadway stars model for us and share photos linking to our site from their personal accounts.

LJW: This was a really good example of the impact of social media. We have so many people who have never even seen a Broadway show who buy Gagged Chokers and that is a result of traction from people sharing it. It’s a great situation to be in because we can reach a ton of the people we know from fashion, beauty, blogging, and other industries outside of theater, while still maintaining our brand within the Broadway community.

TV: How do you find the time to do this with your rigorous full-time positions on Broadway?

LJW: It is really difficult to balance, but it is so worth it — it is definitely hard work. At the end of the day, we all have full-time jobs, but we make the time for it because it is so fun for us. We have been talking about our next collection — we talk about it between cues on stage, and we just make it fit into our lives.

CR: We have had business meetings throughout our shows, and we are together a lot which really helps. We have an intern named Caitlin McNeilage who goes to NYU and is such a great help for us. She does so much for us, and she even models for the website. Finding people like Caitlin that you can trust is really important.

TV: Who would you say is your target consumer and why?

CR: Our target audience is anyone who is not afraid to make a statement. Our chokers are not for everyone. We do have some standard designs but you will NEVER see a Gagged Choker that is a single tiny strip of black velvet. They are all unique in some way, and I really think our target is anyone that feels like they can pull it off. We want everyone to feel like they can wear them, but we find that most of the girls that do, really like to make a statement with their fashion. We want to give our consumer confidence. Our girl loves wearing a bold lip, and she loves wearing a unique choker because she can use it as a conversation starter.

LJW: Our girl is definitely someone who wants to take a risk.

CR: When I started making them, I would give them to Teale and LJ because I know that they’d wear them. There is a confidence that comes with our chokers and I think our girls feel that confidence.

TV: How do you hope to inspire others with a business like Gagged Chokers?

CR: We fully came to the realization that we were inspiring other people when we did a scavenger hunt at this event in Manhattan and we had giveaways of our chokers at different locations in the neighborhood. We didn’t have a clue how much of a camaraderie Gagged fans had formed.

LJW: They found each other from Twitter and Instagram and got together at this particular event. We were taking selfies with them and meeting them and they were nonstop chatting about their chokers — which ones they loved, how confident they felt.

CR: They were saying things like “I feel so good when I wear my choker” and “I probably wouldn’t have worn a choker before but now that I do, I feel like I have a sense of confidence in how I look.” It is really about building women up, especially girls who are at that age where they ask themselves “Are people going to judge me?” We build a sense of community within the network of fans and they really seem to have a bond — it makes them feel powerful.

TV: What is the hardest lesson that you have had to learn with creating this brand and building it up to what it is now?

LJW: One thing that we have learned is that not every consumer has the exact same taste as we do in a choker. It has basically been a relationship figuring out what our clientele actually wants because we will be really excited about a particular design that is coming out, but it may not be as popular as we thought.

CR: With that being said, we will never compromise what we love and what we think is important based on sales. We will make sure to add new things that are in line with what does well for our girl, but at the same time we will continue to create chokers like our Mulan-inspired design — which is very specific — because we think it is incredible, and we know there are a handful of girls out there that rock it. I think there are things that all designers make that maybe don’t do well, but THEY are passionate about, and I think it is important to stay true to that.

TV: Many young entrepreneurs rely on a support system. How do you leverage your support system to help to get the word out?

CR: Laura Osnes who is currently starring in Broadway's Bandstand] is a perfect example of someone who has been really supportive of us. It is so great to feel like you are recognized for something other than being an actress. My entire life I have been recognized for performing, but with Gagged, people are reaching out asking us questions like “Hey, can I pick your brain about this because I have been inspired by you to do something else that I feel passionate about.” People support each other in that way. Laura wears our chokers all the time on the red carpet. We never ask her to do it and she always just does it for us.

LJW: We are very lucky in the sense that we never did the brand ambassador thing. We have been accepted into it. Asking girls to model has never been an issue. They are excited about the product.

TV: What do you hope to achieve with the brand?

LJW: Obviously, we have made something good with Gagged. As long as we can keep creating products that gives our consumer the same great feeling, we will continue to grow. We know that chokers tend to be a trend, so we would love to have other merchandise and accessories, other jewelry and fashion pieces, and even hats.

CR: We like merchandise but don’t want it to be so in your face. We like the #GGG bag because girls who know what it is totally rock it, and they are part of this bigger thing with us.

TV: What advice would you give to young people who want to create their own business — whether it be in fashion or in something else?

CR: Stick to what you believe in. We aren’t going to change the way we design chokers just to make more money. For our business, we would rather make something that makes people feel confident than make a ton of money.

LJW: It is really important to create a product that excites you. If you are excited about it, other people will be too, and it will never feel like work a day in your life. Don’t do it to make money — do it because you love it.

Related: 10 Men Who Prove Chokers Know No Gender

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