The dayjob has been crushing me ever since around the time of The Drawing Show. Focusing on “serious” work is too difficult in my downtime, but altering clothing and shoes is fun, distracting and still productive. Here’s some stuff I fixed up this weekend.
This thrifted wool Banana Republic blazer has been languishing in my closet since I purchased it over a year ago to wear to work. It’s classy and well made, but rather boring. The pleated vent in the back and slightly ruched shoulders are more reminiscent of an early 80s suit, adding to the dated look, so I decided to edge it up with some leather. All I could find was pebbled vinyl, but it still worked out great and gave just the effect I wanted.
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Next up is a pair of ubiquitous early-noughties pointy-toe heels. I saw a pair in my Tumblr (or was it Facebook?) feed a few days ago (or was it weeks? — see, that’s the time distortion I’ve been experiencing lately) of metallic pointy heels with a dangling fringe of chains which gave me the idea. I’ve been searching in vain for the image I stole this treatment from, but now I can’t find it!
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I also updated another pair of half-decade-old sandals with more fringe…
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Cut the sparkly fake rhinestone strap off some vintage clear heels…
Heck, why not make some crazy earrings or a necklace out of the leftover straps?
Cut the sleeves off a $4.00 vintage dress — great pastel floral print, but dowdy shape. Ready for Easter!
I bought this silk dress with Middle Eastern-style sequins at a Savers 50% off sale a couple of years ago. The fitting rooms were of course overrun, so I eyeballed the size. It looked about right, although I wondered why it was deadstock. When I got home and put it on, I realized why : it wa severely misshapen. Now I’m thinking I must’ve temporarily lost my mind when I first did that, because all it needed was about 6 inches taken off the straps; the horrible fit was just exacerbated by my own short torsoed-ness. No need to show the “before” on this one!
Didn’t get a chance to ombre dye anything (waiting to acquire one or two more pieces to make it worth my while), but I gave the lower part of my hair a light wash of bronze.
Finally, here’s a cutout vintage denim jacket inspired by these sick dancer costumes in a 1989 Malcolm McLaren vogue performance.
The perfect layer for the hot Texas summer pressing upon us. Love the Watch L.A. (“watchale” — ha!) label on the lower back. I originally wanted to leave the cuffs attached to the jacket by the seams, but it just didn’t work out so I completely removed the what remained of the sleeves.
Next on my to-do list: collars, shirtless sleeves, and sleeveless shirts… more stuff for summer!