My aunt sent me the link to this inspirational blog, New Dress A Day. The concept, both creative and frugal, is this:
The thing that makes this girl happiest is scouring flea markets, vintage stores and garage sales for the perfect pieces to add to my wardrobe. I love finding vintage goodies that may not fit me perfectly or translate well with the current state of fashion and then make them work on me. (thank you Tim Gunn – “make it work” has become my mantra) I get out my trusty sewing machine to change hems, cut sleeves and tweak to transform a lowbudge piece that had its’ moment back in 1976 and give it another shot today, decades later. I have to say that whenever I wear my handmade pieces, I always get complimented and the best part is that I get to tell everyone that I bought it for $1 and just shortened it, dyed it or cinched it to make it chic and current.
So, that’s where my ode to no traditional shopping begins. This year, I will be foregoing trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom for brand new gear. Goodbye to H&M purchases and accessory grabbing at Forever 21. And seeing the “must have” French Connection dress in People’s Style Watch will just have to suffice as a cut out on my inspiration board.
Instead, the only shopping that I’ll be able to do is that of pieces that have been used and worn already. So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places. On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.
(excerpted from the blog’s “about” page)
I love these dress makeovers! 
Sadly, while I can come up with lots of cool ideas for making over garments, I’m not so fab with the follow-through. That is, I never actually get around to doing anything. Hence, the racks of garments hanging in my studio. It always seems there is ironing or dishes, blogging or painting, and before you know it, there’ll be homework. Someday.
In the meantime, hopefully this will be inspirational for you!
I just saw her page on ‘facebook’! I’m trying for a new outfit a day from what I already have, and what I knit.
Fun! I love your knitting! Send pictures for me to post, if you like. 🙂
I’ll try from time to time–probably not every day for a year! 🙂
I like various takes on a sort of fashion-industry rebellion: breaking away from the idea that we always have to be buying what someone else produces, that our own skill/taste/personality isn’t a part of great wardrobing. And what happens to all that stuff when we no longer want it/fit into it/have space for it? Landfill?
Time for a more creative, less expensive, simpler way of doing it all.
I looked at about a hundred of those remakes, until I couldn’t stand it anymore.
Maybe it’s just that we have different taste in fabrics but I hated all those outdated
prints. It’s true she looks cute in everything, with her antic actressy poses and out
with friends hoisting adult beverages. But it made me get rid of a few outdated
print tops I had thrifted to try out. I noticed that everything I bought after that was
in a solid. 🙂
I’m betting she could make loads of cash selling everything after the project is
over. She’s not only good with a fast alteration but equally good at publicity.
lol
I confess, I have wondered about the fabrics. And I think much of it would be more wearable if it were knee-length, rather than mid-thigh. Nevertheless, you are right, she does look cute in everything!
I wouldn’t wear any of the things myself–age, body-type and lifestyle-inappropriate (let alone climate). However, the real thing that I have to applaud is that she’s got such a ‘can do’ attitude, and a way of looking at things that helps her see the possibilities in what other people have rejected. Add some practical ability to it, and she comes up with some really creative stuff (some more than others). She set herself an interesting challenge. How many people are doing that these days, rather than just ‘copy the magazines’?
She is cute and young; this quirky DIY look works for her now. For mature women, it rarely succeeds. There’s a point in life where looking like a walking wapplparer sample book is no longer charming.
I applaud the departure from reflexive buying. Wearing fewer, good-quality clothes (thrifted or not) is a more effective strategy.