And now, a word about Upcycling....

When I bought this dress five years ago, I loved everything about it, from the price to the cut. Everything...except the color. The choice was limited-this, or this tacky coral pink. It was quickly dubbed the ‘naked dress’, and well... I wanted to change that.

Deviating from my jewelry making craze, I thought back on the Upcycling course I took at Central Saint Martins. Initially wanting to get ideas on how to make the most of what you have at your disposal in costume design, it was incredible to learn about the waste gathered every year in the industry, and ways designers are trying to stop that. Companies like Good One are encouraging alternatives to material sourcing without causing more waste production, using materials from thrown out fashion to be redesigned into new garments, without looking reused.

Wanting to transform this into a cute yet bold cocktail number, the plan was to turn it dark navy blue-hey, everyone wears black in the club! And navy can be very chic.

First attempt: fiasco. Even though I specifically asked the store manager if the dress would take the dye, the polyester of the bodice fabric totally rejected the change! And this would have been alright, if only this blue tone weren’t so off, more denim than dark chic. Hence Plan B was launched. Deciding to work with rather than against the neutral tones of the bodice pieces, I decided I could do a cool two tone dress instead. And a color thats gorgeous with taupe? Black! Yes, I know, obvious safe choice, but these colors compliment each other beautifully and have a neat art deco theme. 

When first prepping the dress, I was terrified when some of the original blue dye started leaked out, threatening that the dress would be more inky blue than jet black. So to be sure, the dress went through the dying process twice with black dye. Sure, I went over budget a bit, but when you start something, you’ve gotta see it through, right? Handy tip: to hide those elastic threads that didn’t take the dye, just use a black Sharpie pen to hide any glitches.

Way more sophisticated than I’d originally envisioned, I can’t wait to be seen in this darling number in the club with some black gladiator sandals. 

Project Budget: £15 (overdraft due to trial-and-error)