Monday, June 22, 2009

The Frustrated Designer III: The Technicolor Silk Surf Shirt

Remember this shirt I sketched up a few weeks ago,

upon the purchase of this multi-colored plaid silk?

After weeks upon weeks of waiting, delays, and more than a few trips back to the tailor for revisions, the shirt is done.  It took quite a while to tweak the piece into what I had originally envisioned it to be, first because of some fit problems, and second because of styling problems---a couple which proved hair-pullingly disconcerting.  The sewer in charge of my shirt originally attached what I could only describe as a limp, pointed, flat, modified peter pan collar on to the shirt which rendered it beyond unwearable, even for a woman in her mid-fifties.  (Although my less-than-professional sketch might be partly to blame for this.)  He also attached glittery green buttons to the plaid part of the shirt, perhaps in an effort to make the buttons less conspicuous.  I shall spare you the horrors of a photograph, words are grotesque enough.  

So here is the finished product, faithful to my original design:

the sketch incarnate

But, after a healthy amount of looking in the mirror and trying it on with my clothes, the shirt was just appearing overly cartoony owing to the presence of the two black pockets in front.  So snip, snip, they were gone in a matter of minutes.

minus the cartoony pockets

In the end, the shirt didn't exude that much of a Dries vibe as I had intended it to; rather, it felt more like a surfey, beachy top, albeit a slightly more luxe one because of the fabric.  Its slight resemblance to this Quiksilver x Takashi Kumagai shirt reinforces that idea.  Building on the surfey theme then, off I went to my brother's room then to snatch his frogskins!  Here it is worn:

Oakley frogskins, DIY whistle necklace, cotton+silk shirt designed by me, Greyhound jeans, Muji plimsolls

Sometimes I wonder why I put myself through all this trouble, this last project was a couple of sighs short of being a serious pain in the tush.  But when I get to thinking how I'm the only one in the entire blogosphere, or the entire world for that matter, with such a piece, I say, to the fabric store we go!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

its absolutely wonderful!
can't wait to see what you dream up next!
x

Isabel said...

Oh, this shirt is so so good! I actually kid of liked the cartoon-y pockets, but it looks just as good without. I wish there were more men's style blogs out there.

Freya said...

There can't be better design on this fabric. Love the neck-piece. So appropriate.

What else?

You are awesome.

fred said...

yeeeeah Iz!
What did U loved from fresh Milan?
me, of course Missoni---

Anonymous said...

When I saw the shirt with pockets, I thought that it was a disaster! I was about to question your fashion taste then. BUT good enough you removed it. Good decision :D

I super like your fashion taste coz I also hold the same fashion philosophy. :)

- B

Giancinephile said...

It's always fun to go to the tailor and have something done for you. I used to be preoccupied by it until things got busy...

Anyways, thanks for the help!!!
Well my emergency happens to be an undying desire to have silk fringes on a basic long sleeved shirt but I seemingly still haven't found time to visit the tailor despite the fact I'm always in that area. I guess my back to school drama will lessen my productivity in sartorial matters... haha

Much thanks again!

Geordae said...

Not only did turn out great, you rocked it pretty well too.

Joey said...

wow i absolutely adore this shirt. i liked it before the pockets got the snip but i can see what you mean by the cartoony-ness. anyway, sans pocket it definitely looks amazing on.

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