My favorite DIY projects are those that are breezy-quick and easy as peas. I bought this denim shirt from Zara despite it being one size larger than what I usually wear. It looked great in the fitting-room; I even thought it was slightly reminiscent of the Lanvin x Acne collection.
But days passed, and I wasn't getting as much wear out of it as I had hoped. It was beginning to look more to me like suburban soccer mom driving a mini-van than Acne by Lanvin, pardon the cheap rhyme play.
I needed something new to wear one night, so, snip-snip, I completed my quickest DIY project ever in less than ten minutes!
I cut along the line of my intended band-collar, trying to get as close to it as possible but taking caution not to cut into the band-collar as this would ruin the seam and unravel the collar.
I tried to cut continuously for a clean finish, but my nearly infantile motor skills meant I had to go back more than a couple of times to retouch parts I failed to cut close enough.
I was very pleased with the transformation; somehow converting it into a band-collar shirt finally made the slightly oversize proportions work as I had imagined.
a new shirt in much less time than it would take to think of a clever new Twitter message
I reckon this would be a great way to update any old button-down shirt. Most button-downs with standard collars do have band-collars under the "flap", it's just a matter of exposing the band collar. If you don't mind a few raw threads peeking out of the collar edge (I personally think it's quite charming!) this would be a quick and easy way to get the feeling of having a new shirt. DIY is the recession's best friend!
Here it is worn, with the curly quiff I had blogged about earlier:
Ray-ban tortoiseshell glasses, DIY whistle necklace, DIY band-collar shirt, Cartier watch, tailor-made pants, Opening Ceremony suede saddle shoes
12 comments:
izzy! this is the easiest one yet and damn did it work well. id like to do something with an old denim shirt i have but i dont think this approach would work, but you never know.
ps, i want your whistle!!!right now
See, this is the kind of talent I wish I had. Obv. I'm just not naturally resourceful!
While I don't particularly like the "grandpa collar" I think you really work it here. Also, I'm now jonesing for a denim shirt...
/Male-Mode.com
So suave.
You have given some great ideas for transforming some of my neglected shirts.
Love this post Iz!
The collar looks rad - I love your diys.
P.S. -I feel you on that comment about twitter messages. There's really not much I can say about life that takes 140 characters or less.
looks great! i like that it is temporary so you swith 'dos in a moment... :)
i have been searching for the perfect denim shirt for an unreasonably long period of time now...maybe i should just find an imperfect one and make it perfect like you did! except my diy skills are about 1000 times less developed. nice work!
absolutely genius. am going to attempt this weekend with an old shirt...also LOVING the quiff...i've been rocking the same thing for a couple of weeks now and it's so easy - why didn't we do this before?
I liked the colour of it really want to buy it.. thanks for blog.
hi! i'm not a big fan of collars. i usually snip, snip, snip them off. but recently i purchased a collard shirt and decided to keep it pure and untouched by my devious hands. the collar butches me up a little bit. lol. thanks for the post. : )
Simple but great transformation - suburban soccer mom no more!
It takes some confidence for sure to go at something with the scissors, but here it really paid off.
Hi guys
Prettu much love the idea of designing ones' own collar.
« One judges a shirt by its collar and a man by his shirt. » Madeleine Ferron, Le Baron Ecarlate (1971).
What a particularly relevant perspective from Quebec writer Madeleine Ferron in her 1971 novel Le Baron Ecarlate. Indeed, these are the perfect words to demonstrate the importance of a shirt and, more specifically, the collar as a man’s expression of status. So keep on paying a particular attention to your shirt collars and make sure they clearly fit with who you trully are.
More about the shirt collars Story here (please support me and help me grow!):
http://initialsao.tumblr.com/post/13593340368/shirts-collars
Cheers!
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