This dress makes no sense to me.
Seriously, what was the idea behind this one? I imagine a very powerful woman with very big hair probably rocked this in the ’80s, but it doesn’t really work for this decade.
Luckily, it didn’t take much to make this piece a fun & functional DIY Military Style Jacket!
First, I snipped out some impressively large shoulder pads.
My plan is to repurpose these into a nice sunglasses case, since the fabric is so silky and soft. 🙂
Next, I lopped off a good bit from the bottom.
A quick hem job followed.
First, I pinned it in place.
Then, I stitched it down.
That’s all it took to take this from power dress to powerfully cute jacket!
I styled my new jacket with a very old Blondie T-shirt I bought back in 8th grade (I was obsessed with that band!), dark jeans, and gold flats.
My new jacket enjoyed a delicious meal and a couple of cocktails at The War Mouth, a fabulous new restaurant here in Columbia SC.
It features such southern delicacies as mustard-breaded venison and quail with dumplings.
Cheers!
OMG this is bad asssssss! One of my favorite refashions I have seen you do! 11/10!
And what to do with the rest of that???
The detail on those sleeves is AMAZING. Love this!
My costuming friend and I found a nearly identical blazer at The Last Rack Goodwill store for $5. I refashioned it into Captain Hook’s coat for a high school Disney show! /Users/Melanie/Desktop/IMG_1892.jpg/Users/Melanie/Desktop/996940_527760507315337_1674012779_n.jpg
this jacket with an overlong collar is a nope for me, i’ll pass this one 🙂
That is one of the cutest refashions ever! Love, love, love it.
Wow, that’s such a great transformation!
I was hoping you’d keep the gold detail on the sleeves. Well done!
Too Much Fun!!!! I so hope I can develop your eye for what a really AWFUL piece can become!!
I do like the jacket but I think you are genius to turn the shoulder pad into a glasses case! Never would’ve thought of that! Brilliant!
Amazing transformation. Can you please show how you make the sunglasses case too?
sympathique cette petite veste, bravo 🙂
I really love how fun you are!! Have been enjoying your blog for years now and this year you’re making a great effort to keep us inspired and entertained. So thanks so much!
If my doorman had a wife, I think she would wear that dress.
Great jacket! I wouldn’t have seen that possibility at all in that dress!
That’s a cute jacket! I tried on something similar (but with many more sequins) once when I was having photos done at Glamour Shots at the mall. I decided it was a little too Michael Jackson-like for my purposes. Though I did look fabulous…
Once again, you made something fugly super cool.
I should have known… marching band kids are always the best grown-up people. Wink!
Very nice
and I love the shoulder pads, if you want to split the shoulder pads for me, if you have a lot of shoulder pads, then with one accord I would buy it, because I’m happy to collect the shoulder pads.
Man, if I had found that dress/jacket when I was having my circus party I would have been so excited. I made my own ringleader tailcoat out of another red coat I found that worked out well but this one has such lovely details!
Here’s a link to a before and after of my coat alteration.
http://imgur.com/RUgsnzD
Well done!
So glad you saved the sleeve cuffs. I once added cording like that to a thrifted plain blue blazer at the collar and cuffs, and added gold buttons. My daughters both wore it showing their horses. I don’t think I ever bought them new. Horse show clothing is only in style one or two years. And we know how quickly children grow out of things. Thankfully there is a huge annual consignment sale put on by the local 4-H club. They sell over $100,000 of used equipment and clothing every year!
Very nice and cool
and I love the shoulder pads, if you want to split the shoulder pads for me, if you have a lot of shoulder pads, then with one accord I would buy it, because I’m happy to collect the shoulder pads.
One of my favorite of your refashions. Thank you
Love what you did with this one…………..yep that dress was not something that anyone would wear today……..well maybe to a Halloween party with big hair and huge earings!
I just LOVE this! What a great refashion! And I was rocking out to the Best of Blondie on the way home from work today.
Amazing reformation! So adorable !!
That very well could have been my dress but I doubt my donations made it from Atlanta to Columbia! That dress would have been paired with matching red pumps and big gold earrings in an equally powerful door knocker style. just sayin’ !! (great redo!)
Oh my gosh Anne, this is adorable.
I just love how you are standing at attention with the full dress on, so cute.
Blessings
Catherine
Amazing littler jacket you’ve created here. Can wear it with so many things.
very nice….. love the red and gold combination…
it’s so pretty nice..
your #1 fun from the Philippines
You are absolutely right about the big hair, but it was the early 90’s. I had that dress. Wore it on a cruise. ;-)))))
Love what you did!
SO cute. And what is that cocktail? I must know!
This would be a perfect lion tamer Halloween costume
Great job wish I had your vision too!
You’ve outdone yourself again, BRAVO ! ! ! ! So very glad you’re back ! ! ! ! !
As a working woman of a certain age in the 1980’s, it certainly looks like something I would have worn. Fantastic job! Great imagination!
Can’t wait to see what you do with the bottom half!
You are channeling your inner Michael Jackson. Love it!!
How fun! Makes me want to go find an 80’s piece and refashion it asap!
Fantastic refashion!
So adorable!!
Can’t wait to see what you do with the bottom half. I love the idea of repurposing the shoulder pads into eyeglass cases. Wish I had thought of that one!
Cute!!!
I absolutely LOVE this one, and you styled it perfectly! Great vision!
Very cute!!
Red is YOUR color!!!
Oh man, I wish I had your refashion vision! I had a 1980’s dress just like this, but in navy blue. I gave it away to the Salvation Army. It would have made a fabulous jacket! Sigh.
Incredible refashion, and seriously? You can STILL wear a t shirt from 8th grade?????????? WOAH!! Impressed!
I absolutely LOVE this one, super cute!!