When this piece came in from Ryan in Cheyenne, WY, I knew that I could make it totally party worthy. I mean, it was gold...you can't really go wrong with a metallic party dress, right? "I thought this dress could be turned into something really great. The color and material are nice and it has definite potential. There is a blackish spot on the front that you could hide with something or just cut off. I'm excited to see what you do with it and where you wear it!"
There were some stellar shoulder pads in this dress, and that black dot was pretty apparent on the front of the dress.
This is going to be the dress to ring the new year in!! Let's get cutting...
I began by trimming the dress about a little over an inch below the dark mark.
It's going to still be a dress, but just a smidge shorter. Once the piece was trimmed, I began to pin the raw edging...
...to prep for sewing the new hem!
Once the bottom was pinned, I took out the shoulder pads, and began to work on the top. I decided to turn the dress around and wear the back as the front. Currently the front of the dress just drapes across the chest, so this will translate wonderfully as the new back.
Working on the new front, there was a seam straight down the middle of the piece, so I got my seam rippers and began to de-stitch. Starting at the very top, I removed about four inches of seams to create a little keyhole look.
I wanted to add something else to the front, so I went with the floral excess from Cheryl's dress featured two weeks ago (Refresher HERE)...
...and pinned the back of the flower...
...to the bottom of the slit created. Just a little more NYE flair, like you do.
I took the dress to the sewing machine where the ensemble was finished up!
Paired the new dress with some fishnets, boots, and red lips - I think I was channeling a little Bob Fosse in this outfit, because later in the night there was some singing along to "All That Jazz" where I recreated the Roxie Hart choreography - my 2011 into 2012 look was complete.
I brought a gold tweed jacket to accompany, because you can never really have too much metallic, especially when it's chilly out.
I got to spend the eve with my jewel toned gals overlooking scattered displays of fireworks around the LA landscape.
We danced our faces off to a melange of Michael Jackson, Biggie Smalls, and the Violent Femmes and even crafted a circle where everyone showed off their best moonwalk.
Flanked by a few fine fellas...
...I rung in the new year with champagne in hand.
We took a street pic using RR's car as the quad-pod to rest the camera while the timer caught us in early-2012ness.
On the way to the party, we drove past a house decked out in lights and we told ourselves that we just had to take a photo on the way home. Unfortunately, Santa's Workshop had closed up shop for the evening by the time we left.
Before closing down the evening, another stop was made to hang out with a few more friends. LG provided the tiaras and the forum for me to channel my inner Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart. (I won't show the photos from this one - the one mouth open singing/mid-kick shot is less than flattering.)
Such a perfect night to spend with some super cool people. Just the way to kick off the new year.
And, to kick off the new year in style, I'm giving away some totally fashionable goodies. The Devil Wears Prada, a What to Wear Notepad by Knock Knock to document daily garb, a necklace with a Fendi lookalike purse charm, a small vile of red nail polish, and a devil tattoo.
This movie is one of my favorite book-to-film adaptations and I'm always obsessed each time the jacket/outfit changing montage comes on. Makes me want to cruise to NY for some dress up.
To win, leave a comment below naming the one thing you want to do this year. It can be a resolution, a place you want to visit, any one thing you'd like to accomplish. The winner will randomly be chosen tomorrow (1/4)! (PS, winners update - congrats to DinaB & Chelsey Watson!)
