Reincarnation

So the semester has begun, and with that comes projects! First day of class for Apparel I we are told we have a week to make a new look out of two or more old garments. I used 1) this vintage hand-made dress, which I had bought years ago (for like twenty dollars?) at an antique mall and had not worn because I was not confident I could pull it off and 2) this $5.00 kimono from Ragstock (where do they get all those kimonos anyways? really cool fabrics) And then I got a dress at Goodwill for the notions (invisible zipper and hooks and eyes)

Here is the end result, modeled by my lovely and talented classmate Kelly (worn with my own necklace from a flea market and the heels I wore to  the dinner):

The design was really inspired the fabric – I wanted triangular shapes to be the focus of my design to reflect all the triangles in the dress fabric and the small zig zag pattern found on the kimono fabric. I also wanted to play with the idea of hiding and revealing the body with the sheer overlay in the front, the lace cutout on the side, and the straps that form a triangle on the bare back.