Monday, July 20, 2009

Style Spy DIY -- Dior Edition

So. after ooh-ing and ahh-ing (and quite frankly drooling all over my keyboard -- what a mess!) at the Dior Haute Couture, I decided I needed to get a little vintage lingerie into my life. There's all kinds of sheerness and lace and lingerie-inspired stuff going on in fashion right now and I wanted to get in on it.

I decided
not to take this route:



Because, while it certainly is wonderful, I don't think even I want that much attention. Also -- sitting down. Yikes.

What I did come across was this:


Once again, Connie Day, at the Antique Mall here in Austin, comes through for me. Gorgeous, gorgeous thing.

Let me just explain that the DIY part of this endeavor was
not limited to browsing around in the air-conditioned comfort of the Antique Mall looking at beautiful things. This vintage long-line bra is in amazing condition. Except. The foam rubber padding that lined the cups had hardened and then disintegrated. It was like two bags of coal dust, or crumbled charcoal. An hellacious mess, is what it was, that left me gritty all over my hands and black under my fingernails and around my cuticles whenever I handled the thing. I had to split open the seams on the back side of the cups and scoop all that stuff out with a stiff brush and my increasingly-filthy fingers. It took forever, and it was a gigantic pain in the ass, frankly, not to mention a hideous mess. And then the alterations had to begin. Because this little item is a 36C, the cups were way too big for me, even over clothing. (Because it is a vintage 36C, the bodice, on the other hand, fits me like a glove. Numbers, apparently, were smaller in the 50's. Mysterious.) I had to basically remove the top half of the cups, take in a couple of darts along the sides next to the underwire, and then re-apply the trim that I removed from the original edge. That was much less a pain in the ass, but it took a while. Worth it, however, because it's just fantastic-looking.

First, inspired by this,






I went for a day look. Well, maybe not a day look, per se. Can it really be called "daywear" if there's a visible lingerie component? Probably not. At any rate, I came up with this:

(Happier than I look, I promise.)

This is all stuff that was already in my closet -- Theory blouse, super-basic high-waisted Kay Unger pencil skirt, Cole Haan calf-hair pumps.

But what I was really hankering for, of course, was something like this:



Because if you're gonna go Dior-inspired, my friends, go big or go home, right?

First I tried a full-on Dior homage:


The shoes are my Michael Kors Bad Girl shoes, the blouse is random but great white cotton number, and the skirt & hat are both vintage. We all know I'm a freak for tulle, and when I saw this skirt in a vintage store several years ago, well, I like to lost my mind, as we say around here. Because not only does it look wonderful, but you can do this:


Wheeeeeeeee!!!


After establishing that I like the bustier over a blouse I wanted to play with the transparency idea a little more, so I tried this:

This is the DIY project I posted about not long ago -- the lace top whose sleeves I cut off. I like this a lot, too, I like the play of the two different kinds of lace together.

Being the kind of person I am, I happen to have more than one tulle skirt in my closet. (Yeah, I know, I'm a freak.)


(This called for different shoes, of course. Pinkish-gold glitter Pedro Garcia pumps. Love these shoes.)

So I gave it a whirl. I'm less crazy about this for some reason, but I wanted to shoot for some of the transparency in the skirt, like in this look




So I put a black half-slip under the skirt:


This is a little less successful, I think. The dark slip read better in the mirror than it does in the photos, but it still looks more like a mistake than a choice, I think.


There was one more thing I wanted to try:





This is a vintage crinoline that I've had for quite a while. I don't have a black garter belt, and the shorter layer underneath is a shortened slip, not tap pants, but I think this is pretty close. Honestly, I really love this. I was this close to wearing it to the Austin Fashion Week Awards Sunday night (about which more later, but here's my capsule review: "Oh, dear.") but it was, as it has been for seemingly years this summer, incredibly hot and I really didn't want to deal with that bustier in 105ยบ heat.

So there you have it. What do you think? Any looks that particularly speak to you?




Images: Style Spy, Style.com




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12 comments:

Frances said...

The black tulle skirt with the white shirt. Pretty and swishy. Swishy!

teteatete said...

Oh, I love (!!!) that last look. It's a shame it was too hot to wear it.

dana said...

Fabulous! Go Dita! Except with a modern vibe. Love it.

Marsi said...

My favorite was the black skirt with the white buttondown shirt topped off with your new lace bustier. What a great experiment!

Claudia said...

I think that last one is my true favourite. I do like the black slip under the white, but you make a good point about it not being absolutely obvious that it is a fashion choice rather than a mistake. And when it's not obvious... maybe it's not a great idea :) I think that last one is perfect!
(Very much looking forward to the fashion review, btw...)

Tellicherry said...

The first three looks - you are too adorable!

Susan B said...

I think the ensembles with the fuller skirts work best. LOVE the white blouse and black tulle skirt!!! Wonderful juxtaposition of elements.

Mardel said...

I love it with the black tulle skirt and the white shirt; but I also love it with the red shirt and the pencil skirt. What fun!

Stephanie said...

Best post ever! I love all the looks but especially the last one. I like seeing how you interpret the genius of Dior into everyday wear. *applause*

StyleSpy said...

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Gald you enjoyed the post, it was a lot of fun to do.

littlemissme said...

The second and third looks really work on you! You look amazing! And there's nothing ridiculous about having two tulle skirts! I would as well if I had half a chance...as it is I just buy them for my five-year-old. She's rocking a blue tutu as daywear today. :)

CompassRose said...

I like the tulle skirt with the white shirt, too. The white tulle skirt... I think... Don't you have a black sheer top? I wonder if that might not look simpler, instead of slicing it up into cream-black-cream layers? (More like the Dior looks?)

The last one I don't care for at all, although that slip would be lovely under a femmy jacket. Too much laciness.