Discarded to Divine....my process: taking boring clothes and making them cool!

I just finished another clothing project that I am excited to share with you about. It was created for the St. Vincent De Paul's "Discard to Divine" charity auction. This fabulous event asks professional and aspiring designers to transform discarded, donated clothing into couture fashions. The pieces are auctioned off to raise funds to help the poor and homeless at their annual fashion show and auction.

I participated two years ago and loved it so much that I was eager to contribute again.

For the first step, I had Maurice (my terrific intern) go to the St. Vincent shelter to pick out whatever clothing inspired him.
For me, it added another challenge of not knowing what clothing he would chose and whether it would be something I could work with or not.

I was actually happy not to be blown away by a collection of amazing fabrics here. So when Maurice brought back some mundane items, I knew my creativity had room to blossom.
The selection was as follows: one tan blazer size 12, one sage green blazer size 12, one navy blazer size 10, one frumpy blue dress and a rainbow colored skirt.

I was especially uninspired by the blazer situation. They were so neutral and boring to me. Generally I go for much brighter things, but even the multi-colored skirt wasn't pushing my buttons. It reminded me too much of those bad 1970s crochet blankets that were so popular.

After much deliberation, and practical thinking I decided the mundane could work to my advantage and focused more on form than color to carry the piece. I went with the basic construction of the tan blazer as a base. I liked the idea of reworking its original shape.I was inspired here by Martin Margiela and the way he boldly reworks classic styles to make them cutting-edge and unexpected.

From a practical point of view, I decided that the form of the garment would be a vest. Because they almost fall into the accessory category and they are easy to add to almost any look. They are also easier to fit on different body types. And anyway, besides having fun with the project my goal was to make a fabulous piece and it be very accessible so that it sells and for good $$$$....this is a charity and in the end it is really about helping the poor.

Back to the process--the tan blazer was a size 12, so I had a lot of fabric to play with. I started pinning and tucking and folding and playing around with pleats and darts and gathers until I found a shape that appealed to me. Then I decided that it needed volume and shape around the collar. To fix this, I took the collar off of the green blazer and ruffled it and added it to the vest. Then I decided it need yet more volume and I took fabric from the frumpy blue dress and ruffled it asymmetrically around the collar as well.

I liked the navy blazer and somehow decided that it should go around the bottom of the vest, and it had the effect of smoothing and simplifying the top in a calming way.

One of my favorite details are the front pockets which I added the cuffs of the tan blazer to the pocket flaps (as seen in picture to the left) For me, it has the effect of being funky and surprising--plus--the added benefit of coordinating the top to the bottom of the vest.

Overall, the piece is stunning. Trying it on, I looked so good it was hard for me to give it up. It is the kind of item I would wear all the time. My hope is that whoever wins it feels that way too and gives it an exciting life like it deserves.