Keep Your Wallet Full of Green

The M. Rundown:

I’d like to begin my first blog entry by thanking the readers who have subscribed thus far. The fact that you took the time to subscribe to Artsy MaQnolias is really something special and you all deserve enough balloons to float a house and a kiss on the cheek! I can’t really give you either at the moment so please just accept my many thanks! My hopes for my segments of this blog are to give my opinions and thoughts of the fashion world from my standpoint in life. Along with fashion, I am also truly passionate about art, books, music, and especially film. I know that without having loved all of these things I would never really be able to appreciate fashion. With that being said, I also plan on giving you little pieces of me in regards to my views on the world and everything in it that interests me.

The Proposition:

A, Q, and I have decided to coordinate our posts with an "Artsy" monthly theme. For March we have decided to “Go Green” in every sense of the phrase. Today, I want to focus on “going green” in regards to saving some "green," i.e. sweet moola $$$ and I'm also presenting you with a project. I want to show you how easy it can be to recycle old pieces of clothing into something new and fresh. Shopping secondhand has always been a favorite pastime of mine. Honestly, I can have just as much fun shopping at a Goodwill or Salvation Army as I can browsing at my favorite store, Anthropologie- you just have to LOOK! I love the challenge of finding treasures at a discounted price…a VERY discounted price! Some of the BEST pieces in my closet cost me no more than $3.00- NO LIE! So, in this time of economic despair, I urge you to take some time and at least try shopping secondhand. Try out a consignment shop. Put it on your "to-do" list. You could really save a lot of $green$ on new clothes and I've got a sneaky feeling you may even like it!

Lil' Project For the Week:

I'll admit it, I’ve always had the urge to embellish, whether it’s in conversation or my wardrobe, so this was a fun project for me. I decided that I would try to flip something old in my closet into something new. I wanted to re-vamp something that the everyday person might already have in their closet, bottom of a dresser drawer, or like me, in a trash bag headed for Goodwill. I chose an “I love NY” tee shirt that was once loved by this young lady and bought for $5.00 on a New York street corner. “Rocker chic” is always in style and of course, so is New York, so I went for it and turned up the volume on this sad little tee! Sid and Nancy took over my style aesthetic on this one, but no worries, nobody was stabbed in the Chelsea Hotel in the making of this blog.

My method of madness:

1. Cut the neck hole and sleeves to give a daintier, feminine feeling, much like the old ballet and dance sweaters, circa “Flashdance.”
2. Shredded top with scizzors somewhat to give it a 1980’s rocker vibe.
3. By the use of hand-stitching, I added genuine black leather epaulets with red topstitching at the shoulders.
4. Black and silver chains were stitched beneath epaulets, which sweep across the neckline to give the appearance of jewelry. I also felt that the original “I love NY” text needed something extra so I added dimension and artistic flare by adding red and black fabric paint across the front.
   
   

The finished product would look great alone with black skinny jeans or paired with a boyfriend blazer. Also, you needn’t worry with a necklace because there’s already one there! I’m not lying when I say I think this a "green project" anyone can take on.

With a little time and some chic hardware, I ended up really happy with how this sweet tee found its way back into my closet...

"Looking good Billy Ray!

Feeling Good, Louis!"

peace out,

M.