Chanel Dress

New Dress a Day: The Ultimate DIY Guide to Creating Fashion Dos from Thrift-Store Don'ts

Posted by Random House

About

Chanel is iconic, from the quilted leather handbags, to the fragrances, to the inter- twined C insignia. I adore a particular red, vintage Chanel dress with actual chain links draped from it. I thrifted a basic red, scoop-neck dress with an open neckline to match the Chanel version, but there may even be a dress in your closet right now waiting for a little pick- me-up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go with real 24-karat gold for my piece (gold is expensive, yo!), so instead, I substituted chain-link stencils and gold paint—the next best thing.

swap parties
Instead of thrifting one weekend, gather the girls for an afternoon swapping party! Everyone brings clothes they’re tired of; the gar- ments are hung on racks to shop through, and the gals go home with fabulous new duds. One friend’s trash is another friend’s treasure. Check out swap.com and TheSwapaholics.com for more ideas on online swapping and swap parties coming to your town, or hit up a local Buffalo Exchange, Cross- roads Trading Co., Beacon’s Closet, Wasteland, or Plato’s Closet, where you can sell your used items for cash, or trade for other merch in the store.

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You Will Need (6 things)

  • Tape (just a bit of duct tape to keep the dress in place)
  • Paintbrush (I used a foam brush.)
  • 5 Paint
  • Stencil (chain-link stencil found at Blick Art Materials)
  • Scoop-neck Dress
  • Work space Cover (paper bag, newspaper, or old sheet)

Steps (5 steps, 30 minutes)

  1. 1

    Begin with covering your work surface with newspaper, grocery bags, or an old sheet that you won’t care if paint gets on it. Lay the dress and tape the straps down to the work surface.

  2. 2

    Use a chain-link stencil and tape the stencil edges to the dress along the neckline, starting with the left side. Use the neckline as your guide for where the stencil should be placed as you go along.

  3. 3

    Use foam paintbrushes to apply the paint, dabbing it within the stencils.

  4. 4

    Let dry for at least 1 hour.

  5. 5

    Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until the neck is completely lined with painted chains.

    Faux Chanel is complete.