Chanel Inspired - Patent Leather Skirt

I have been reading many many fashion magazines lately. I know. . .I should read books. . .Anyways, Chanel and other designers keep making these unlikely full leather skirts for fall. We are all used to leather making a nice pencil skirt, and then there were those A-line skirts that Gap kept selling during the 90s. Nowadays, it seems that designers are adding even more volume into leather--even making ball gowns with the stuff! That seems absurd, but it got me to wondering if I needed one. Not a ball gown. A skirt.

I had a piece of black patent leather from which I used a portion to accent on The Lady Grantham Dress, astute readers will remember. Anyways, seeing Chanel's new looks for fall, I got inspired to copy the silhouette and maybe I jump on the fashion train this fall too. . .but for no money. . .

Okay so see how that white is peeking out the bottom of the one on the left? I could only wear that with certain things, but I did like the white on the black. Also, the silhouette is a little obnoxious for every day--sticking out that far, I mean.

This is a better picture of a full leather skirt (the one on the far right). 

(These pictures are from the September 2013 edition of W magazine, by the way.)

This is what I came up with. It's a little toned down from the fullness of the skirts above (because there is such a thing as princessing people to death). I used the quilted white jersey (from this dress I made earlier) as the waist/hip band to help elongate my torso and minimize my hips. Also, the skirt comes down to almost the top of my knee so it's work appropriate. I didn't bother with a zipper because the jersey is stretchy enough to pull on and off.

I really like this sweater with it. Hard and soft. Notice my nod to Chanel again with the metal surrounded pearl buttons. 

I'm suuuuch a poser!

Chanel Inspired: The Split Sleeve Shirt/Dress

I used the shirts below (and Chanel's Spring/Summer 2013 RTW fashion show, of course) as my inspiration.

I bought the striped shirt from South Korea years ago and the pink shirt from a Chinese website. The pink shirt looks horrible on me, but I love the split sleeve idea, so I fused that idea together with the balloon bottom and full long sleeves of the striped shirt. When I get frustrated because I can't find an article of clothing in stores or online that I want, I start thinking of how to make it!

This is what I came up with. Originally, I wanted to make the entire thing out of the fuzzy grey jersey, but there wasn't enough material left (I had used some of it to make the top part of The Flashdance Dress), so I used the black jersey from The Coco Dress to make the arms and the band along the bottom. I think this shirt looks a little more Fendi than Chanel with the color blocking.

I actually used the striped shirt sleeves as the pattern for these sleeves, but wanted the shirt to look more cohesive, so I ballooned the bottoms of the sleeves to match the bottom of the dress.

I had a few tiny scraps of metallic from The Nude Shimmer Dress, so I put that along the capped part of the sleeve to draw attention to the shoulders.

Here's my "Cheap Walmart Knockoff" short cut to my earlier dresses: Instead of piecing the collar together the way I did for The Flashdance Dress, I just sewed a line through the top layer and inner facing to look like a mock collar. I think it looks just as good and helps with cohesion to the "Chanel Inspired" collection with less work. 

The back.

When you wear the shirt, it's not as obnoxiously split at the sleeves as when it's on a hangar or dress form.

Being silly.

The End.