Repurposing Clothes: Fashion for All!

Over the past week, I have been working with lots of different people who need help with...excess clothing, or pieces which need "repurposing."

"Repurposed" clothing is the new term for recycling, reusing, or working with existing pieces and finding new uses for them. Since I work as a Style Consultants and Fashion Presenter, part of my work includes handling closet overhauls, estate sales, and wardrobe organization. As a result, I get to "play" with these extra pieces and find new homes for them.

Sometimes, this means taking career-ready separates to Bottomless Closet, where I know they'll go to a VERY good cause: helping women re-enter the workforce in style. Other times, casual pieces get taken to the Salvation Army, which always has a need for new inventory.

And sometimes, you get to take on the ultimate in repurposed fashion: resizing a classic vintage piece!
My great-grandmother, Celia Jackson (pictured above), was a true dainty English rose, and fashionable to the hilt. The Jackson and Williams side of my family immigrated from Lincolnshire, England, to the States in the late 1800's. Celia lived to be almost 95 years old, and judging by her taste in clothing, she was fashionable her whole life long!



The dress (shown above and below) was Celia's, and was made by a design house named Alex from Montclair, NJ. As you can see, it's a definite product of the 1950's. Made of China silk, the dress is fitted in the waist and has a flared cocktail-length skirt with matching bolero jacket on top. It's fabulously 1950's.





And it's TINY!!! My grandmother, Mary Jackson Foltz (also pictured above) was 5'2" and small-framed, but great-grandmother Celia must've been a slip of a thing! When I tried the dress on, the zipper refused to budge beyond the waist! Granted, I'm 5'8" and wear a size 6, so that may explain it, but still! The woman was in her fifties and wearing what would likely be a size 2 today!

In any case, it will soon be repurposed with a stretch panel in the pack, and worn by me at a later date.

And I look forward to repurposing my great-grandmother's style, taking it from the nifty fifties to the keen teens :)