Men's DIY Fashion

Right guys, there are so many D.I.Y fashion articles and blogs circulating the glossies and the web but most are aimed at the girls, with not much information for the boys. So I have decided it’s a good time to get one out there especially as most of us can’t afford to run out and buy a whole new wardrobe each season and I am sure, like me you have drawers full of clothes that you don’t wear anymore but haven’t quite got the heart to chuck out. If you are lucky enough to be able to run out and change your wardrobe every 3 months, then it’s always fun to do a bit of ‘DO IT YOURSELF’ fashion and create something UNIQUE to you.

I, myself am a serial DIY’er. I started modifying my clothes a few years ago for a couple of reasons. The first was simply that I just couldn’t find what I wanted in the shops, or I’d buy a gorgeous garment but it was just lacking a bit of edge. The second, and main reason I started customising my clothes was one night I was stood at a bar and to my horror I spotted a guy wearing literally the exact same outfit as I was! To my acquaintances dismay I protested that we leave the club immediately unless they could find a way to remove this style doppelganger from the premises. After a swift exit I thought to myself, this incident can never happen again, and so began the obsessive modifications.

I’m not saying completely re-tailoring a certain item of clothing is necessary but some small reinventing generally goes a long way. For example, in the recent sales I bought a last season, skinny, crinkle effect blazer with big boring black buttons up the cuffs and replaced them with big brass military ones which has transformed this tired little blazer to being pretty much the hottest ‘IN’ item in my blazer collection.

I have a few pairs of jeans (you know the old type, Bootleg) that I’ve sewn big coloured zips into the legs to taper them transforming them into a carrot / gun fit and I must say they look pretty good. I have even had strangers stop me in the street and ask “Dude where did you get your jeans from, they are sick, init”. This is when you can reply with a funny man joke like “your Mum” or you could just say “ah thanks, yeah I made them from some old Jeans”. I strongly recommend the latter. If you don’t want the big zips then you can just taper them in from the knee down (remember if the denim has no stretch you may want to put a tab of elastic on the ankle). You can even try bleaching your old stone wash jeans to get an Acid wash before you taper them.

If you’re feeling the studded look, there’s no need to go out and buy new t-shirts covered in studs when you have 10 Tees that you haven’t worn in months. You can pick up a variety of different fabric studs in most craft shops for a couple of quid and go wild on one of your old T’s, after all if it goes horribly wrong then you haven’t warn it for months anyway and you could just don it with pride “under a big jumper”.

Studded shoes and boots look great as well and they’re so simple to do, some flat back studs and some super glue and your half way there.

If you are not one for sweating it out over a sewing machine or you have no intention of hand stitching buttons, but would still like to re-invent some old pieces, then find a good tailor / alterations shop and tell them what you want and I am sure they’d be happy to do it for you. Or you could pick up the phone and in your most charming voice say the three magic letters… “NAN”!

We want to hear about your creative customs and ideas, so get involved in the comments page below.