Lots of women have them hiding in the back of the closet where no one will see them. You know what I’m talking about, the dreaded bridesmaid dress. Sometimes they are simply awful and you’re embarrassed to wear them much less spend a fortune on it in the first place. Other times the dress isn’t too bad but for two hundred bucks you should get more than one wearing out of it. There are lots of ways you can repurpose any dress and get some more bang for your buck no matter what you’re forced to wear.

Shorten those hemlines
The old “oh you could shorten it and wear it again” really does apply. Now it won’t work on all dresses because of the styles but there are several that it will and make for a lovely outfit to wear at another function or date night. You can even completely change the hemline taking it to a new level so it will look entirely original and have a more fun, sexy or darling look to it. Give the dress a fringe bottom even for a costume, the possibilities are endless.

Give it a dye job
Change the color and you instantly have a new dress. Some people might not even recognize the dress style after you alter the color if the change is drastic enough because different color palettes and tones attract the eye to various parts of the dress based on light and shadows. Where a pink dress  might draw the eye to the detailing of the bust a black dress could draw the eye downward to the curves of the hips because the black lines accentuate this feature and hide the bust detailing.

Add embellishments
Details such as beads, rhinestones, sequin and embroidery can make anything look entirely new and give it a second face. Add embellishments to the dress or if it already has too many take those off and cover the area with a new piece of sheer fabric to hide any holes left behind by the sewing. In addition to the embellishments you can always add some fun, funky jewelry to create a new look entirely.

Make something new
Take the whole dress apart so you just have the fabric and any detailing elements then start from scratch and sew yourself a new dress. Basically you’ll just be salvaging the fabric but this is still worth it because you’ll be able to make something you like and will wear again as opposed to a dress that just hangs in the back of your closet or is tucked away in storage somewhere.

Give it to someone else
If you know of someone who would love to wear it and has the occasion to do so then give it to them. They’ll appreciate the thought and you might even be able to exchange dresses, she gives you one and you give her one. That way the dresses are still new to you and you get more wear out them. This is fun if you have friends close to your size where you can make the clothing swap possible.

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Tags: brides, Bridesmaid Dress, bridesmaid dresses, weddings

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 9:55 pm and is filed under Bridesmaid Dress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.