Chanel Dress

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