A D-I-Y Christmas

  CEBU, Philippines -  Along with the holiday season are the numerous invites to a lot of parties. With that, the dilemma of what to wear rises. Plus, the ever-present problem of living with a tight budget.

This is the season to be jolly and to get a little extravagant in buying new clothes, new shoes, and other new stuff to wear for the month-long celebration. Who would want to go to a party donning the same get-up that you wore in another bash? (It's like having wardrobe-drought, if there's even such a word.)  

But that's not the case for a fine lady who has kept her budget at bay by wearing old clothes to different occasions. YES! You've read it right. She wears her second hand clothes (sometimes, her mom's or her sisters') to different occasions, but don't judge just yet. She magically transforms them into something different and classy.

Mariz, a communication student from a known university in Cebu, saw this vintage-looking waterfall-slash-mullet-whatever-you-call-it-skirt while she walked by a boutique. "That dress. That's what every girl wants," she pointed at it as if she was drooling all over such a beautiful masterpiece. But her happy hormones sank bottom deep when she saw its price tag. She sadly walked away, just like a kid who cannot bring home a toy that has tickled his fancy.  

To air out her frustrations, she headed to her closet, her sisters', and even her mom's. She wanted the vintage skirt so bad that she hoped for a vintage piece from anyone's closet collection. Of all the hanged garments, her mom's old duster caught her eye.

The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) videos she watched gave her tons of great ideas popping at every blink of her eye. Creative juices started flowing and fueled her to snip the shear and stepped on the pedestal as she trimmed and sewed the garment into something modern-looking and fashionable.

And viola! She saved herself from spending a hefty amount of six hundred pesos and made her own vintage-inspired floral mullet skirt. Thanks to her mom's old duster which had been inside the closet for years.

Her experimentation did not stop with her own version of a mullet skirt. She tried to play with dyes, too. Flare pants are so yesterday and hers was just about to get dumped, but she thought of doing another D-I-Y she watched online. Her favorite pair [of flare pants] just got rebooted as she cut it short and splashed it with red and yellow dyes.

And her favorite among her altered clothes is her acid-washed skinny jeans. Being her preferred pair, she found it hard to let go that's why she decided to add life to its plain hue.  (FREEMAN)