Repurpose, Reuse, Redesign

Sometimes you buy this beautiful top or skirt and wear it a couple of summers, then it sits in your closet and it's forgotten. The newer, trendier items take over and this item that you once loved is no longer worth our time.

But what if we can re-wear the item for different events or functions and make it look fresh and new again? What if we ditched the purpose we initially purchased it for, and used it for something entirely different? Well, sometimes, you do just that and bring back an old favourite as a completely new outfit.

I fell in love with this beautiful, long Calvin Klein dress the minute I laid eyes on it a few summers ago and I bought it right away. It's a very flowy dress that sits comfortably on me, still allowing me to eat and drink whatever I want - a luxury we don't have with most dresses that fit like a glove.

Vacationing in the Calvin Klein dress in Dominican Republic in 2016.

Of course, since having bought it, I have worn it every summer without fail for something or another. One summer, it was a child's birthday party, another summer it was my go to vacation dress, and the list goes on. Just last summer I wore it to a proposal party, and by that point I think I got slightly tired of it. It was no longer the cute summer dress, it had become the way too comfortable summer dress - more so than I had originally planned.

So this year, instead of ditching my once upon a favourite dress, I decided to put a different spin on it, and all it really needed was one additional piece that unintentionally matched perfectly. I wore this dress to a family function, and instead of wearing it as a dress, I styled it with a dupatta from a custom lengha I got made for my cousin's reception, and wore it like a long punjabi/anarkali suit.

Stole the dupatta from this custom made lengha

Because custom lenghas can be quite expensive, I intentionally had picked out fabrics that I thought can be reworn with other items if I wanted, but never expected it to go so well with this dress that I didn't even think of when I designed the lengha.

Nevertheless, when this family function came up, I really had no interest in going, but my mom, being a huge fan of that particular dress, suggested that I just wear that and go as a way to entice me to go (my excuse was that I had "nothing" to wear lol). I agreed to her idea, but when I put the dress on, I knew I would feel out of place when I got to the event as everyone would be in sarees and lenghas, so as I was going through my closet to see what other options I had, I came across my 3 week old lengha, and noticed how similar the colour of the flowers on it were to the dress I was wearing. I pulled out the dupatta and I knew right away it was going to work. I threw on a pair of earrings and some bangles and completed the look with a matching bindi.

Calvin Klein dress paired with dupatta from custom made lengha

The dress that I had once loved and was getting tired of made a reappearance, not as a dress, but as a punjabi/anarkal

You tell me, match made in heaven, is it not???

Cheers,

Her <3

Photo credits: The Sister