DIY Fashion

I know I'm way too old for this, but I've become fascinated by the DIY fashion movement. Apparently, the "younger" generation is rightly tired of being "told" what to wear by the fashion industry and corporate big business. That, coupled with a love of the environment, which translates into a reluctance to continue America's current love of throw away culture, equals a movement to individualize one's own environment, starting with the clothes on one's back.

Young people have figured out that fashion (and many other things) can be had for free, or very cheap, and individualized in a creative and fulfilling way. What's not to like?!

At the forefront of this movement is Threadbanger.com, a young, edgy website that shows DIY-ers how to do everything from design their own clothing, to make their own backpacks. Their how-to videos are posted on their website, as well as on YouTube. They even have a forum where people send in their own DIY ideas.

I will be the first to admit that many of these ideas are not new. The current vid on Threadbanger, which shows how to make a purse out of an old pair of jeans, is something I remember doing as a young teen.

The idea of reusing those ubiquitous plastic grocery bags is something my own dear mother in law used to do, much to the chagrin of a few of her children. She would wash out and reuse plastic sandwich bags, a trait that was easily explained by her growing up in New England during the Great Depression. Were she alive today, she would probably be intrigued, as I was, to learn of the possibility of crocheting a beach bag (or a throw rug) out of plastic bags! Ingenious!


Here is the latest Threadbanger video showing you how to make a purse out of old jeans. Does anyone else remember doing this as a teenager?!