Winter white drop waist dress: AKA Chanel knock off

 

This dress falls squarely into the 'what was I thinking' category. It is pure white, dry-clean only, Ralph Lauren wool suiting, made up in a dress for a mother of three. Go on, tell me that isn't just a little bit crazy. However, in my defence, the fabric was already in my stash, and nothing was ever going to make it more wearable, no matter how long I left it there. I'm going to chalk this purchase up to jet lag.

 

 

 

 

Obviously, it's another drop waist dress. The pattern is my own. You've seen it before on more occasions than you'd care to remember. This time, I switched the zipper to the back, added sleeves and some little front pockets. I drafted a new set of facings and lined the bodice with silk jersey.

 

Yep,  those are darts you see facing inside out. I'm not quite sure how I managed that one. Thankfully I got the back lining right.

 

 

 

My inspiration for this dress came from a picture I found on Pinterest. The link took me to an Asian website, so using my great powers of deduction, I'm going to have a stab at guessing that this is either a Chanel dress or one that is inspired by the great fashion house. It was the only picture of this dress I could find online. Aside from the gathers in the sleeve caps, I fell in love with everything about it.

 

It was one of those rare occasions that I had the pattern (drop waist, hello!), I had the perfect fabric, and I had a pretty keen desire to put some impractical stash to good use. I would rarely copy my source of inspiration outright (she says as she gathers fabric for her Dior coat knock off), but guys, this is Chanel!

 

Should I open up a can of worms here and ask what you guys think about copying designers? My personal feelings are that if you are giving credit where credit is due and not mass producing the items for sale, then it's no big deal. I'll always reference my point of inspiration, and since there was no chance of me ever purchasing the item in the first place, I'm hardly affecting anyone's bottom line. I do still feel like a bit of a cheat though.