Never party with girls in corsets… they love to get waisted

In a year that started out full of promise and optimism 2020 quickly turned into the year that won’t soon be forgotten but not in a positive way. TikTok has helped us maintain positivity while exploring our artistic side whether it was painting, cooking and even fashion. Arguably fashion has made the biggest impact in our day to day life now that we are reintegrating into society. From the comeback of 90’s grunge fashion to E-girl fashion we are no strangers to quickly changing trends. However not every trend to come out has automatically been a hit. The worst one in my opinion? The incessant need to turn every vintage shirt into a corset.

I’m no stranger to thrift shopping and upcycling older garments into new more modern fashion but just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should do it. From transforming sweaters into two piece outfits to custom painted air force’s I follow any and all DIY accounts on Tiktok. Having recently bought a sewing machine to have a hand at customizing my clothes I decided to give it a shot.

Not knowing what I was getting myself in to I opened up a box of shirts I recently separated to discard and chose a handful I didn’t mind losing to failed attempts.

Now, I am in no way an expert at sewing. Other than simply fixing the seam on my pants and fixing small holes in shirts I had only watching sewing hacks. In fact, I only recently learned how to measure waist (or even where my actual waist was.) Nonetheless I was able to find my true measurements from a chart on google. From the measuring to the cutting and recutting of the fabric I attempted it with 3 shirts. Yes! I was that stubborn to figure this out. At his point not even to actually wear it but to not be defeated by an “easy” tiktok upcycle.

The first shirt was cut too small not taking into account that space that needs for the seam. The second attempt was better but I still didn’t have a handle on the stitching needed to flow right. By the third attempt I got half-way and decided I had spent half my day on a sewing project I wasn’t even sure I would actually wear. In the end I end up giving in to defeat and stuck to judging the variations that popped up on my fyp. From vintage rock bands to modern anime shirts the variations didn’t stick to just one theme.

I guess you can say the trend for 2021 is “out with the new and in with the old.”

While I do believe a cute corset will boost your self-esteem straight to boss a** b***h and I definitely feel that every girl deserves at least one in her closet I don’t think every shirt should be a corset.

This trend like every other on Tiktok has a shelf life and from what I’ve seen hopefully this shelf life is short. Hopefully the trend of upcycling is able to stick around a lot longer. I truly believe that together we can get past the need for fast fashion and move toward a more environmentally friendly fashion that is also assessable for everyone. When upcycling it almost feels like your clothes has a history, whether you know the story or not.

As for me, I will continue to thrift and upcycle the most I possibly can. Excluding when I shop from my local creators. I can definitely expect the three R’s to keep trending when going into 2021. “Reduce, reuse, and recycle,” at least when it comes to clothes. We love to see an eco-friendly queen.