DIY: Nude Deception - Reem Acra Red Dress

[Disclaimer: This diy was a big time pain in the butt to make, and  took a MILLION tries before the final product!!!!]

REEM ACRA INSPIRED RED DRESS

Reem Acra is one of my favourites, I have mentioned so in my post "haute couture" too. But one dress that just took my breath right away is this baby worn by one my favourite style divas Selena Gomez for her hit movie "Spring Breakers" premier. Okay, I'll be honest, I am not a Selena fan per se, or of her music for that matter, neither am I interested in following her private life ("to Bieber or not to Bieber…"). But she sure knows how to spell S.T.Y.L.E! 

Inspiration:

Out of all the dresses from 2013, this dress just takes the cake!

So, it actually came out in Reem's 2013 spring collection. Lovely ain't it? Well, it also kind of reminds me a lot of fabulous designs by another fabulous designer Zuhair Murad. However, it got most recognition it deserves months later when Selena wore it for her movie preview. I know a lot of people don't like the illusion nude and red underdress but that is the whole reason why I LOVE IT! The red embroidered inner is indeed just illusional and not sheer. I know this girl has not exposed till date in a wrong way and this is one of those examples. Also, many had a bit harsh things to say about the length of the dress too, but I guess that's the whole point of a gown - flowy and floor touching! But, that's just my opinion. Anyway, I was so smitten by the dress that I decided to make one for myself especially for this christmas <3

Gorgeous... Selena is becoming one of my favourite fashion divas!

Here's how:

Many, and I mean MANY, ideas came to mind when I planned to do this DIY (and mind you I've been planning since last year, right after the release of "Spring Breakers"). The first thought I got was to buy a red lace sheer bodysuit, of course that wasn't very practical cause all my privates would be on full display even behind a red chiffon curtain. Then I decided to make a maxi underdress using red lace fabric, but then again I changed my mind and settled on DIYing a nude maxi dress with red appliqués to give it a more nude illusion effect… And so on, I had many more approaches and ideas regarding the design and look for my DIY dress.

In the end I had the answer to my solution and, as usual, I opted for a much much MUCH simpler and cheaper approach… After months of searching EVERYWHERE, it finally happened! While I was on my usual eBay patrol, looking for sheer red lace fabric for the n'th time, there it was… A beautiful red lace on nude jumpsuit right on my screen, staring back at me, coxing me to buy it, telling me "look no further my dear lassi, here I am!!!"… And there you have it! 

Right, without further ado, here's what I used:

1. Red lace jumpsuit
2. Red chiffon fabric
3. Red thread and needle
4. A golden belt like my DIY golden diamanté belt to accessorise it with.

DIY directions:

Okay, a few things as a heads up, one must be careful while buying a bodycon jumpsuit, if not bought to the right fit it could give you a seriously hideous camel toe. Well, my jumpsuit was definitely my size but it still gave me an ugly camel toe (Oh! the down sides of bodycon jumpsuits!!!). Anyway, getting on with the dress and the final look, I started with these important steps:

1. Measuring out:
So, the dress consists of two layers, one inner dress/jumpsuit and one outer chiffon cover. I already had my lace jumpsuit ready, now all I needed was the chiffon flow. For this I bought a 2 meter long, 150 meter wide red chiffon fabric material. I measured out half and half for the front and the back, making sure the length covers the whole body of my lace jumpsuit. Now, just like the original I wanted to keep the sides of the jumpsuit visible while keeping the front and back of the jumpsuit covered.

2. Cut, copy, paste:
Next was the Time to add the delicate curtain… I did it in these steps:

Step 1: Just take the first (front) half of the chiffon pieces and divide it at the top till the belt line. Repeat the same for the back half and then sew them together at the top edge like so:

Step 2: So, time to hem the materials. I just folded the fabric's edge and pinned it together, then I used the fusible iron-on tape and iron to hem it. Yup, easy route as always :p

I also stitched the front and back pieces together at the shoulder sections like so:

Step 3: Now sew the top ends of the chiffon curtains on to the shoulders of the jumpsuit. For this I gathered the material together where the front and the back pieces are stitched together and then sewed it on to the shoulders.

Step 4: Time for the exciting (and the most annoying) bit - the centre of the dress. I gathered the chiffon material near the middle of the dress as I did the materials on the shoulders, pinned them down and stitched them on to the belt line of the jumpsuit.

Repeat the same for the back section of the dress.

This step indeed took a lot of tries and believe me when I say this putting on and taking off jumpsuits 10 times in an hour is not very efficient. Also, the stitches kept coming undone if too tight.

Step 5: If you want the chiffon to flare here's a little trick - just sew the bottom ends on either side of the dress together. That way the chiffon will not accumulate between your legs and will flare out like a pretty flowy gown. 

Step 6: Finally, accessorise it with gold belt (here is one that I made myself) and red necklace if you'd like since I do not have the pretty red lines on my front like the original Reem Acra dress. I just wore mine with crystal earrings and golden pair of shoes...

And there you go!

Of course mine is just a DIY dress "inspired" by the original rather than a proper imitation, but I am pretty happy with the result. I would like to do an actual imitation dress someday with a different colour, perhaps turquoise or jade green… What do you think?

Lots of "crafty" love,

JB