Look of the Week: Ashley Graham’s shirt skirt and the return of DIY fashion
By Leah Dolan, CNN
(CNN) — What’s the difference between a men’s shirt and a women’s skirt? According to Ashley Graham, they’re interchangeable. The model, presenter and body activist was spotted in New York City on Monday in a pinstriped outfit that called for a double-take. Graham’s asymmetrical ensemble appeared as if the wind had blown a Oxford-style shirt to cling to her waist, backwards, with two sleeves flapping as she walked.
In fact, the look was hot off the summer runway. Designed by British luxury streetwear brand Charles Jeffrey Loverboy as part of its latest menswear line, the dress shirt came deliberately entangled with the frock. The post-punk-inspired collection pushed the humble cotton twill textile to its limits, blurring the line between office wear and pajamas, with scalloped-edged boxer shorts and striped shirts fashioned into office-style pencil skirts. At the show in London in June, models walked out with their hair standing on end, lipstick smeared and their eyes lined with heavy black.
On Graham, the shirt-dress was styled decidedly more straightforward — though it still emanated a DIY vibe that has been experiencing a fashion revival on social media, particularly when it comes to repurposed menswear. Creative TikTok users have guided viewers on how to transform an oversized button-down into a puffball skirt — much like the Schiaparelli number Sienna Miller wore at last fall’s Vogue World event to announce her pregnancy. (One such tutorial has even been watched over 1 million times). For a quirky maxi skirt, another user suggests buttoning two shirts together — and adding a belt under the collars to give the appearance of a tie.
Even Thom Browne — one of the most established and recognizable menswear designers working today — has embraced this subversive approach within his trademark tailoring. For the brand’s first couture show in 2022, Browne fashioned structured wool coats into calf-length skirts — the square shoulder padding giving models an sharp hourglass silhouette. In his Fall-Winter 2023 collection, Browne was more haphazard with his businesswear — deconstructing it with a childlike wonder as he buttoned together office shirts and blazers to make a voluminous skirt, clashing several stripe designs and finishing it off with a real tie.
And Graham isn’t the first celebrity to take note of the trend. During her Glastonbury performance, Dua Lipa wore a custom Acne Studios set that looked more like a feat of bedroom DIY than a luxury pop star get-up. Her embellished tank top was folded up into her bra for a more extreme crop, while her skirt was a repurposed oversized T-shirt — with the crew neckline on full display. Julia Fox, too, is no stranger to the power of upcycling, particularly in the pursuit of grabbing headlines: Whether it be a top made from neckties, or as was the case last weekend, a low-rise maxi skirt made from 11 pairs of men’s boxer shorts.
Love it or loathe it, this type of scrappy recycling has long been the entry point for early career designers and fashion fans. And in an increasingly costly economic landscape, the return of the DIY aesthetic feels more inclusive than any of the luxury logomania that came before. While there aren’t many celebrity outfits that can be easily recreated at home, those who feel inspired by Graham’s topsy-turvy skirt are — for once — in luck.
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