Karl Lagerfeld, head designer for luxury fashion labels Chanel and Fendi, recently designed a black diamond and emerald detachable collar. Price tag: $38,000. The stylish accessory has been all over the runways and street style blogs and is a fun, unique twist on the statement necklace (not to mention a key accessory in the new Steven Soderbergh movie, Magic Mike). I decided to DIY the luxe accessory and see if I couldn’t bring down the price a bit.
Septembre Anderson in her DIY collar
Materials
- Dress shirt (the stiffer the collar, the better)
- Glittery buttons (swapping out the precious gems — talk about a budget saver!)
- Seam ripper
- Hand sewing needle, and thread to match shirt
- Fabric marker
DIY
STEP 1
Use seam ripper to separate collar from the rest of shirt. “Rip” (or cut) every second or third stitch, being extra careful not to tear the collar in the process.
STEP 2
Sew buttons onto collar points of shirt. (Here’s a great tutorial on sewing a shank button — that’s a button with a little loop at the back — onto a shirt.) You can eyeball the button placement, or use a fabric marker to place a dot where the button will go. The fabric marker will fade, or rinse out in the wash.
And that’s all she wrote, folks! Your detachable collar, while not bedazzled with emeralds, diamonds and other precious stones, is ready to wear. I opened up the buttonhole and replaced the button on the collar to give the neckwear a little more oomph! This easy-to-do DIY can be further simplified by swapping the buttons for earrings.
Approx. cost
So, how does $50 (down from $38,000) sound to you? The larger buttons were $15 each, and the smaller button was under $5; the shirt was from H&M, $15. Of course, those are just my sources — feel free to use your own, not to mention add your own twists.
If you try this DIY, let me know in the Comments below, or Tweet me your results at @SeptembreA or @slice_tv!
Septembre Anderson is a passionate journalist, blogger and fashion enthusiast who lives, works and shops in Toronto, ON. Her work has appeared in FASHIONMagazine.com, FILLERMagazine.com, HuffingtonPost.ca, and Sway magazine. Read her posts every Wednesday on Slice.ca.
