So you picked up a jacket at the thrift store but it’s looking a little bland – what to do? Here are a few ideas to add a little edge to your clothes, minimal extra purchases required:
- Add studs and spikes
You can get spikes and studs for pretty cheap online (I got these studs on Amazon for $10), and you just need to arrange them and bend the prongs in to attach! It’s really easy when you get the hang of it, and they make any outfit instantly cooler.
- Rips
A classic. I love a pair of ripped tights with any outfit to edge things up (cheap tights rip pretty easily, so I just let them rip naturally and keep wearing them until they’re a total pain to get on), and denim or knitwear with holes looks instantly edgier if worn correctly.
Of course the easiest + most sustainable way to get holes in your clothes is to wear them into the ground, but if you want holes/fraying faster, you can use scissors, safety pins, razors, or really anything sharp to distress your clothes.
- Paint or draw on it
Pick up some fabric pens or acrylic pain/paint pens and experiment with drawing directly on your clothes. This requiressome good art skills or stencil making, but looks super cool when done well. Example of a design below, provided for inspiration but make sure you don’t directly copy anybody’s designs.
Some people paint images relating to their favorite band, edgy imagery like skulls or snakes, or any logo/word/symbol you’d like. Grab some fabric paint and experiment! I’ve also been having fun spray painting on stuff lately (just using acrylic spray paint from Blick Art Supplies), either spraying the edges or making stencils to end up with certain designs.
- Bleach
You can paint designs with the bleach, spray it in certain areas, or do a whole acid wash. Some fabrics bleach others + it’s a learning process to get it to look the way you want, but it can make some cool looks!
- Safety Pins
Safety pins are great to adjust the fit of a garment in a pinch, but also look cool and punky on your clothes.
There’s so many other cool + creative ways to mess with your clothes, comment below if you have any more suggestions! 🙂 Definitely going to be experimenting with more of these.