“One person’s trash is becoming my treasure this year. 365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. And the blogging begins…”
That’s how Marisa Lynch, creator of New Dress a Day (www.newdressaday.com), sums up her journey that led her to start the blog. It is not just another fashion blog, or another webstore for clothing or accessories. It is a fashion blog with a twist.
Marisa is unlike most other people. Normally, people mourn and find it difficult to get back on their feet again after being laid-off from a job. Most usually end up obsessing over what was wrong with their performances.
But that is not the case with Marisa.
Based in Los Angeles, she was laid-off from her job in the summer of 2009. Instead of looking for another job, this woman, nearly 30-years-old, who described herself as “having a personal-creative-funk-crisis”, decided to create a blog.
Marisa created the blog to challenge herself -- and her audience as well -- to turn any used or vintage clothing item worth no more than $1 into a brand-new and wearable piece of clothing. Here’s the catch: she would do it for one year, for 365 days. Calculations indicate there would be 365 dresses for $365 in 365 days.
Her first post was in November 2009, which meant she had recently achieved her goal of a new dress every day for a year. Now she is entering year two of her blogging endeavor.
Of course, behind every great blog there is great inspiration. Marisa’s inspiration came after watching the movie Julie & Julia.
“I was completely inspired by that film. It was something that made me think ‘What can I do to make me feel creative and get me out of my funk?’ I loved that Julie Powell found her inspiration cooking her way through Julia Child’s cookbook.”
“I love to cook, but that’s not as much my thing. Making a new piece of clothing clicked for me and in that moment I knew I found the way to get re-inspired, training myself to use my creative muscle on a daily basis.”
Her first intention when starting the blog was to give herself a constant, everyday something to look forward to and to have when everything else in her life was a little off-kilter. The blog’s success took her by surprise.
“I get so many emails each day from people who are inspired by what I’m doing. People write and tell me that I’m touching them by my experience and that means the world to me. I’m blown away by the enormous and incredible feedback from readers. This has been the most incredible year of my life. I’ve gotten more out of it than the readers I think!”
Not only have readers noticed her blog, but E! channel, a channel in the US dedicated to all things Hollywood and entertainment, featured her in a program called E! News. Although it was only a short feature, it definitely grabbed the audience’s attention, and mine as well.
Marisa originally came from New York but had been living in Los Angeles for the past 13 years.
Besides being a noted fashion blogger, her daily job is actually as editor for a travel book/website called Party Earth.
Now, remember that her rule for the blog is to start with dresses costing only $1, which may not be the easiest thing to do. That is why her main source of garments were garage sales, flea markets and a great pile sale every Sunday in a parking lot in LA.
So what if she finds something that costs more than a dollar?
“I will have to figure out how to create two things from one. I’ve turned dresses into two tops before,” she said.
Here’s the link for the dress she turned into two tops: http://www.newdressaday.com/2010/08/30/day-275-90-days-and-91-left-to-go/ .
But don’t be fooled into thinking that she spent seven days of the week shopping for bargain clothes, sewing and posting on her blog. She actually does her shopping over the weekend, sewing her clothes one day at a time over the course of a week.
“Let’s just say that I don’t get to sleep as much as I’d like to anymore, and I love to sleep,” she added.
When asked about running out of ideas, she simply described herself as a “fashion MacGyver”. She is confident that she will come up with something new every day. She found it exciting to play around with the garments and take risks – which also helped her to “come out of her shell”.
Running a blog that requires updates and management daily is definitely not easy. Time management is always a work in progress for her. Now that she has accomplished her goal, she said it’s not going to stop her from writing. She will continue on writing and continue on making clothes.
Now she is starting a donation drive where her readers can contribute by giving away their unused clothes. If you are interested in donating to the cause or simply just want to see her doing her “magic” in recycling clothes -- because she also gives video tutorials on how to recycle clothes -- don’t wait for it. Just click on her website.
