Derek Lam inspired denim dress

I'm sure you've been waiting with great excitement for the grand reveal of my Derek Lam-inspired dress (since I teased about it here).  Sorry about that.  Without more delay, here it is.  

The big thing I wanted to recreate was the cool pockets.  Very unique in style and I figured out how the make them usable.  The pocket bags inside just go to hand-depth, so you don't lose stuff way down at the bottom of the top-stitching.

I cobbled together three patterns to make this.  Considering I didn't make a muslin (of COURSE I didn't), I'm very pleased with the fit.  The major change I made is to go with short sleeves for extended wear-ability here in Florida.  I can always wear long sleeves under or over it, but once it hits 75 degrees (about 9 months out of the year here), I'm not going to wear a long-sleeved denim dress.

Ok, so now I have some annoyed faces inspired by the model on the Saks 5th Avenue site.  I planned to make some dramatic side-by-side composites, but wouldn't you know they made it hard for me to swipe their pics.  Enter Pinterest as an intermediary.  The pics I could get weren't the clearest, though.  Sorry, Derek Lam.  I would totally buy your original dress if I had $1,190 laying around.                                                 

 Are my legs supposed to be a foot longer?  And my waist 6 inches narrower.  Oh well.

Today, I am wearing this dress.  Of course, I mommy-ed it up with a long sleeved shirt underneath, tights and a cardigan on top.  I could definitely make a top like this, though, which Saks pairs wtih the dress.  I have some ribbed black jersey in my stash.  For my photos, I wore a black short-sleeved sweater with a similar high neck, but I prefer the look of the close-fitting turtleneck.