Mondrian Blazer – Another Uniqlo Jacket Makeover

I really can’t leave blazers alone, can I? This time, I bought a plain off-white cotton blazer from Uniqlo that was around $40, so it wasn’t such a risk if I messed it up. My inspiration for this blazer makeover was Piet Mondrian. I love the graphic simplicity of his iconic color blocked paintings. And I was also inspired by Yves Saint-Laurent‘s wonderful Mondrian collection, which I was reminded of when I saw the documentary “The First Monday in May” as well as the biopic “Yves Saint-Laurent.” When I saw those dresses, I thought, “I want a blazer like that.”

To paint the design, I used DecoArt SoSoft Fabric Paint, which goes on like buttah, dries quick, and doesn’t even need to be heat set. I used 5 different colors, just like the original Mondrian paintings – white, yellow, red, blue and black. I needed between 2 to 3 bottles of each paint color to cover the blazer.I originally put masking tape on the jacket to help guide my paint job, but that was a disaster because the tape would not stick to the fabric. So I just penciled in the design and painted it freehand. The hardest part was painting the black lines. I wasn’t perfect, but you know my motto: “close enough!”

I love how it turned out. When I took it to the tailor to have the buttons sewn back on (I removed most of them before painting), he thought I bought it that way. He couldn’t believe I painted it. Thanks DecoArt!

This is the back.

I even got matching shoes. Now, I did not paint these. I bought them at Zazzle! I uploaded my own Mondrian-inspired design, and they printed — and delivered — my shoes in less than 48 hours. They’re super comfortable too.