DIY King of Pop Military Inspired Jacket

By Roseann

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I suspect that we will see a lot of MJ impersonators this Halloween, so I’d like to help those who are interested in celebrating the King of Pop’s iconic style do it right.  The late pop star’s style was always evolving and maturing from his bell bottoms and afro in the early 1960’s to tailored and refined yet glitzy looks of late.  While the white glitter glove became the corner stone of MJ’s on stage uniform, military inspired jacket’s endowed with cording, crests, and rich shoulder embellishment will forever remain inscribed in my mind as his most important contribution to fashion.  Creating the jacket is easy and paired with the right accessories will make a great Halloween costume or an awesome addition to your closet this Fall.  

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Materials:

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How to:  

  1. Remove the buttons from your jacket.
  2. Cut 8 pieces of metallic cord to 8” long.
  3. Curve the cord around so that the two sides are parallel to each other and the ends are even.
  4. For ease of workability I stitched the parallel sides together
  5. Remove the closure loop and knob of your frogs, you just need the design loops.
  6. Glue the rhinestone appliqués to the shoulders of the jacket.   If this piece is for more than costume, I recommend stitching the appliqués on.
  7. Attach your patches or crest to the left arm.  In case you wanted to get really authentic you could attach a band of ribbon or leather around the right arm.
  8. Glue or stitch (recommended) the metallic cord pieces to the front of the jacket in place of the buttons and covering the button holes.
  9. Attach the ornament portion of the frogs over the unfinished ends of the cords
  10. Measure 1 ½” from the end of the sleeve and mark.  Following these marks sew or glue the remaining metallic cord around the sleeve.  Depending on how much is remaining you could do a second row.
  11. If you used glue let dry for 24 hours before wearing out.
  12. Happy dressing up!

4 thoughts on “DIY King of Pop Military Inspired Jacket

  1. Thanks for the great ideas. I do a benefit concert every May ala “Liberace” and I am always looking for great ideas especially using trims to dress it up. Thanks.

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