A woman who ditched her boyfriend of four years has been praised online after she turned a luxury handbag he had bought for her into a corset.
Beau, 21, split from her ex-boyfriend after she realised she wasn't happy in the relationship, and while she was throwing away several of the mementoes from their time together, she found it tough to part with the Louis Vuitton bag her partner had given her as a gift - even though it was "no longer special" to her.
So instead, she decided to transform the bag into a corset that she could wear with pride - and social media users have heaped praise on her for the creative move.
She said: "I made the decision to leave for a number of reasons. It was one of the best choices I ever made for myself.
"I decided to make the bag into a corset because I had gotten bored of it. It no longer felt special to me. I was really into corsets at the time and after laying out the pattern and seeing that I had enough fabric, I knew I had found the perfect use for my old bag."
To create the upcycled piece, aspiring fashion designer Beau started by deconstructing the accessory, using a seam ripper to remove the lining and disassemble the pieces.
She then laid out the material and pattern, cutting the pieces and assembling them.
"It felt great to make something new out of something that had just been sitting in my wardrobe and I was very pleased with how the corset turned out, especially as it was my first time working with that type of material", she added.
"It took a lot of figuring out as I went along and, although it honestly turned out better than I was expecting, I would definitely do a few things differently next time such as matching up the pattern and perhaps using a different colour for the bottom hem."
Beau ended up sharing her creation on TikTok, where it quickly went viral and garnered comments from people who couldn't get enough of the top's unique design.
One person said: "Something about destroying something your ex bought you helps the healing process."
While another added: "I understand those types of breakups, either you end up with black hair or you cut up bags."
The woman said she "never expected" her video to get the level of attention that it did, and has even had several people reach out to her asking if she can make custom pieces for them.
She explained: "I've had multiple people reach out wanting me to transform their old bags into unique custom pieces and I am working on producing more corsets out of bags. I would love to start making these corsets as a signature item for my shop.
"What started off as a fun healing project turned into a real opportunity for me and my business, and I'm really looking forward to exploring making garments out of bags."
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