We tried a TikTok style hack for turning button down shirts into skirts – here's why it didn't work

• We tried a Tiktok tutorial for transforming button down shirts into skirts.
• This hack has been around for awhile, but fashion blogger Chriselle Lim's take on it results in a chic and modern skirt.
• Unfortunately, our attempts weren't too successful– our final results looked nothing like the skirt that Lim, also known as TikTok's "rich mom", created using her husband's shirt.
• Our sleeves weren't long enough to tie around our waists, and our shirts kept bunching up.
• Check out more of Lim's tutorials on TikTok.

The following is a transcription of the video:

Kyle Kerchaert: Looks like you take this shirt. [laughs] I feel like I look so dumb. OK. Yeah, she starts with it here. [error message pings]

Irene Kim: I found another hack I want us to try.

Nico Reyes: No. [all laugh]

Irene: There's no cutting this time, there's no cutting.

Nico: Oh, well then yes.

Irene: OK, I'm gonna play it for us.

Nico: I've seen this woman.

Kyle: I am obsessed with her. It's Rich Mom.

Irene: I love Chriselle Lim. So, it's turning a shirt into a skirt.

Nico: Oh, my God, that looks really good!

Irene: This is something you could, if you desperately needed a skirt at the last minute, you could potentially put it together and go.

Kyle: Irene is always finding herself in these desperate, last-minute situations.

Irene: Listen, my life is a series of last-minute situations. I don't know what to tell you. So that's what's on my mind.

Kyle: I have a confession to make about this. I have actually done this before.

Nico: To, like, work?

Kyle: Not to work.

Nico: Oh. [Irene laughs]

Kyle: To dinner. You know, I was in a situation where it was really hot, and I had pants, and I didn't have a chance to go home and change.

Irene: OK, see? So these situations do happen.

Kyle: And I did this, and it worked, and it was cute, and it was really comfortable, so I feel very positive about this.

Irene: I am kind of confused with all the little tucking and how it stays together.

Kyle: Yeah, I think the success is all gonna depend on the shirt that you start with.

Nico: Yeah, but I feel like it's made an outfit, and that's the only way I would wear it. Like, she used a jacket, she accessorized it really well, so I feel like I would have to do that to wear it out.

Irene: This has to be styled. Ooh, so we get to put together a final look for this one.

Nico: Fashion show! Irene: Fashion show!

Kyle: I feel like we all have a really good shot of coming out of this with a cute outfit.

Nico: Fingers crossed. OK, so we're obviously in my closet. I already have, like, a No. 1 shirt in mind, and it's this one right here, but I just wanna see what my options are, so let's look. Irene: I am now in my dad's closet 'cause I'm gonna steal one of his shirts.

Kyle: Welcome to my closet, my temporary closet. I am currently at a beach house. I really only have one option for this challenge, so it better work.

Nico: There is my No. 1. This is what it looks like. It's just, like, an old man's shirt. We have a more orange-y version, still plaid. It looks not as long as my first option, and I feel like the one thing I'm scared about is this being too short.

Kyle: Even though it's my only choice, I'm pretty happy with it because it's a men's shirt that I thrifted so it's very, like, [rustling] sturdy in fabric.

Irene: Initially I wanted to do white because Chriselle's came out so good, but now I'm realizing my dad actually has this pink and white striped shirt, which actually looks fun. Who hangs hooks backwards? This closet's also not very wide, so this is a struggle, but this looks fun.

Nico: I'm gonna go with my gut, go with my first choice, which is this red plaid. I feel like it's thick enough, it's long enough, and because it's a little bit bigger, I think the sleeves will be easy to tuck.

Irene: I just realized I can't start the hack because I forgot to clean my room, and it's really bad. I hate cleaning!

Nicola: OK, maybe you are an earth sign. [laughs]

Kyle: I have a feeling I'm gonna be watching this video a lot as I do it, 'cause it happens so fast. [tape fast-forwarding] Looks like you take this shirt. And she, like.... [laughs] I feel like I look so dumb. OK. Yeah, she starts with it here. [error message pings]

Nico: So, we have one, two, three. Does she button it all the way down? No, it just looks like she just buttoned this one top button.

Irene: All right, I have my shirt that I stole from my dad. I button with this top one, I have to, I'm gonna be squeezed into this, so I'm gonna go with this...is this even even? OK, I'm gonna go for this section, this row of buttons, so that I can breathe, and then I think I'll use a belt if I have to keep it up. Oh, actually, I think this, OK, this stays up. It stays up.

Kyle: I feel like this part is crucial because there's so much, like, extra fabric right here. I think if I don't fold it right, it's gonna be very lumpy and not look cute. [tape fast-forwarding] How are the arms that long on her shirt? What?

Nico: So, I have to turn this this way. Pull, fold. This gets tucked up. I don't know, I'm already feeling things crazy. And I think she tucked this shirt sleeve into here? I don't know where this shirt begins and ends right now. I have no idea what's happening. How did she get the other side to not show up? Oh, God.

Irene: Wrap the arms around my waist? This is, oh, what do you do if this doesn't go around your whole waist, though?

Kyle: How am I supposed to wrap and tie that?

Nico: Oh I actually did it. Maybe it's just, like, hers is a better fabric or something. This is a little lumpy and a little full. Like, this looks like I just tied a shirt around my waist, it doesn't look like I'm wearing a skirt at all.

Kyle: OK, I've actually done this before. Like, I truly, in real life, have worn a shirt as a skirt, and I feel like when I did that, I started pretty differently, and I wanna see if I just do that, what's gonna happen.

Nico: We got our new shirt, the surprise shirt. Business on the outside, wood cutting on the inside. These steps just are not making sense to me. Like, it starts off very easy, but then it all moves so fast with no, like, directions on screen to kind of walk you through it. Maybe I'm just old and stupid, I don't know.

Irene: I'm gonna go middle school on this. We're gonna use hair ties. The only time it looks like a skirt is if I stick my leg out of the slit like this. Imagine me just walking into work like... hello.

Nico: I do feel like there's a way to make this at least somewhat passable for a few pictures, but if you ever see me in the streets looking like this, I give you full permission to make fun of me.

Irene: Let's play this, I wanna see.

Nico: It's not that bad, so far! OK, that looks like a skirt.

Kyle: That's so cute! No.

Nico: It's going so fast. This looks really good! Everyone looks good!

Irene: Oh, my gosh.

Nico: Mine is so bunchy! It's the back that betrays us, to be honest.

Kyle: It's the back, I agree.

Nico: Mine is a little chunky up here 'cause I could not get these sleeves to cooperate.

Irene: Yeah, I had to tie mine with hair ties. How did you do this last time, Kyle?

Kyle: I have no idea. I remember the shirt that I used was really thin, and it was a guy's shirt, so it was bigger.

Nico: This was such a trick 'cause it seems like it's gonna be so simple, and it's really not.

Kyle: We all look like fools. [all laugh]

Nico: I thought you guys were way more photo-passable than me, especially 'cause Irene, with the jacket and the belt, I felt like it was faking it enough.

Irene: Yeah, I think the key to this is, like, you literally have to hide as much of it as possible, so at that point, it's, like, not worth doing.

Nico: I'm not gonna walk around just like. I just think the fabric is, you have to have it be the thin fabric and extra-large, made for extra-long arms or something.

Kyle: Not even, because I feel like the bigger you get, the longer arm span you're gonna get, but then you get the more side fabric.

Irene: So, I feel like it's a consensus that we would not do this again.

Kyle: Yeah.

Nico: Thumbs down. Thumbs down across the board.

Kyle: Oh, my God. Turkeys!

Irene: What?

Nico: You've never seen turkeys?

Irene: No! Nico: Are you serious? Oh, my God, girl. Deer are probably more prevalent, bur turkeys? Even I've seen turkeys.

Irene: I hate turkeys.