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January 16, 2005
dishing on fashion
one of the highlights of the party last night was dishing on people's fashion choices with S. one of the odd things about this party is, it's clear that no one really knows how to dress, which may be distressing for some people, but for others it allows them some freedom to be creative.
our favorite outfit of the night was a young woman who went full-on costume... pink patent leather go-go boots, and a very fake lavendar wig. she looked like she was having a really fantastic time, which helped her carry off her look.
i photographed our favorite dress. it was black, strapless, floor length, and covered with silver spangles. it was an amazing dress; unfortunately, the young woman wearing it didn't quite know how to accessorize it. she wore a spangled headband that resembled a tiara, a gi-normous necklace that covered most of the exposed skin on her chest, and black elbow-length gloves. s. and i agreed that it really needed no accessories-- it was its own accessory.
the worst dress was a very, very odd thing indeed. the woman wearing it was quite tall and slender, and looked to be in her thirties. it was navy blue, some kind of robust cotton, and trimmed everywhere with thick, white seam binding. it was knee length, and the skirt was shaped almost like a square dancing skirt. a crinoline would not have been out of place under it. it was high necked and i believe it had puffed sleeves-- and a giant opening in the back, set off by that same white seam binding. she wore dead white heavy lace stockings and black flats with it. the general effect was as if alice in wonderland had continued to wear the same clothes into adulthood, and attempted sexiness by cutting a large opening in the back of her dress. where one would find such a dress i have no idea. it was not just bad, it was disturbing.
there was a lot of black. s. pointed out just how boring it gets, lots and lots of people in black clothes. the thing about black formal wear is that it needs to really fit, the cut really needs to suit the person, and it needs to look expensive, or at least not cheap... only then does it really work. yes, it can help one look formal, but formality is actually communicated more with cut and fabric. for instance, you could make a satin knee-length dress with a deep vee-neck and no sleeves in any of a number of colors and it will look dressed up.
i didn't get a chance to see a lot of shoes, but the ones i did see were not very inspiring. it's a little odd; i thought many women were really into shoes? most of my female friends are. so where were the shoes?
Posted by lisa at January 16, 2005 08:14 PM | TrackBack
ok, so a) your comment won't post right away because i have to approve it first and b) you might get a server error but your comment probably posted anyway and c) previewing doesn't work so i've removed the preview button.