Out and About

Most of the vintage I wear moves from day to night, but from time to time I'm able to go to some really great venues in Los Angeles and can break out things for evening.

I'll share a couple looks I've worn while out on the town...

The look above is 1970s vintage. Pale sky blue, polyester of course, it drapes like jersey and has a lovely light sheen.  I think it has a little 1930 slip dress appeal, though it's not necessarily cut on the bias.  I accessorized it with a shiny silver 1930s hard clamshell clutch, strappy silver Charles David stilettos, and big emerald cut diamond earrings with a matching ring.  On this particular evening, I wore it to Mastro's in Beverly Hills after an event.

Grace Kelly is always an inspiration for me, and this time I couldn't help but think of Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief.  Her blue gown in that movie has inspired many women, including Princess Diana who even had a dress made using Grace's as the model.  Looking online, I honestly could not find a photo that does Grace's blue dress justice, so you can see it in motion around the 4 minute mark in this clip from the movie.  Of course this dress is but one example of Edith Head's design genius, who created the wardrobes for several of the most popular Hitchcock movies.

Another inspiration for most people is Audrey Hepburn.  There is a great moment from Stanley Donen's Two for the Road when she breaks out a minidress covered in enormous silver sequins. 

I actually found the dress on the right before seeing the movie, so I got very excited when I saw that scene for the first time.  I wore my late 1960s minidress to the famous Mr. Chow's in Beverly Hills (immortalized in song by Steely Dan).  It was quite an interesting evening.  I blame the dress and my beau's 1972 Le Mans convertible for the flock of paparazzi that chased us several blocks after dinner...chased us right out of Beverly Hills back to Santa Monica.

Incredibly, I've found that this dress can actually be accessorized many different ways.  Nude patent stilettos.  Black heeled knee-high boots.  Very bare silver strappy sandals, which is how I wore it one time to a fete at the Hammer Museum.  

For Mr. Chow's I tried the dress with black patent peep toe pumps (it was right around the time when the first Louboutin's hit the market) and accompanied those with a small black patent clutch.  And certainly with dress like this one, the less additional adornment...the better.  The only jewelry I ever wear with this dress are delicate diamond studs.