It is nearly Christmas… and though most of your holiday dressing up is probably winding down, I wanted to chat a bit about what I have learned over the years about being ready for a party at any given moment. One of the very best times I have ever had was when Sid and I jumped in a car after RSVPing to an out-of-town wedding THE MORNING OF. Long story, but the hosts were so gracious that I was not as socially shamed as you might expect. It was a three-hour drive to Albany, GA, and I needed to grab and go if I was going to make the ceremony — so I threw a black dress in the car (which is extremely similar to this one we have on the line now). I had fifteen minutes to change when we pulled up, but I felt fantastic. And all the haste was worth it — the Neville Brothers showed up for a surprise set, and we danced to every song. The wedding was in a pecan orchard with glorious live oaks all around.
Even if you don’t have any last-minute weddings on your agenda this month, the point is this: you want to have some go-tos in the closet that you can count on — and you want to have them well before any invite hits your inbox. Get them when you love them, not when you need them.
So my motto, just like the Boy Scouts: always be prepared. People get really hung up on something new for every event, but I never care if I’ve been seen in something before. I had a great time in it once — I will have a great time again! I have had so many women come into my shop in a panic, their event date approaching and still on the hunt. The pressure of the clock running out can force you into something that just works rather than something you’ll love to have for the rest of your life.
So I am always peeking at eveningwear. It is the same advice any good decorator might give you: when you fall for a decorative piece — whether a small cachepot or a full upholstered bed — you will usually find a spot for it. Love it first, locate it later. And this season, we made a few fantastic forever pieces that can accompany you to so many future parties, this holiday season or ten from now. The two I’m really fired up about are the tuxedo and a long pencil skirt in embroidered hot pink matelassé and black faille.
I’ll start with the skirt, since this is one of my go-to shapes. We make it in black faille as well, which I have owned for ten years. Each wear has made me feel like my most beautiful self. Once with a refined black T-shirt on top, a satin ribbon in my hair, some sparkly Marie-Hélène de Taillac earrings, and a block-heel sandal that was sexy and high but danceable. It felt perfect and easy. Another time with all the same trimmings, but an organdy shirt swapped out for the tee. (You may have seen it in our catalog — it sold out so fast, but I promise we plan to bring it back next year and always.) I may not have looked like the most colorful or sparkly person there, but I felt understated, confident, and perfect. A lot of it had to do with the fabric and cut of the skirt — especially the slit on the side. It gives you this really elegant posture, which sounds like a tall order for a skirt, but try it on and see what I mean. You can walk freely, but in a measured way; the slit is sexy without revealing too much. It makes me feel poised... regal even!
So after so much history with the black version, I knew I had to add this season’s fuchsia to my evening mix. It is more on-the-nose festive with the sparkly embroidery, but also super restrained in its shape. I feel poised in this one, too. We photographed it with a grey cashmere cardigan to tone down the shine of the skirt, and I love it styled this way. I would also wear it with a simple silk blouse (unbuttoned just so,) or the fuller, more romantic Ariana top. Ivory is easy, but the fuchsia gives you a zippy tone-on-tone look. And a white refined tee would be amazing in the summer months — or in the Bahamas, where a few friends of mine are celebrating a wedding this weekend. The winter holidays ignite a festive-dressing fever, but you can — and will — wear these pieces all year round. When it works, it works.
And then my other “always in the closet” look is the tuxedo. I have been wanting us to make one of these for years because I have wanted to LOOK like this for years. I write often about my love for Yves Saint Laurent — his sketches are on every store moodboard, and I grew up with a mother who sewed her own dresses inspired by his 60s and 70s heyday. His Le Smoking tuxedo is famous, and he says it best: For a woman, the tuxedo is an indispensable garment in which she will always feel in style, for it is a stylish garment and not a fashionable garment. Fashions fade, style is eternal. See? Always in the closet. Like a lot of women, I love how I feel in a trouser suit, and this is just a pumped-up version for evening… for black tie or just a cocktail party where I don’t feel like wearing a dress. It is based off the Sid tuxedo and even has the buttonhole for a boutonnière. It is camellia season here, so I can go pluck one from my garden for the next party. And you don’t have to wear it as a full set: the pants with the trim down the sides are chic on their own with a silk blouse, and the tuxedo jacket with the long black faille skirt would be very cool together, since the lapel fabric matches the skirt. Even just draped over the shoulders is really pretty and easy. THAT is a look.
One last thought: all these clothes fall under the “easy evening” category for me. I think that is why I find them so useful and repeatable. The phrase came from my first boss, Polly Mellen at Vogue. Easy evening, for her, meant things that were elegant and chic and well made — pieces you could really move in. She would shout, excitedly, “NOTHING FUSSY!” For her, it was all about how you felt on the inside: the sexiness and allure of a woman who was confident in her clothes came through in the photo shoot film — and in real life, too. These pieces are in my evening arsenal, and they are ready whenever I need them (because I got them before I needed them). Which actually makes them “easy evening” in two senses. You may need your own evening arsenal, I promise.
