Sunday, November 6, 2011

Gala

I have not had the opportunity to attend many galas. Even though my husband performs in quite a few of these types of events, the combination of my family responsibilities and the usual ticket price prevents my participation. Saturday evening was the Musical Dreams and Flying Machines gala for the Ottawa Choral Society at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and despite my illness that kept me lying low this week, I was able to attend. Since I have not attended many events such as this in Ottawa I was a little unsure about what to wear. My starting point was certainly to feature one of my vintage evening bags! At present, this particular purse might just be my favourite. I love the pastoral scenes in eighteenth century French paintings and to be able to carry that around as ones purse seems like a decadent luxury.





I find that a jacket will often be the other determining factor in my outfit. I had originally planned to wear the accompanying dress with this early sixties blush champagne jacket. One of the challenges in incorporating vintage pieces in your wardrobe is finding the correct foundation garment to provide the body shape and support needed. Without the perfect shaping/fit, I decided not to wear the the gown. I love the bow details at the fasteners of the jacket which seem reminiscent of the eighteenth century gowns on the evening bag. The three quarter sleeve length is my favourite just as it was for the ladies on the evening bag.




Instead of the long vintage dress, I paired the jacket with a short vintage inspired dress that my daughter insisted I purchase for myself last Christmas. The dress is in a heavy black satin inspired by the shorter but still fuller skirted styles of the early 1960's. It is the first evening 'little black dress' that I can remember buying and, because of the fuller skirt, is comfortable to sit in at concerts and even has pockets! The shorter length allowed me to indulge in the modern trend of patterned tights which, along with my shoes were thrifted. The other modern touch was the feathered head band which did not give me wings to go with the 'flying machines' but was a successful conversation starter.

2 comments:

Cheapchick said...

Yes, definitely this look works - you looked great!

gardener-b said...

The combination of vintage and new really works!