Dressed To Excess

Party Dressing

When it comes to party dressing, I’m with Goethe: Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid. The belle of the ball doesn’t do beige - unless, of course, she enters on a palomino. Women invoke their diva privileges after 5, but now that it’s holiday season, we have more carte blanche than ever to sprinkle ourselves with pixie dust. Rhinestones wink in low lighting; inky velvet conjures mysterious femininity. The mere act of sliding on a slinky stiletto is transformative. Ever since I was little, I have adored glamorous women who could enter a crowded room and command the space with an Auntie Mame attitude that says, "Now the party can start." If, like me, you are over six feet tall with bright butterscotch hair, then invisibility isn’t really an option anyway. When I shot up to 6'2", I knew I could either mooch around like Madame Lurch, all ballet slippers and surgical stockings, or meet my destiny as a Valkyrian party person in a six-inch heel—preferably in Perspex, with gold fish circling within.