Hi there,
A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail containing an
invitation to view a new collection at the art gallery called .M Contemporary. I had no idea of how they came in possession
of my e-mail address but the invitation sounded rather nice, snippets of the
artist’s work looked rather promising and even though we were not hunting for
any art at the moment, we thought it would do us no harm to attend.
The work was of a South African artist, Michael Taylor, and
my husband who is also from Cape Town was quite interested to see his painting
and so we accepted.
I cannot say that I have been to many openings during my
life and have never circulated in art circles but somehow I felt that some sort
of an unwritten dress code was expected from the attendees. Due to my lack of
exposure to this world, I was not quite sure what dress-code is required for
such an occasion but I had a hunch that staying away from denim and sneakers
would be a good idea. I also didn’t want
to look like I was trying too hard and so I opted for the world best known, all-time
favourite, “cannot do wrong” every respectable woman’s staple – a black dress.
Ever since my daughter came from holiday in Europe and
showed me some clothes she had bought from the store called Cos, I wanted to
have some of it. A quick visit to their
web site revealed that unfortunately they were not shipping to Australia. Until one day, they just came over to OZ and opened
their store first in the Sydney CBD and later on in our local Westfield Shopping Centre.
Their clothes remind me a little bit of a Calvin Klein
style: minimalistic, monochromatic with
clean simple lines and understated elegance.
And because of its “simplicity”, almost every piece on the rack is
boundlessly versatile and with a little help from certain accessories can be
easily transformed from the office attire into a night-out outfit.
My first purchase from them was the above mentioned black
tunic dress. It looked quite simple when I picked it up off the rack with very
little detailing except for two hidden side pockets and a thin white trim
running along the seams but that is what attracted me to it.
Having such a simple silhouette as a blank canvas presents a
lot of options on how this dress can be worn, depending on the occasion, the time
of the day and the style of my look. And
once that is established, all it takes is to choose the right shoes, handbag
and accessories.
ACCESSORIES HAVE THE POWER TO TRANSFORM YOUR LOOK DRASTICALLY WITH MINIMAL EFFORT
Going back to my story, I was after the style that could be
described as subdued bohemian chic that I thought would quite suit the occasion
and for that reason I chose a monochromatic black and white palette. Using a scarf with huge black and white dots
all over it as a necklace, I wrapped it around my neck so it looked like a collar
and to match it, I put on an oversized cuff bracelet in white with a random black ink dots
pattern (seen here).
Short blocked heel boots (seen here) added some edgy feel to
my look and a long black coat completed the look but when I checked myself in
the mirror, I felt that my outfit looked rather sombre for the occasion, so I
decided to add an element of fun to it by mixing up different patterns and
swapped the black coat for a knee high one in animal black and white print.
Dress: Cos
Boots: Bianca Buccheri
Coat: Jane Lamerton
Scarf: High Tea with Mrs Woo
Cuff: Dinosaur Designs
And so we went. As
quite often happens in life, when you don’t know what to expect, you end up
having a great time. We thoroughly
enjoyed the exhibition, the hostess was most gracious, we met a bunch of
interesting people and we felt like we belonged. We
also like a couple of artworks by the other artists on display and I have a
feeling that my husband is planning to get one for our upcoming wedding anniversary. Time will tell. It is in July so I will keep you informed.
Have you experienced a similar situation when you were
invited to an affair out of your usual environment? And how did you handle it?
No comments:
Post a Comment