AllyG: You know what I loved most about Charlotte on Sex and the City? The fact that she was the manager of a gallery. It suited her so, non? I also loved the episode where Carrie meets The Russian at the “live art” exhibit (the one where that woman lives in a glass box for a bunch of days without sleeping or eating). She was wearing an art appropriate outfit in the beginnings of this clip here (the audio is off due to copyright, however, I would recommend humming “Stronger” by Britney Spears whilst watching. It always puts me in the right frame of mind. For anything).
Anythehoo, the reason I speak of such exciting matters as art exhibitions is because I am attending one this Friday night. And you can too!
News – Zero Dimensions: J. MacLellan & D. Hutchinson
Full disclosure, J. MacLellan is my brother. That’s not his only claim to fame. Here’s his bio (as well as the other artist):
Jamie MacLellan has earned an honours degree in Contemporary Studies from the University of King’s College (2000) and a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (2005). He makes paintings in Halifax and works for the Cultural Affairs Division of HRM as the public art coordinator.
MacLellan has shown at the YoYo Gallery (2005) and in group shows at the Elliott Louis Gallery (2005) and several alternative venues in Vancouver, notably an exhibition featuring a juried selection of ECIAD graduates entitled, Picture This (2005).
Ok, this is more what not to wear. While I’m feeling the dress, I’m not feeling the accessories in combination with one another. Too much. I believe this is Kanye West’s current lady friend, AKA “TRYING TOO HARD”. Fail. Do not wear this on Friday.
You know I’m obsessed with the jeans/blazer combo lately. Obsessed. This is Ann Dexter-Jones (she’s the mom of the Ronson clan…Samantha, Mark and Charlotte…I think there’s another one but they aren’t famous so they don’t count). I like her. She seems smart. Cute flats too! See, ladies? FLATS.
I am so in love with the Calvin Klein dress on the left worn by Kristy Hinze. I would absolutely wear this if I had the money and wasn’t a “cargo ship of life”. Stunning colour, stunning texture. Love!
I have a BRILLS idea. As I am going to be attending, I think some of our local readers should show up and we can take some photos for a Monday blog post. Do you love it? There will be cocktails ladies!
L-A: So, I googled “what to wear to an art show” in hopes of finding some inspiration (I know, I may as well have googled “how to write an interesting blog post”). Instead I found this little gem from Toothpaste for Dinner:
Hilarious. Although, to be serious, this is not me making a comment on artists statements at all. I am totally excited for this show now that I’ve seen the invite. I was excited before that because I totally love a good art show and getting to dress up. Favourite event of last year? Nocturne. That was good times. Although, the dress code for that was all about staying warm while walking around Halifax on a cold October night. But for this one, I get to ponder the “what to wear” question and the answer is this: The Little Black Dress.
Okay, I never call it an LBD as I’ve seen elsewhere, but this dress is the thing of cocktail party dreams and nightmares. Either you’ve got your perfect little black dress (or ten, depending on your budget and luck) or you’re still on the hunt for that perfect dress. And admit it, you kind of love/hate Holly Golightly/Audrey Hepburn because she made the little black dress so damn iconic. I mean, hells, the girl lived in an unfurnished apartment with only “change for the powder room” and delivering Sally Tomato’s weather reports as an income source and yet she always looked so good doing it. I don’t know about you, but I wish I could look half that good in a black dress.
But moving along. The black cocktail dress. You know you want it and you know you need it. So let’s look at some examples of some gems that I’d love to get my hands on for Friday night:
Oh, Roland Mouret! Style.com may not have loved loved loved your F’09 Ready to Wear collection, but I get it. It’s a recession and you need to sell those dresses if you’re going to stay afloat. And those dresses are sellers. The look like they walk off the hangers on their own accord and into the closets of well dressed women and become cocktail staples. I may not love your use of giant, industrial strength zippers on your otherwise loverly dresses, but I’m going to forgive you. Mostly. Not completely, because those zippers are cropping up on dresses for the rest of us and ruining perfectly cute and mostly affordable dresses.
But maybe the simple black dress is not so much your thing. A little too cliché for your style. What do you wear then to an art gallery? Simple. You wear a variation on the little black dress theme. Like the following Mouret dress, a pretty sexy number from Vivienne Westwood Anglomania, or maybe something completely different with a tuxedo jacket (in case the dress/skirt isn’t your thing. Although, save the jacket for slightly cooler weather. Sweating profusely in the name of style isn’t exaclty fashionable).
Or perhaps you feel like being a bit more daring, a bit more sexy. If this is the case, then check out this sexy number from one of our favourite local designers, Deux Fm:
Hott, n’est pas? It does require a girl to be on the daring side, but the bamboo cotton will probably feel like heaven if we get the humidity we’re promised. And if you’re not quite that daring, you can always pair it with a tank and some leggings. You’ll still look hot.
And before wrapping this up, I’m going to give you a few celeb examples of how to work the black dress at a fancy function. Now, I don’t care if Lainey hates her, but Jen Aniston is a woman who knows how to wear a black dress:
A little Chanel never hurt anyone wealthy enough to wear it. It doesn’t really matter who the designer is, Jen practically has the black dress down to a science.
I don’t really get Peaches Geldof, but sometimes I have to join the Peaches Parade and admire her style.
Leighton Meester is definitely an actress who is on her way to being a little black dress style icon. I like her shoes, even if the toes do look like pandas to me.
And a do/don’t courtesy of Hermione Emma Watson:
The kid gets props for making bold fashion choices at such a young age, but that gold/black number shouldn’t even exist in the first place, let alone on a teenage girl.
You can wear colour. I’m not saying no to colour. I’m just saying that with a bit of luck and imagination, you can do just about anything with that little black dress. Like take over the world. You could totally take over the world if you had on the right black dress. But, colour is great, especially if your companion is a Russian artist:
What? Carrie not dressed like a bag lady? Carrie almost as adorable and impeccable as Charlotte? I know. Must be the influence of the handsome Russian ballerina. Although, what up with the baggy tuxedo pants? No tailors in all of New York or Paris or wherever this scene is supposed to be taking place? I think Mikhail’s face says it all. It says: I would never wear a baggy tuxedo and I can’t believe Patricia Field has dressed me in one. This does not say Important Artist, this says Rented a Tux for the Prom at the Last Minute. (p.s. despite the rabid devotion SATC fans have to the show, do you know how hard it was to track down photos of outfits from Season Six? All we wanted was to show you the outfits of Carrie and Charlotte at an art show. Is that really too much to ask?)
And on that note, I bid adieu for today and declare that Ally’s idea for readers to come to the show and meet us and do some “street style” pics is a genius one. Just look for the pregnant lady shooting death rays at everyone who has a cocktail or glass of wine in hand. It’ll be a good day when BabyG finally makes his/her appearance as it’ll be the day when MommyG finally gets a glass of wine again (oh, and it’s also the day when the miracle of life happens and Ally and El Jeffe get to be parents. But that goes without saying). The things people will do for their future children! I tell you, this pregnancy thing really is an act of love and devotion – giving up the sauce completely for nine months? I salute all of you pregnant ladies who are out there and jonesing for a glass of vino. I will drink a glass for you.
