On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I found my self struggling to find the perfect outfit for a night on the town. I’d packed a number of options, but none of my ideas worked out. Turns out I had to go back to the basics in order to find the winner – here’s what that looked like…
The Raw Materials: A gray silk, pleated bubble dress with spaghetti straps from Club Monaco, purchased at least five years ago.
I wasn’t quite sure how I’d wear it when I got to LA, so I packed a few different options for styling the dress – including a few tops to wear over it in case it would look better as a skirt, and different shoe choices to go with them.
Option #1: a monochromatic look with a silver leather top (purchased at a resale shop – Wasteland, Los Angeles) and matching silver shoes (Dolce Vita)
But alas, much to my dismay, this combination just looked like a giant, wrinkled, shiny sack. The top took away from the feminine silhouette of the dress and added width at the hip area. Not exactly LA-worthy.
Option #2: my favorite black corset top (purchased at a re-sale shop in Miami) that slims my waist and my new black, lace-up booties from the Altuzarra for Target collection. I thought for sure this top would accentuate the bubbled hemline and offset the punkiness of the shoes.
But alas, the whole thing fell flat, and the textures and colors did not mesh very well.
Option #3: Ugh! I was a bit discouraged but when in doubt, keep it simple. What was so wrong with this pretty dress that I couldn’t wear it solo with a some fun accents to punk it up a bit?! Nothing. I shucked the extra tops, stuck with the boots and grabbed my go-to leather jacket and black clutch. And there it was – the winner!
I once heard that Coco Chanel said to get fully dressed, look in the mirror and then remove one item (or something to that extent). Whenever I find myself going off the rails to the point where I’m straying too far from what looks good on me, I stop and call upon this wisdom. To me, it’s the difference between being a style sophisticate and a style victim. Though the top over the dress was the idea I was most excited about in theory, it was the one thing that just didn’t play out in practice. Sometimes, I have to let go of my vision in order to find the sweet spot.
And here’s the final look in action, exploring Beverly Hills and looking for Real Housewives.
