Luxury party pieces
We’ve picked out five of the most flattering dresses that highlight the biggest partywear trends this season
AAAARGH! This is the sound that most sane women make when confronted with the Christmas party season. And doesn’t dressing for it just get harder as you get older? When I was young I didn’t think twice about what sort of frock might suit me. Getting older sucks.
It was the British Fashion Awards at the end of last month and, despite very kindly being lent a beautiful silk dress by Giles Deacon, I realised halfway through the night that I was probably five (OK, 10) years too old to do it justice.
Other women kept looking anxiously at my breasts. This had never happened before, nor do I intend it ever to happen again. The shame!
The awards being full of the most fashion-forward ladies in London, they were a good gauge of what will be the biggest partywear trends this Christmas. Strapless gowns, such as Luella’s satin prom dress, were very popular. A strapless gown is a surprisingly good choice if you are busty, particularly if you have a slim waist.
Also popular was embellishment, a trend I don’t think the high street does particularly well but which looks wonderful when executed with good-quality beads or twinkling Swarovski crystals. The latter seem to come in ever more interesting permutations, as Marios Schwab’s armour-like dress proves.
This being a room full of ladies who last ate cake on their eighth birthday, “body-con” (abbreviated fashion-speak for body-conscious clothing) was also a big look, but we’ll ignore that in favour of eating lunch, passing swiftly on to what was arguably the biggest hit of the night, the tuxedo jacket.
Think of the tux as the 2007 equivalent of the pashmina, only a hundred times more elegant. It fulfils the same function as the pashmina did – from covering bingo wings to keeping out the cold – plus it looks fabulous with almost any style of dress you care to mention, provided said dress falls on or around the knee. My favourite is Stella McCartney’s cropped version – now that she’s won designer of the year, let’s hope she doesn’t put her prices up any further.
