Dress for Low Stress on New Year’s
On New Year’s Eve several years ago, the doors at Giorgio (now Fred Hayman Beverly Hills) were kept open two hours after closing so one hysterical woman could be outfitted for a party. At 8 o’clock, she finally left the store drying her tears, dressed from head-to-toe and ready to ring in the new year.
Some women, now knowing the tale, will envy the Giorgio shopper for finding something, anything, to wear. As the time grows nearer, some women seem to get desperate, wild-eyed because they haven’t found anything to wear for New Year’s Eve.
It’s best not to get overwrought, especially over what you’re going to wear. Anything short of a ball gown can be put together at the last minute with a little imagination and some festive flourishes--even using blue jeans, last summer’s cotton knit dress or the 9-to-5 suit.
Unless you’ve already found the perfect outfit, now is not the time to go careering from sales rack to sales rack looking for a statement-making outfit. The cost for that kind of behavior, financially and emotionally, can be too high.
Instead, put the energy into considering some options. The lingerie and accessory departments of most department stores, for example, have a multitude of glittery things that work well under suit jackets. A crushed velvet body suit, a lame camisole or a gold-shot scarf wrapped like a halter top is all you really need to make an ordinary suit worthy of the night’s festivities.
Jewelry is another item that can transport the mundane into the extraordinary.
But first, a word about the mundane. Think of it as background material. The most basic dress or simple suit in your closet is the best foundation for whatever glitter you put on top.
Back to jewelry. There is no time like New Year’s Eve to wear a piece by Santa Monica jewelry designer Cheryl Berez. She uses foil caps from Champagne bottles as the centerpiece in her earrings, pins and hair ornaments. Most of her jewelry, sold at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills, costs less than the original bottles of Champagne, making them affordable and quite topical statement-makers.
If your New Year’s Eve turns into the stuff of romantic legends, save your Champagne bottle’s foil and Berez will custom-make jewelry out of it. It will give you a memento from the evening plus something special to wear next year.
Another up-to-the-minute jewelry concept comes from the famous French embroidery house, Lesage. The huge faux watches and earrings with clock faces are for Cinderellas who never want the clock to strike midnight. These gold and black beaded accessories at Fred Hayman Beverly Hills are pre-set for the early evening hours.
There are unexpected finds in the outer wear departments of most stores. Look for satin-finish bomber jackets or sports vests to dress up your blue jeans. Or, for outer wear-inspired evening wear, a hooded, gold satin, zipper-front jacket completely covered in sequins by designer Bob Mackie is certainly versatile. With a long, slim black skirt and pounds of jewelry, it travels to uptown parties and its holiday sparkle really shines when worn with a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt to a casual affair. There’s one at the Fred Hayman boutique.
Recycling can even pay off when it comes to party clothes. Simple cotton-knit dresses from summers past are useful, nondescript backgrounds on which to display a brilliant shot of color or an unusual accessory such as the Jean Paul Gaultier turtleneck blouse with attached gloves. For even more oomph, add a boa of vibrant turquoise satin and black net with multicolored jeweled tassels--both items are at Maxfield in Los Angeles.
For women who ascribe to the basic black and pearls approach, Charles Jourdan has some high-stepping black velvet pumps with pearl ankle straps. And, of course, there is a treasure trove of pearl accessories at the Chanel boutique on Rodeo Drive, with at least as many pearls at the Kenneth Jay Lane jewelry boutique, just up the street. A four-strand necklace of oversized pearls with a huge pearl drop is one of the most recent necklaces mined from the inexhaustible Chanel oyster beds.
Ankle-length cashmere sweater robes are one of the night’s best options, wherever you spend it. They look like long cardigan sweaters so they are as appropriate for street wear as they are at-home-by-the-fire wear. They can be found in the lingerie department of Neiman Marcus and at Lisa Norman Lingerie in Santa Monica. Priced below $500 they are a great bet. In fact, they might be the best bet of all, since you’ll be guaranteed something luxurious to wear, whether you stay home or hit the streets.
