Jacket Goes a Long Way to Making Everything Beautiful at the Ballet

When you go to a baseball game, it’s not uncommon to see guys, both young and old, wearing caps and jerseys of their favorite teams. Doing this makes them feel more a part of the game than if they just showed up in any T-shirts and shorts.

Many women seem to experience the same phenomenon when they go to the ballet. At intermission, groups of women huddle outside wearing their hair in chignons and dressed in tight-fitting, ballerina-like cat suits. A cat suit is fine for the ballet, but it should be dressed up to suit the occasion.

“The length of your jacket has a lot to do with whether you’re going to look dressed up,” says Susan Shaw of Dancegear in Fashion Island Newport Beach. “Generally, the longer the jacket the dressier the look.”

Cats or leggings that are baggier in the legs will also add to the formal appearance, as will a glittery belt and accessories and nice boots or shoes. Always get footwear that’s comfortable, but please, no ballet slippers.

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Taking lip: Family reunions and other gatherings with relatives are coming up on the calendar, which often means the possibility of fashion maintenance disasters.

You’ll be getting kissed by Aunt Irma, Cousin Sela and Grandma Gert, and their red rose lipstick will be smeared from your cheeks down to your neck. If it misses your shirt or blouse, great. You’re saved from a permanent stain. But don’t make the mistake of pushing a handkerchief across your face to remove the lipstick.

“If you can avoid it, don’t let lipstick touch any clothing (including a handkerchief),” says dry cleaner Bill Apollo of Santa Ana. “In that kind of situation, I keep my handkerchief in my jacket pocket and tissue paper in my pants pocket. I use the tissue to wipe away lipstick.”

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Scuffed off: In the spring and summer, women can freely wear the pastel-colored shoes they hide in the closet in fall and winter. But wearing light-colored shoes, especially pricey ones, is always a risk. Around the middle of summer, you’ll notice women’s shoes peppered with black scuff marks. These just happen from normal wear, and it’s not always easy to remove them.

“Have some clear leather cleaner available so that when you see a mark, you can try to rub it out,” says Jamal Harb of the Cobbler’s Bench in Costa Mesa. “Most scuffs aren’t very deep, and they can be pulled out. When you get a lot of deep ones though, the shoe has to be redyed.”

Preventing scuffs is virtually impossible. Wear a bone or white shoe and you’re guaranteed to get some. Clean and polish your shoes regularly to keep them looking decent, and if you’re dancing with a man wearing Florsheims, ask him if you can lead.