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Putting on the Ritz
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12091 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
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12 / 1987 |
1,534 Words |
| Author
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Pati Lowell
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The fantasy of dressing up...sheer stockings, a glamorous gown, brilliant gems, a sensuous fur....The workaday woman is transformed into a movie star, a princess.
Dressing up makes a woman feel wonderful - a magic mood that works on her escort and on those who see her radiance.
Whether it's for cocktails at eight or a midnight supper, most women relish the opportunity to leave behind the sensible shoes and notched collars of nine to five in order to don a little drama after sunset. "Women dress so uniformly for work that often a more daring side of ourselves gets lost because we're so occupied with portraying a professional image. Even when women dress for the office Christmas party they still have to be aware that they're on view to their bosses and are setting an example. That feeling of dressing up and cutting loose is often missing.
"I met a woman a while ago in one of our seminars, and she was really one of the most well put-together professionals I've seen," continues Bixler, whose Atlanta based company caters to corporate clients like IBM and MCI Telecommunications.
"Well, I ran into her a few weeks later at a cocktail party and she had transformed herself into this very 'dishy' blond bombshell type that was totally opposite from her daytime image. Once I realized who she was, she just shrugged her shoulders, almost apologetically, and said that she had so few opportunities to dress up that she went all out whenever she could."
Not unlike most concealed femmes fatales, this "blond bombshell" was using the occasion to step outside her daytime look.
"The image that most people want to have of themselves is usually much more glamorous, more beautiful, more poised, and much happier [than they are]," says psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers.
Nocturnal fantasy
For fashion designers, fulfilling these nocturnal fantasies means appealing to the "wish I could look like her" side of a woman, thereby satisfying the dreamer in all of us.
"I find the nighttime to be very magical, very exciting and inspiring," says designer Carolyne Roehm, former assistant to "The King of the Ball Gown," Oscar de la Renta. "I think that most women look to evening wear to indulge in looking their most beautiful and radiant."
"I think sometimes that I love evening clothes to excess," continues Roehm, one of New York City' most glamorous Nouvelle Society women. "I remember my first show as a solo designer. I featured about 70 percent evening wear - it was definitely my strong point. The collection sold quite well."
Roehm's latest line continues to offer "twilight temptresses" a dazzling selection: pave faux diamond strapless dresses and shapely evening suits in bright taffetas and stone-trimmed silks - far too sultry for office or business meetings. Her creations were short - from knee to thigh
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