Summertime Elegance

Dress: Emmauel Ungaro via Buffalo Exchange...Shoes: Cole Haan via DSW...Earrings: Target...Shades: Coach via TJ Maxx...Clutch: thrifted

I was asked a few weeks ago by a friend of Boss Lady to help out at a Gallery night- this friend owns two galleries and had an opening at the one up north, extended the show at the one in midtown on "Gallery Row" and represents an artist who had an opening at a different (3rd!) gallery... All on Saturday evening. Gallery Row hosts open houses on the first Saturday of each month from 6-8, which, of course, conflicted with the opening at the gallery up north... So he asked me if I was available to help host the open house. Um, yeah! And hang out with the artist whose work was on exhibit? Um, for sure! I had such a lovely time last night chatting up the patrons who frequent Gallery Row and truly enjoyed gleaning a little extra information about the artist's lithography and collaging technique. Especially in regards to her use of old wallpaper patterns as backgrounds and cut-out elements. Fascinating stuff.

Needless to say, I wanted to represent the gallerist well. Buffalo Exchange has been coughing up some real gems lately for me. I've said it before and I'll say it again- thrifted items can make up an interesting and varied wardrobe, retail items yield solid basics and a trend item every once in a while, but a designer piece of clothing will probably be a better bet if you need to look your best- there is just no comparison in the attention to detail and craftsmanship. Allow me to introduce my relatively new find: a Buffalo Exchanged Emmanuel Ungaro knit dress for, per my estimation, 1/20th the original price, at minumum. With sleeves not to long or short and fluttery, neckline beautifully finished with an appropriately deep v-neck, overall shape and waist nipped in just the right amount to be fitted but not tight, and a hemline about 6 elegant inches longer than any other dress I've tried on in recent memory that wasn't dubbed a "midi"... this dress was spot on for last night's event. Put together, elegant, not fussy in the least.

Well, I'm off to a doggy date with a friend. We're going to take a long, leisurely meander around campus before the sun gets too hot. Not a bad way to start a Sunday, huh?