Black Tie Treasures in your Wardrobe

 Well there aren’t many days in my OAP life when I scrub up.  But after years of sweeping the retirement kitchen floor gud, last weekend this Cinderella DID go to the ball!

Hello, I’m Mary and I’m The Pouting Pensioner. 

What I wore to the ball

I could never part with this august silk evening dress, bought for a millennium ball LAST century!  

It’s a now-vintage silk and sequined devour velvet beaut with a handy matching shawl, so useful now to hide my dowagers hump and bingo wings. 

And it’s a bias-cut “slip over the head and go party” sorta dress, extremely comfortable, and forgiving too as it skims the old lady lumps and bumps. 

What’s more, it can be stuffed in a wardrobe for decades (which it was!) and not crease, then when it comes out to play all it needs is a bit of airing outside on a crisp day to freshen it up, but tbh you could just grab and go with this baby, it needs zero care. 

So let’s just put this 25 year old dress under the microscope.

Fabric - Silk and velvet ✅

Style - Slip dress  ✅

Length - Maxi ✅

Colours - Deep red (almost burgundy) and black ✅

I don’t think anything in this dress’s dna says off-trend, not that that matters to a 74 year old!

So I would reiterate, think how things will hold up in decades to come when spending hard earned money on investment pieces.

Don’t chose uber on trend, go classic.

And here endeth the lesson!

Back to the outfit.

I bought the little red and black velvet pouch bag around the same time as I bought the dress, so it was always  a go to combo choice. 

Also 

But what a palaver leading up to this big event. 

Nails, done ✅. 

Up do, done ✅ . 

But only after I’d trialed it at home weeks before!

Also weeks before I tried on several long evening dresses I’d saved from ending up at the charity shop, but decided on this easy wear and partyish dark red and black ensemble. 

It was a fun exercise playing around with different ways to drape the shawl. 

And so it came to pass that after weeks of dress try ons, hair plays, planning, booking … and I don’t want to go into the day I tried on formal heels from my BITD archive, 

… but this Cinderella did eventually get to go to the ball!

Please pop over to my Instagram account tomorrow to read the saga of TP’s black tie DJ.

Details of his nifty suit can be found here:

https://www.marksandspencer.com/slim-fit-tuxedo-jacket/p/clp60676325

So retired ladies, have you saved evening dresses that you don’t wear from decade to decade just because one day you MIGHT be whisked away from your floor sweeping? 

Or save simply because the dress so bloomin gorgeous?!

And have you archived evening shoes too, shoes that you can barely totter in, for the same reasons?

I’d love to hear. 

🥰

A la perchoone,

Mary 😘. 

(Please forgive any shoe detritus you spot on my hotel room floor, I was so excited I just didn’t care!)

And coming up -

I shop my wardrobe for the latest trending colour

I test drive a new skirt 7 ways