The Rules of the Game

The questions are where she is going, and the answer is nowhere. This is an interior life; she is perfectly dressed in perfect surroundings. From top to toe, from hair to handbag she’s poised and perfectly ready in her stunning home as she strolls from the library to the sitting room to welcome her guests. These are not clothes to cover up with coats or capes, not shoes to risk a pavement in, or a hair style to expose on a draughty sidewalk.

We can observe her change from a slender black and dark crimson Art Deco inspired look to a bias semi sheer thirties slip dress in apricot blush to a tiny shift in slivers of softest fuchsia created from tiny, pleated frills, above all we can see her power in style. Leather or tulle, slithering satin or crisp taffeta, dark toned or spectrally pale, she rules her world.

Her dark eyes stare at us as she moves and changes, her confidence in her world is supreme, we are guests, but the rules of the house are hers we must play by. Fashion offers opportunities to surprise and deceive us, as when we discover that the chandelier earrings, the glittering embroidery on the serpentine black dress and the jewelled studs on the bag are both silvery and diamond with gold, not one or the other, it’s breaking a fashion rule.

It is power dressing, from the volume of the hair to the sharpness of the toes, from the direct gaze to the poise of her attitude. Fashion for late day to evening isn’t just about gala red carpet it is also about interior lives, secrets and stories, cocktails, and laughter. Our mystery woman is confident that once we are in her world we will be lured into her story and play our part. The tensions and confusions of the event, the hidden truths are for us to discover, her gaze informs us she is not telling, but her style might. It is fashion at it strongest and she loves it.