It's Story Time Boys and Girls...My First Time

Do you remember your first time? I remember mine. It was for Tara and Anthony in 1995.

Oh, get your mind out of the gutter people. I am talking about your first adult dress-up function. Your first “ ______ and guest.”

Dorky Medievalist…and Guest
Pale and Pallor Princess…and Guest
Style the New Black…and Guest.
Someone Like you…and Guest
Looking Glass Vintage…and Guest
Vintage Christine…and Guest



I was a 23 year old student living in Manhattan when I got the invite. I decided to take a guy I had recently begun dating; a totally hot bartender who had just finished law school (I eventually married him).

The first grown up event, not a prom, college formal or family event, is an exciting fashion event. I wanted something really sophisticated.

I found this dress in a little shop on Lexington Avenue. The designer is Dutchess and the fabric was a sumptuous silk. They carried it in every color and in both long and short lengths, and even though I was in love with the long version, I settled on the short version assuming, quite correctly, that I would get more use out of it than the longer, more “adult “version, particularly for an immature 23 year old. Plus the longer version was outrageously out of my price.

I fell head over heels for the dress though. I didn’t put it on layaway because when I inquired about doing so the saleslady laughed heartily, but I saved up for it and visited it often. And, to my delight, nobody bought it out from under me because, again, I have fantastic fashion karma.


So I wore this dress to several weddings and cocktail parties and eventually bought it in light green and had it made in mauve when I was the Maid of Honor at my older brother’s wedding. But still the longer version haunted me over the years, particularly when those two little words popped up embossed at the end of an invite…Black Tie.






Well, a few Saturdays ago I was jogging/garage saleing around town with Carly in the stroller and what caught my eye in a pile of discarded clothing, but the unmistakable fabric of a Dutchess creation. Upon further inspection I discovered that it was my dress…the long version…in black for $10.00.








Karma, you missed the 10 years that found my mailbox filled to capacity every season with wedding invites, but there are still a few single hold outs among my friends and who knows, maybe I will have some other reason to wear a full length silk gown with tails.

I’m ready Karma.