Chinese style cocktail dress

This time I needed a cocktail length dress for the Christmas function. Mind you, I am not particularly fond of "cocktail dresses" at the best of time and was quite disappointed that the Mess function would be dinner suit and cocktail dress and not my much favourite Mess dress and long evening dress. I do prefer the latter, because there are so few chances to wear a swishy long dress or suit. Never mind. I decided I would not go with the usual "the more flesh the better" look and instead with a high collar, long sleeves and long dress with high slits. A Chinese style dress would thus be perfect.

The pictures below show the progress of the dress and the dark pearls that adorn the collar. I do look rather tired on the one to the left, due to too much sewing. There's always so much to do and so little time, but the sheer sense of achievement of wearing something that I made myself is worth the stress.

The neck is closed with Russia braid closures and the pearls are set in between the openings as well as around it and all along the collar.

I used a black silk dupion, which is a true joy to work with. It has a lovely sheen, is light and the slubbiness is quite charming for a contemporary piece of clothing. It adds texture to the finished garment.

The dress is lined with dark red bremsilk, which makes it very comfortable to wear.

The photo to the left shows the finished outfit, taken by the official photographer of the Function. It is, I admit, the corniest photo anyone has ever taken of me and I dare you to not grin at my smirk and my partner's valiant attempts not to laugh.

The photographer wasn't impressed with or cynicism, but we had fun.