Fair's Fair

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Dress: Portmans polyblend & velour

Heels: Wittner leather & rattan

Bag: Colette by Colette Hayman vinyl with black hardware

Necklace: Gift, silver with agate

Cuffs: Gift, silver with agate

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When it comes to musicals, I have always been pretty selective & quite resolute in my likes & dislikes: The Sound of Music, yes... Mary Poppins, of course...West Side Story, no... Into the Woods, absolutely not! My Fair Lady was always in the "maybe" category, perhaps because I adore Audrey Hepburn but can't stand Rex Harrison. For those who don't know, My Fair Lady is the story of pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins & his attempts to turn a working-class, Cockney girl, Eliza Doolittle into someone who could pass for a cultured member of English society. At first, Higgins & Eliza clash before forming an unlikely bond... one that is then threatened by the appearance of an aristocratic suitor, who believes Eliza to be exactly who Higgins had created her to imitate. 

The 60th Anniversary stage musical version choreographed by Julie Andrews, however, left no room for shilly-shallying: the set design was absolutely stunning, the performances breathtaking, the costumes true to the era with little modern twists & the entire production was imbued with a lightness, humour & brevity that left the audience with smiles on their faces & a spring in their step!

For such an occasion, I decided to go with a monochrome outfit styled with juxtapositions: a rather traditional black floral polyblend & velour fit-to-flare dress with a deep v-neckline, high/low hem from Portmans mixed with a pair of tribal-style woven heels with fringed ankle straps from Wittner & tiny woven white vinyl "bowling bag" with black hardware from Colette by Colette Hayman. When it came to completing the look with accessories, I decided to go "all out" with a rigid silver necklace with large agate pendant & matching forearm cuffs that a dear friend gave me for my birthday last year. A swipe of black Clinique mascara & slick of deep red lipstick from Revlon & I was good to go... even dressed up enough to meet & greet a certain "thoroughly modern" English nanny/ Austrian governess/ Genovian queen who was one of my childhood idols!

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