Yes it was a lot of fun although the turnaround from the day event to the night event was tight.

Superb dress Sal! Looks very flattering and perfect for the occasion. Good choice and excellent that you now have this type of dress in your closet. It looks versatile, and timeless too. I bet you get many wears in the future.

Oh it looks great and you look confident on stage. Hope you get to wear it again.

Sal, that dress is gorgeous on you, Love how you’ve accessorized it too. Speaking in public is always nerve racking, but well done you.

How fab to see the dress in action - you look amazing and true to your style. DH scrubs up well too!

Gorgeous! Congratulations. You nailed it!

You look great! Love it with the green shoes.

You looked absolutely fantastic Sal, the perfect choice!! Congrats again!!

Perfect! This is flattering, modern and the jade shoes add a personal touch . Love it !

WOOHOOOO!

KILLER PERFECT, Sal! The flattering classic wins out, and the green shoes pack a punch! You look poised, beautiful, elegant, and at ease. Love the high contrast neck candy too!

A smashing dress to pull out at a moment's notice in future

Hubs looks dashing, and well done to your brilliance! xo

Sal you look lovely! I love all the components together as one gorgeous outfit! I like that you didn't match your shoes or bag, but everything is harmonious.

Congratulations on the award and feeling great about your speech!

Congratulations, Sal! You look fantastic and the green shoes are so perfect. I bet you will find many occasions to wear that great dress. It certainly seems possible to dress down a bit.

Gorgeous, Sal -- you look spectacular and yes, as you say -- easy! Which is an incredible feat considering the stress you were under. You picked the perfect outfit. I think you will find many opportunities to wear that dress. Congratulations on the award and on looking so incredibly fab to receive it!

Thank you! I felt really good in this and it all came together quite easily in the end. I really appreciate the support given and advice over the years because I could execute a plan quickly when the need arose.

I am sure there will be other occasions and potentially this could work with flat sandals for a dinner out or similar.

It was a super varied crowd. Most men in black tie but some in business suits, some in kilts, and one or two in very casual outfits. The women varied from ball gowns to cocktail to some more creative looks. It was a male dominated event with probably 80% men in the crowd.

WOWEE!! Oh, Sal!! You look SMASHING!! I absolutely love you with the button blazer worn over the dress. Utterly sensual, modern, and chic. You make me want to run out for a black tie dress, just so I can throw an oversized blazer over it lol! Just beautiful. I'm glad you had such a good time.

Thanks Ket and all. It has been a busy week as you can imagine.

It was an honour to win this award and promote what we do in our business. It's not easy running a small business (25 staff) so it is nice to get some recognition - and life has become so casual that it was fun to get dressed up in a more glamourous way.

Oh, thanks for giving us the visual candy of such a special event! You looked absolutely smashing, Sal! Accessorizing with the gold necklaces, the green shoes and the metallic clutch were a modern choice and your hair was also fab!!!! Hubby was handsome, too!:-)

ETA: Also love your choice of a double breasted(?) BF blazer-very modern! Oh, and would be curious about those "more creative looks" especially:-)...

Extremely flattering and very demure, perfect for official presence! Especially, as has been noted, the blazer worn over. That boutique owner is gold.

A fabulous outfit! Great dress choice as it is indeed a” repeatable “ dress , flattering yet comfortable— what a find— and can change up shoes & accessories —some longevity in such items is important since not worn very frequently.

Great pick of a dress--the sleeves seem to be the thing, along with the slim skirt silhouette I mentioned before. And black, I think a great choice for going as a group. Incidentally, the green shoes fit in with today's blog post on black and green!

Will just put this Poshmark link here, because it is a great clutch I have been eyeing, but don't need. I think this would be a great one if you needed a new one. But I assume it might be hard to get to NZ/Australia...

https://poshmark.com/listing/C.....c45d4712e3

Thanks again. I was pleased to find something not too low cut and sleeves add to the versatility too. I can think of a few occasions where I might wear it in the future - I hope so!!

I like that clutch Carol and second hand is a good idea as clutches often don’t wear out. I will probably look locally as I am trying to not buy online internationally right now.

The use of your green shoes was genius! A signiture?! I like the idea of wearing the dress with a bare flat sandal for dinner out with DH. Something like a birthday or an anniversary.

Thanks Carla! I could see the following shoes in finds potentially working with this dress, the green flat ones are the only ones I am more dubious about. I think the gold could work for sure or the black mary janes, or the yellow mules, for a more casual occasion.

You look FANTASTIC! The classic dress with the pop of color green shoes is perfection!