I went to see the Nutcracker on Saturday w my mom, sister, and niece (I love the ballet and had season tickets my first year here but was sadly disappointed by the choreography and other choices made by their 'artistic director' so now only go to the Nutcracker): our city isn't terribly formal so I wanted an outfit that was more 'holiday party' than black tie opera premiere. I started with the skirt, which is a taupe silk embroidered in silver thread in my favourite full cut (and it has pockets!). I added my new mauve velvet blouse, which is sleeveless (and not easy to see in the outfit pictures), and reminds me so much of ballerinas with its ribbon and mesh. It was quite chilly out, so I topped it with my grey velvet jacket. Finishing touches included silver tights to pick up the silver embroidery, my new pewter party shoes (bought for my sister's wedding, which is in two weeks), and my Nutcracker brooch of course (my sister tied these on everyone's present last year). The blouse had a decorative neckline, so the only jewelry I added was my silver black pearl ring and silver bracelet. For outerwear I added my big wool navy coat (we had about a 10 minute walk between parking and theater and it was 33F/1C), grey wool hat, and a pink & grey paisley pashmina-style scarf.

Thank goodness I wore layers! We were in the mezzanine, which was quite warm, so I ended up taking off my jacket for most of the performance. I wish I'd remembered to take it off when my sister was taking pictures so that you can see the whole blouse, it's so lovely, but instead I just photographed it on the hanger later. There were tons of people in the theater (witness the little photobombing stranger in the 2nd pic, lol, which was the only full length shot I had), and I felt so self conscious while she was photographing me that all I could think was that 'thank heavens it's over!' I don't know how style bloggers do it.

Feedback is always welcome! I go to more dressy events so seldom that I'm not always sure what's appropriate, but I definitely blended in to the crowd at least. I can't wait to move up north, where I'll be closer to big cities with bigger ballet companies; I'm hoping to treat myself to a NYC performance or two each year! I studied abroad in Russia and was so spoiled for ballet viewing there, it's given me unreasonably high standards.

Edited to crop the cute little photobombing girl out of the last pic, as I feel bad posting images of unknown children online without permission. Not sure why that obvious solution didn't occur to me earlier!