Burgundy fan-sleeve dress with a leather strap belt

A burgundy midi dress built in two halves. The top is a fitted round-neck bodice in a matte knit with seamed panels, and from the shoulders come two huge pleated fan sleeves, knife-pleated in the same burgundy and stiff enough to hold a circle. The bottom is a handkerchief-hem skirt in crinkled metallic fabric that reads wine in shadow and copper-red where the light hits, bound in black leather at the points. A black leather strap belt with silver eyelets sits at the waist and sends two straps down the front of the skirt.

It is a dress for the end of a journey, not the start of one: dusk on a platform, lamps coming on, nothing to carry. Autumn and cool spring evenings, with no tights and a black ankle boot. The sleeves need room, so the coat stays at home.

I arrived forty minutes early. The sleeves need the platform to themselves.