Burgundy leather zip dress with satin balloon sleeves

The bodice is burgundy leather cut like a biker jacket: a small snap collar, an off-centre zip running from the neck to the waist and seams that shape it close. The skirt below is more leather, cut in angled panels and broken up with black inserts, with a second zip that runs up one side. The sleeves change the whole thing: full balloon sleeves in burgundy satin, gathered into black ribbed cuffs.

Leather and satin in the same colour is the trick. The leather keeps it sharp, the satin keeps it from looking like a costume. Autumn and winter, evenings that start late and end later, a carpet with more patterns than sense. A pointed black boot is all it needs below; the cuffs already bring the black.

I sat on the floor because the stools were taken. It photographs better than winning.