High-neck lace top, wide-leg trousers and a cummerbund

The lace does the work the shirt would normally do. A high-neck, long-sleeve black lace top sits under a fitted single-button black blazer, the floral pattern running up to the collar and down the sleeves past the cuffs, with a lined bust panel so the lace stays a texture and not a reveal. Below it, a black satin tuxedo cummerbund folds across the waist, and high-waist wide-leg black wool trousers fall from pleats to a straight hem over black penny loafers.

It reads as a suit from across the street and as something else at the table. Keep the trousers long enough to break on the loafer, the blazer open so the cummerbund shows, and the hair down over the lace collar. Autumn or spring mornings, an office that does not ask questions, a dinner that starts before the sun is fully gone.

Nine in the morning. The lace was already awake.