Woman seated in an oxblood velvet armchair in a white shirt, black velvet flares, long leather gloves and pointed boots

Velvet and embroidery · Autumn · Winter

White shirt, velvet flares and leather opera gloves

A white poplin shirt open at the collar, black velvet flared trousers and long black leather opera gloves, seated in an oxblood velvet armchair.

A white shirt is the civilian; everything else is velvet or leather. The shirt is white poplin with a pointed collar, buttoned from the sternum down and the sleeves pushed to the elbow, tucked into black velvet flared trousers with a high waist and a wide, floor-grazing hem. Long black leather opera gloves run from the fingertips to above the elbow, meeting the rolled shirt sleeve. Black pointed boots with a slim heel sit under the flare.

The trick is the proportion: the gloves make the arms long, the flares make the legs longer, the shirt keeps the whole thing from being a costume. Seated, the velvet pools; standing, it moves. Autumn and winter, a dinner in a hotel with armchairs worth sitting in, an opening where the coat check is slow. Gloves stay on for the drink.

Gloves on indoors. The chair was expecting me.

the pieces

  • White poplin shirtshirt · cotton · white
  • High-waist black velvet flared trouserstrousers · velvet · black
  • Long black leather opera glovesopera gloves · leather · black
  • Black pointed bootsboots · leather · black

similar pieces

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styling notes

  • Shirt sleeves pushed up to meet the gloves
  • Flare long enough to cover the boot shaft
  • Two buttons open, not three
  • Hair straight down over the collar

palette

Black#121212 White#F4F2EE Charcoal#3A3937

details

Velvet and embroideryAutumnWinterDinnerEventEditorialDark glamSharpLeatherVelvetCottonShirtBootsOpera glovesTrousersHotelHigh waist

wearabilitysomewhere in between

get looks like this once a month

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