What to wear to Marianne's wedding?

I will attend a wedding on in mid-Sept. in Toronto. Marianne, my Parisienne friend Daniele's daughter, and her longtime love David, will marry.

The 6 pm. ceremony is followed by dinner and dancing; the setting is an old church in the
centre of the city that has been de-churched, and is now a concert and events venue.

I'm
leaning towards a pair of flowy palazzo-type pants, a shell and a gorgeous shawl- I want to look festive yet relaxed. The weather could be anything from summer-hot to early-fall cool.

The Toronto Film Festival is on then, and we can always spot the first-time visitors, like Joan Allen last year, in tweed and heavy turtlenecks despite 80-degree weather. The stylists evidently think fall in Southern Ontario is one step from a parka and dogsled.

TIFF makes for marvelous people-watching; I'd say the recognizable celebs are less well-dressed (except for parties) than the flocks of industry types, who appear in luxurious sportswear for breakfast and provide live sightings of jaw-dropping footwear as the tromp around the city arranging hair/makeup, press or simply being fab.


But back to the wedding...The convention is to avoid wearing black for the occasion, but I think my black pants would be OK: it's a second wedding, a hip crowd, and the pants are dance-worthy. I'd have to find a lighter shell, though, no black.

I have my eye on a silk shawl like this, a dark tangerine embroidered in lavender, black, cream, celadon and peach.


Or this one in a tribal design on cream silk:



They are both rectangular in shape.
But I could change direction entirely, if only I had some more ideas!

Comments

I hate any event that tells me I cannot wear black. It is sort of like saying like don't think of a pink elephant." As soon as someone says I cannot wear it that is all I want to wear.

I love the flowy palazzo pants for dancing and the tangerine scarf. Love it!!

Have a great time at the wedding
Anonymous said…
No, my advice would be to avoid black at all costs. This is a wedding after all and one of the few occasions these days when colour does not look too much. If you want to keep it dark, go for a dark maroon or bitter chocolate brown - both colours go with all other colours in a much more imaginative and sophisticated way than boring old reliable black.

Have a great day!
Susan B said…
You've captured my standard wedding/party/concert outfit for all but the most formal occasions. I say black is fine, you'll be adding some color with the shawl, but if you're uncomfortable with head-to-toe black, try an ivory or white top.
Duchesse said…
Thanks to all for the input... on a mission now for bitter chocolate pants and they are so so nearly black but a needed change.
Anjela's Day said…
I love the idea of the pants-with your top and the shawl- needing nothing new to add to it....

Or, I saw this beautiful Emilio Pucci-style tunic top(two styles you can Google them ) flowy and soft against the canvas of your basic black- It is by a designer called Caroline Rose.

Another idea I had was to keep the palazzo style linen pants in a cream colour with a shell and a jacket by Caroline Rose- the jacket is in a crinkled type fabric so allows for lots of cavorting and no having to 'mind your clothes'
It came in different colours-one being a shade of gold which would look spectacular on you.
Duchesse said…
Anjela: Very inspirational! Found lots of Caroline Rose on Nieman Marcus' site (her own is not yet up). Pant inseam too short for me but could have similar made; loved the gold crinkle jacket.

Have Chinese jacket slightly trapeze-shaped my neighbour Jeanne made me with Versace silk print- similar to what you recommend.

WHAT? Could I actually have something perfect in my very closet?

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