I'm sure that we each have our own favorite dressed-in-public fantasy, but since I was actually able to experience mine last week I thought I'd share it with you.
DearSweetWife and I just had another of our Chicks' Culture Weekends in NewYorkCity - we drove down Friday (with me dressed!), checked into a cozy little hotel, went to an off-off-off-Broadway play in a little theatre in the basement of a rundown sandwich shop in Greenwich village, and on Saturday afternoon saw Jude Law do Hamlet (on Broadway).
We rushed back to our room and changed for the opera - a new production of Tosca at Lincoln Center. DSW wore a very elegant long brown dress (actually, it is MY dress) and I wore a waltz-length rose colored silk wisp of a thing. It is sleeveless with a fairly high neckline, but is very low cut in the back - right down to the backstrap of my strapless bra. I wore 4 inch black patent leather heels that just barely exist (very thin sole with a stiletto heel, a half inch strap over the ball of my foot, with an small heel cup and ankle strap) and deliicate sparkly dangle earings with a "matching" pendant on a very thin silver chain - just at the neckline of the dress. I pulled my (mostly silver) hair up into one of those casual looking twists with a fancy butterfly clip and let the ends loose to do what they would - they fell into cute little curls at the crown and falling back over the clip - my hair never looked better, especially when the inevitable little wisps worked loose in front of my ears. To top it off, I got to wear our (shared) long black coat with the magenta lining - you would never have expected the rose and magenta to work together but they looked great. (Sorry for the long description, but I was dressed to the nine-and-a-halfs and the outfit plays into the rest of the story...)
We were actually ready early and rather than risk not finding a cab in time, we got to Lincoln Center almost an hour early. To those of you from other areas who have not been there, Lincoln Center is awesome - there is a plaza in the front the size of several soccer fields with a brightly lit fountain and NewYorkCity lights all around. Everybody is dressed up, and doing their best to act cultured an sophisticated. We strolled across the plaza and entered the lobby to get our will-call tickets. The lobby is everything you would expect with marble and chandelliers and curved staircases and soft red carpeting.
Since we had not planned to be early, we didn't have reservations for the restaurant but were told we could get drinks and snacks at the stand-up bar on the grand balcony. After a long, graceful climb up the stairway, we reached our destination, and purchased glasses of red wine and a brownie. There were a few other couples about and we smailed politely at each other as eyes made contact. DSW has pretty severe arthritis in her knees and the standing got to her soon. We looked about and saw that there were chairs outside on the balcony overlooking the plaza; even though it was a cold and rainy night, they looked dry so we elected to sit outside to finish our wine. So there we were in our prettiest things, sitting on the brightly lit balcony by ourselves - on display to the thousands of people coming into the Hall.
With wine finished we headed for our box, but were told that they were still working on the stage and that we would have to wait - it was much warmer inside and I removed my coat and draped it over my arm with my purse. DSW needed to visit the ladies' room so in her absence I went to the bar and got us more wine - she was delighted. And so we stood there for fifteen more minutes drinking our wine, looking at displays of operatic memorabilia. And yes, occassionally small-chatting with other people. I was very, very aware of how I was dressed standing there on the red velvet carpeting, next to the red velvet walls - with so, so much skin showing. It was absolutely delightful!
A very nice usherette approached and told us our box was ready and proceeded to lead us there. DSW walks fairly slowly so we lagged behind a bit. I must admit that I really enjoyed the slow walk in the high heels in the silk dress - nothing moves on your body the way that silk does. Perhaps I enjoyed the walk a little too much - as we neared our box I heard two women talking softly while catching up from behind...
"No, I don't think so..."
"Five bucks?"
"No, I don't want to take your money..."
"Anyway, isn't she wearing a beatutiful dress?'
(For those of you who don't know me, I would fail the Stevie Wonder test...I never expect to pass)
At the second intermission, I need to use the ladies' room myself. DSW offered to come with me to "cover" me, but it was a fairly long walk and I said "No, I'm a big girl now" and went by myself. I was there early enough that the line was still inside, but there was a line and I waited in it. Oddly enough, hardly any of the women noticed and anyone who did returned my smile. I did my business and washed my hands, and then - screwing up all of my courage- stopped at the big mirror and stood among the others fixing my makeup and fussing with my hair. Just as I reached the door, I felt a soft hand on my shoulder and a woman's voice said "Wait a second". She then proceeded to adjust the back of my dress and move the backstrap of my bra down and inch so that it wouldn't show. I turned when she was done and said thank you to a very attractive 45-ish lady who smiled and said "such a beautiful dress - I adore the color" and with a light touch on the strap of the dress turned and walked away.
The opera was wonderful and I hated to leave, but other than a minor shoe incident (I had unbuckled the ankle straps during the third act and couldn't get one buckled again) leaving was uneventful. We had hoped to catch a cab and go to a "rustic" french restaurant we had read about - but the delay over the shoes had caused us to miss the first wave of cabs. After a fifteen minute attempt to flag one down in the rain, we gave up and went into a steak place just across the street - we had a bottle of wine with salads.
By the time we were done, cabs were back to the steady state and we got one after a two minute wait - back to the hotel and bed with visions of the opera still running through my head.
-jj
Be sure the brain is engaged, before putting the mouth into gear 
~AKA - Cosmo-Loves-PantyHose~ 
