Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509150135
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Suppl. I, * 1. n. any of various alcoholic drinks made of a distilled liquor mixed with a wine, fruit juice, etc. and usually iced. 2. adj. of, relating to, or set aside for cocktails (-hour); designed for semiformal wear (-dress).
Maybe it's all those hours communicating with people through cyberspace and cellular car phones - never making human contact - that is drawing people back together. This season is about tactile situations ... satin, soft boa feathers, smooth velvet, slinky silk, cozy blended fibers. And what better forum for this revolution than the cocktail party?
The function of the cocktail party is not to drink. It's to schmooze, to flirt, to gather in an environment where you can escape the mundane, be someone else for the evening ... or be the other you. Finally, again, you can get all dressed up with somewhere to go.
It's radical, romantic, racy ... elegant, chic, graceful ... to socialize in style, not just for business but to entertain for pleasure.
We're in another romantic era, like the early 1800s - when poetry and literature were held in high regard, allowing for adventure, evoking images of beauty and an escape to the surreal; when the women were elegant and so were the men; when H. LeBlanc published "The Art of Tying the Cravat," with 32 illustrated methods, and discussed it as the most significant accessory in men's fashion.
Like the cravat worn to make a statement, the tie and the bowtie have become essential items in the male wardrobe that express taste and style. They accent the suit or embellish the high style of the tuxedo.
Women are revealing more subtlety in sleeveless or spaghetti-strapped dresses that glitter with rhinestones or are trimmed in satin.
Join the wine-sipping, on-the-rocks crowd, and indulge in the fine vintage of another good year.
by CNB