The Fabulous Event That Did Not Happen And The Fabulous Dress That Stayed With Me

After my Balenciaga shoes post I had a bit of writer's block because I knew any post would be anti-climatic, especially a JCrew OTTD post.
In reality I could have had something VERY glamorous to post about today, if the event that I mentioned a while ago and that was supposed to happen this past weekend had happened. Well, it did happen but without me as I didn't have the chance to go. But I thought that you might be still interested in knowing what it was and live vicariously, like me in this case.

The event was a special performance by the Opera House of Pittsburgh of "Shining Brow", an opera by Daron Hagen based on the life of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and in particular his love affair with Mamah Cheney (facts that are also at the center of the novel "Loving Frank" by Nancy Nolan). While I am not sure if this opera is the greatest piece of art or not, the special thing about it is that it was to be performed this past Friday and Saturday at Fallingwater, the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright in the Pittsburgh countryside. The organizers were to use Fallingwater and its terraces as a Opera house with the audience scattered through the garden, which had never been done before (you can read all about it here. The performance was to be preceded by a cocktail party/light supper IN THE HOUSE! How fabulous is that? It was my life dream already to go and visit Fallingwater one day, but having special access and partying in the house? I die. I couldn't think about anything else for weeks.

So why I didn't go? Going there from NYC is not that easy to start with. The house is 70 miles from Pittsbugh which means that once in Pittsburgh you have to drive there. So the best is to drive from NYC but it is a 6-7 hours drive. Of course we would have drove for such a special occasion but my husband had a business trip last week and he was to land in NYC at 7 am Saturday morning (day of the last performance) after an overnight flight from Buenos Aires so he didn't feel like driving another 6 hours (which I understand, and as you know I can't drive here in the US, I never learned how to use an automatic transmission car, I can only drive the stick shift). We tried to plan a scenario where I would pick him up at the airport, change airport and take a flight to Pittsburgh but here is the thing: they had a rain date on Sunday night and we couldn't extend our trip to stay one more night just in case. Imagine buying the non refundable tickets (not cheap, as you can imagine, but it would have been my bday present), buying the plane tickets, going there and then having to leave before the real thing! Also, I have to say that I was more excited about it when we had first talked about going with our best friends (who are always ready for this kind of things). My husband was doing it for me and he is not such an opera fan and architecture lover as I am (I have told you probably that modern architecture is one of my biggest interests in life) so it would have been more special if we could enjoy the company of our friends (who, by the way, could have drove us there) on this special night (as opposed to being with strangers). But my friend had another big trip coming up this week so in the end they withdraw from the project and in the end I lost momentum and we didn't go. I don't know, maybe I gave up too easily but I would certainly have been one stressed woman this past Friday when tropical storm (what was its name? I forgot it already) was dumping heavy rain on us. But the next time, if I am given a second chance, I will move mountains and go!
I wanted to show you pictures from the event but strangely enough I didn't find any report when I googled it this morning. You would think that something like this would have had a large press coverage but it seems to have gone unseen. Maybe Pittsburgh is out of the major cultural circuits? When I called the Opera of Pittsburgh back in April the man on the phone was very surprised that I knew about it (he was all "How did you hear about it"? Granted it was not through any kind of ad but through a friend who was going to Pittsburgh for work and heard about it from another friend who lives in Pittsburgh). On the other end of the phone line I was very surprised that the tickets, that had been on sale for a few days already, weren't all soldout, as they would have soldout in a minute in NYC. He said "I don't expect it to sell out for the next three weeks or so" and he was right about it. In any case I am sure that the lucky few who could assist the event had a ball.

You will agree with me that an event like this calls for a new dress. I had mentioned that, fault of finding a way to go there, I had found the perfect dress at Tory Burch, during their F&F event. The plan was to return the dress in case the event would not happen for me, but I couldn't push myself to return such a beauty. I tell myself that it is a timeless dress, it is appropriate for every age and for once, I bought one size up so should I put some weight on, it should still fit because it isn't skin-tight already.
It is called the Whitney dress, it is sold out on the Tory website but this is the stock pic:



And as styled in the Lookbook:


And on yours truly (fitting room pics, in a size 4):





This is one exquisite dress made of three layers of fabric (poly chiffon and silk). I hesitated between the size 4 (that fit me perfectly but is not my usual size) and to wait for a size 2, that was "in consignment" at another client, meaning that she had it at home to try on (I had never heard about "consignment" before). I knew that I didn't want to lose on the 25% off because this is an expensive dress (even if not more expensive than that JCrew hummingbird dress that fit me so bad) so I bought the 4 and it was the right size, the 2 would have been too tight. Katharine MacPhee wore the dress to the Today Show and while I think she is beautiful I also think it is a bit too tight on her:



Now I need another occasion soon! Speaking of Tory, I bumped into her the other day and she was wearing Tory head to toe. I love that she wears her clothes all the time, it says a lot about the brand. In case you are curious, she was wearing the jasmyn dress, which is not a favorite of mine but looked great on her (she was wearing the same high-heeled sandals since she is teeny).
And in case you are ready for some Fall colors, I just received an email that advertises the Pre-fall Collection that you can see here.

Now that I have overcome my writer's block I will go back to my less glamorous OTTDs. Stay tuned!

Had you heard about Shining Brow at Fallingwater? Anyone was there? Did you read "Loving Frank"?