My mother's dress for the occasion, a gray wool sheath with long sleeves, lay on the counter.
Alexis Mabille, who was a designer at Dior, is equally well represented: a backless black dress with a starched white tuxedo collar; a black wool sheath with a neckline wreathed in a cluster of thick ivory satin bows the size of tea roses; an electric blue opera coat festooned with black crystals, for the avenging disco Romanov.
In 1986 Patrick Kelly designed a special dress for the playful "Fashion Scandal," a wool knit form-fitting sheath with "I ♥ Fashion Scandal" spelled out in buttons down the back.
Other winners were a crimson sheath in wool with an open, asymmetrical neckline; a sleeveless, full-skirted dress in superlight black leather with a hand-laced bodice; and a simple (for him) dress in layers of vermillion and fuchsia silk chiffon with a handkerchief hem and a high, gathered neckline.
His women are resolutely good, with taste — rather than sex appeal — reflected in the checked wool jackets, a lapis blue sheath scattered with French knots, and a gray microcheck cashmere dress with black embroidered cap sleeves.
And Victoria Beckham outfitted an urban army with chic military inspired dresses and coats that fit to a T. Belted wool coats with epaulets and striped sheaths were a leap forward and utterly appealing.
The sharp tailoring, particularly the all-in-one trompe l'oeil outfits that melded a ring of forgiving white silk to the waist of second-skin sheath dresses in fur and wool, show a designer willing to take some risks.
It was when the designers held back, like the opening cocooning jacket with a mustard-color collar and a hemline bonded with satin or the linear sheath dress that shaded from wool to velvet, that the luxe balance felt modern.
Wearing a loose, thigh-high white sheath and a long black wool coat with kitten heels, the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France made no effort to hide her rounded belly as she posed for photos with the wives of other political leaders attending the meeting.
Almost every garment uses a fairly simple technique, like tacking scissor-cut squares of fabric to a navy sheath or doing the top half of a navy wool tunic dress in sheer navy knit.
You get an unusual sheath in violet linen with a mottled gold yoke, or a classic pair of wool jersey trousers worn with a white piqué shirt, a black corset and a cropped jacket in a black polka-dot jacquard.
