The Last Train From Paris

voltee ♦ September 20, 2010 ♦ 5 Comments

Item: Skirt Color/Fabric: Black, cotton Designer: Gap Years owned: Going to go with 6, but may be longer.

This skirt marks the first of my Black Skirt Series, an attempt to rid my closet of all but the most necessary and most fabulous black skirts. I have a ridiculous collection of black skirts. I counted them today, and was appalled. The skirts are 16 in number. 16 skirts, all black. I could be wrong, but that seems excessive to me. I’m not even sure what might be an appropriate number of black skirts. I mean, black skirts are useful in so many situations, and they come in so many lengths and styles. I need a dressy black skirt, a rock star black skirt, a funeral black skirt, a sexy black skirt, a playful black skirt, a moody black skirt, a professional black skirt- I could go on and on and on. But I think my first goal will be to let go of four black skirts, giving me an even dozen. Baby steps.

This particular skirt is the one I’m choosing to begin this madness because I was talking about it to my friend Vicki yesterday. But please view this one with an open mind. It doesn’t look like much in the picture, but it is quite tailored and lovely on. The best part is back- it is seamed and has this little flounce that really flatters the backside. Here is a picture of when I wore this:

We are all dressed like this because we were having a Murder Mystery Dinner Party. It was a grand occasion! These were all friends we knew from IBM, and they have all moved to other areas except for one couple. It’s sad- we had many fun nights together! I miss them a great deal.
I used to throw these parties a lot. I think this may have been the last one I had, all the way back in 2005. Well, the last planned on- there was a spontaneous and legendary occurrence with the cast of Tommy last summer.
The theme was The Last Train From Paris, which explains the unusual number of berets. I can’t remember all of the characters, except that my friend Kari was a princecess. I really don’t know who my character was at all, but apparently white gloves were appropriate. Well, we played French music, and had French food, including Tartine de Tomates a la Mozzerella, Poulet Grille au Beurre de Coriandre, and Gateau a Mousse de Chocolat. (I only remember this because the invitation is still saved on my computer.) We also drank much French wine. And so the game grew more and more hilarious as the evening progressed. We might not have used our detective skills to their fullest capacity, but a good time was had by all. Until I decided that I should find a prize for the winner, who I think was the murderer, and went down into the basement to get it, still in my heels, and tumbled down half of them. It took me months to find both of my shoes, one was flung at least 10 feet from the bottom of the stairs. Thankfully, no one saw my graceful decent, (rumor has it that it sounded very humorous, however), and thankfully, only my pride was wounded. Le sigh. So much for my sophisticated evening in France.

I will say that this skirt has proved very sturdy and with a decent amount of stretch, to have survived the beating I gave it that night. I think I have probably worn it again, but I honestly can’t remember any other times. I like it. But is it good enough to make the cut?

**After writing this, I found a skirt I had forgotten to put away. Yes, a black skirt. There are 17, so now 5 must go. Ouch.**

**Ok, I may have picked up an additional one or two black skirts since writing this.  But I can’t decide what to do with them all!  Help!!