A wedding guest: staying elegant all evening

• Sit down: a waist that pinches while seated will be unbearable at dinner.
• Raise your arms: the dress should not ride up as one piece.
• Walk: a too-narrow skirt shows within three steps.

Those three moves take a minute and save an evening spent readjusting.

In a warm, crowded room a breathable fabric changes everything. Viscose blends stay comfortable where synthetics become stifling within an hour.

A fluid lining also stops the dress clinging late in the evening — a detail you only notice at the wrong moment.

Placed lace and a restrained colour carry over to other occasions; a fully embroidered dress is remembered by guests and rarely repeated in the same circle.

The real cost of an outfit is not its price: it is its price divided by the number of times you will wear it.