Fashion help sought

[gnomi]

OK, so I'm clueless on a lot of girly-type things such as fashion and makeup and all that (me? I had a dress code all through high school and spent college wearing something resembling jeans-and-t-shirts). And tonight MAB and I are dressing up all formal-like, which we do periodically but rarely. So I have a question for anyone who might be able to help:

My outfit for tonight is black velvet skirt-black velvet blouse-and-jacket combo, fancy-shmancy shoes. Do I need black nylons? Or are my standard tan-colored ones OK?

I know this sounds like a silly question to a lot of people...but these are the things I worry about sometimes.

Comments

[red-queen.livejournal.com]

What they all said. Tan is fine; black (sheer) is more formal and elegant. Either is acceptable. Opaque black is probably too INformal, oddly enough, but it could be done without comment (tends to look arty rather than formal, IMHO, but then again, I usually wear black tights myself, and would tend toward lacey or sheer for something *really* formal. But I tend to like looking arty.

If you ever want a makeup consultation, lemme know -- I do a LOT of stage makeup, facepainting, and street makeup. I have, basically, three makeup kits chez moi: street, stage, and facepaint. As long as you don't mind clutter and cats, come on over sometime and we can try stuff out. :-} Or I'll go with you to MAC or Sephora (or CVS; altho' the higher-end stuff is somewhat better and more fun, one can do okay at CVS, too) and play advisor :-}. (I've done this with a few other folks, and I've done wedding makeup for 2 friends, too.) My idea of makeup consultations is to find some "look" that you'd be comfortable wearing and applying that enhances your face -- NOT making you look like J. Random Spritzhead.

Re:

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Wow - thanks for the in-depth info. It's greatly appreciated.

And I'd love to have a session of makeupness with you at some point. I keep saying that some day I'll go to one of those places where they'll teach you how to do the makeup thing for free as long as you, in the end, buy some of their products, but time (and $$) have kept me from following through. I'd be much less nervous putting myself in the hands of a friend than in the hands of a stranger.

And not looking like J. Random Spritzhead is always a goal of mine. I don't wear any makeup on a day-to-day basis because I'm so scared of overdoing, but for formal occasions, I'd like to be able to apply makeup with confidence.

Re:

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Get referrals before letting someone do this to you. I did this and came out looking like a clown, I had so much on... and I was all of 17! Who puts cover model makeup on a 17-year-old! Ai!

Re:

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Which is why I'd much rather have red_queen do it than some unknown - I know her, have seen her work, and know I'll be fine in her hands. :-)