The Winter Formal was held at the Dane Estate, a beautiful 1891 mansion in Chestnut Hill. The dark wood and carved moldings were a perfect balance to the pretty holiday decorations.
The library was also perfect for dancing, and as two of the event sponsors were swing dance studios, we did!
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| guests in the library |
In addition to dancing, there was a lovely dinner and a showing of It's A Wonderful Life on an original 1940s army movie projector. It was so cool! I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but watching the reels (including pauses to change them out) in a room full of other people reacting definitely added to the viewing.
The year for the evening was 1946, which is the year It's A Wonderful Life premiered. All of the event attendees looked great, and being surrounded by people in lovely 40s and 50s clothes was really fun. The organizers also did a great job building the atmosphere--little touches like hiding the iPod of dance music behind a vintage radio made the evening magical.
I was hoping to have a new dress done, but I got distracted...oops. So I wore the Butterick 4790 one-piece dress (which is the coolest pattern) I made a couple of years ago, and it was actually pretty perfect. The fabric has a tiny holly berry print, and there is a jingle-bell shaped decorative button on the front closure. I also (FINALLY) managed to get victory rolls that looked the way I wanted, so of the entire outfit I was most proud of my hair. The back is decorated with a sprig of (fake) holly and a blingy snowflake hairpin.
I also wore my 1940s mink cape, which has the iconic square 40s shoulders and is snuggly warm. (I would never buy new fur, but used vintage stuff I have no problem with.)
It was a lovely evening celebrating the best part of winter (snow, vintage holiday goodness, and warm evenings with friends). Now all I need is to sing some carols!
