voxsartoria

F/W 11-12 black tie event #3, or the dying habit of the formal informal party.

My favorite black tie party is not the big soirée brimming with strangers and rubbery hors d’œuvre, but small parties with family and friends for which customs of moderation and austerity in semi-formal dress can replaced with something a bit more eccentric.  I suspect that we are about the last members of the last generation of Americans still to do parties like this.  It is done fewer times each year, and some years not, but off we go with like-minded chums to celebrate a friend’s birthday party held at her home.