La Belle Vie: Winter Carnival Ball fashion

Un­doubt­edly, the snow sculp­ture con­test, the polar bear swim and the human dog sled race will be ex­cit­ing events, but the one I am most ea­gerly an­tic­i­pat­ing is Fri­day night's Win­ter Car­ni­val Ball.

This is an op­por­tu­nity to chan­nel your inner Chace Craw­ford or Ser­ena van der Wood­sen, so don't let it pass you by. You've still got time to order some­thing spec­tac­u­lar from the In­ter­net and, luck­ily for you, I've done all the leg­work so you don't have to. Don't worry, you can thank me later.

 

I se­ri­ously hope that you all will con­sider step­ping away from the Lit­tle Black Dress on this oc­ca­sion. I know it's the safe op­tion, but there are so many stun­ningly vi­brant hues around at the mo­ment that wear­ing black just feels like a bit of a waste. If you ab­solutely must, take a leaf out of Emma Stone's book and play around with fab­rics and tex­ture to make it more in­ter­est­ing — feath­ers, lace, leather, em­broi­dery, em­bell­ish­ments. The more the bet­ter. I'm lov­ing the com­bi­na­tion of in­tri­cate open weav­ing and feath­ers on this Sass & Bide mini (http://​www.​net-a-porter.​com/​product/​177518) and the fun and flir­ta­tious vibe of this 1920s-in­spired Oscar de la Renta dress (http://​www.​net-a-porter.​com/​product/​167946)

If you're not in­tend­ing to re-mort­gage your par­ents' house to pay for your out­fit, it's worth check­ing out www.​asos.​com, who will also de­liver in two busi­ness days for the flat rate of $12. Works for me.

There are lit­er­ally hun­dreds of op­tions on there, but my per­sonal faves are thisred body-con dressand thisbaby­doll dress with se­quined bodice. Tow­er­ing heels are a must with both.

 

It's cer­tainly pretty chilly out, so a good cover-up is es­sen­tial. Thisfeather jacketcap­tures the spirit of the oc­ca­sion (I like it in lilac), as does this faux fur jacket fromHe­lene Berman(and luck­ily it's on sale!). If you like to keep things sharp, I'd rec­om­mend this beau­ti­ful blazer in rose cloudwith con­trast­ing lapels.

 

 

Gen­tle­men, I have not for­got­ten you. Your first port of call ought to be Thomas Pink. Re­mem­ber that name — it could be very use­ful to you in the fu­ture. They make pos­si­bly the best shirts in the world at a not-to­tally pro­hib­i­tive price level. Once you own one you'll won­der why you ever bought shirts from any­where else. I like the dou­ble-cuffedKeaton Twill in pink, which would go per­fectly with a grey or navy-blue blazer, or even under a din­ner jacket. Ac­ces­sorize with these un­der­statedTiffany's cuf­flinks.

If you have money to burn but are short on time and imag­i­na­tion, net-a-porter's ded­i­cated menswear site, www.​mrporter.​com, puts to­gether out­fits for you so you can buy the en­tire thing in one go. Handy.

The more con­fi­dent among you might want to go for Dolce & Gab­bana's lux­u­ri­ousvel­vet jacket, which would look fab­u­lous paired with a bowtie or a cra­vat. Cigar op­tional.

The most im­por­tant thing is just to enjoy it — after all, it hap­pens but once a year. I can't wait to see you all there.