I had the great pleasure of seeing Tosca at the Opera the other day. Sad story, as many at the Opera are, but oh, the Puccini music! AND the dresses!
Due to a wardrobe malfunction at home, I wasn’t able to wear my new elegant summer dress, and it was a pity because 7 p.m. on a warm summer evening in 2024 would have allowed a nice summer dress like mine. Not everyone wore evening cocktail dresses and high heels (though many did).
The show had two intermissions, so I got to admire the women there. Now that I think of it, the men’s fashion sense didn’t make an impression on me at all. Well, it did, but the men wore bland shirts in solid colors, especially the older ones, whereas the women were decked up in brightly colored dresses with lively patterns. And, as I said, not everyone was wearing high heels. Some women were wearing sandals—and not even with nylons. I thought going with bare legs was not okay with more elegant clothes, but many young women wore their dresses and sandals that way with success. The best thing was that almost no one was wearing black, despite what I had expected after many years of reaching for black to be more elegant and supposedly look better. These days I know better: happy colors are best—though I still do like the occasional black dress, especially when accessorized with colorful gemstone necklaces and bracelets.
One thing is certain: you can never be too gussied up for an evening at the Opera! Dresses you might wear to a cocktail party or even as a wedding guest will not be out of place, even if an evening at the Opera here in Bucharest invited a little less elegance overall than an evening at the George Enescu classical music festival.
Here are some dresses I’d pick for a stylish arts event late in the day, whether at the Opera, a classical music concert hall, the theater, or anywhere else.
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I’ll start with a pencil dress from Grace Karin that’s quite a bargain for how stylish, comfortable, and flattering it is. It comes in many attractive colors, and you also have the options of all black and all white. Fabric is listed as “elastic fabric,” without further info on the composition.
I also like this fifties throwback dress with 94% nylon and 6% spandex. I love spandex in my clothes! I also prefer more modest dresses, even as I like bodycon designs, so I’d pick this one over one with spaghetti straps, for instance. That said, I definitely don’t like that clutch purse.
The dress is available in over 40 colors, including glitter ones.
If you don’t like synthetic fibers, I found another 1950s retro dress made of 95% cotton and 5% polyester. This does look, however, like it would fit better younger persons, making an excellent choice for prom, for instance, which is how Dressystar markets it. But I see no reason why a thirty-plus woman, for instance, couldn’t wear this to the Opera. It has great reviews, but it does tend to run small and it also seems to favor hourglass figures, as the bust is rather large. This one, too, comes in many colors.
Another dress I like is this bodycon peplum one with three-quarter sleeves. It’s made of 95% polyester and 5% spandex. This design is perfect for many occasions, from a more fancy day at the office for a manager to a more elegant occasion at school for a teacher, as well as to the Opera—especially if you’re coming to a show straight from the office on short notice and didn’t have an evening dress to change into. This one too comes in many colors, and it’s also available in both black and white.
Those minimal pleats at the waistline make all the difference in transforming this dress from business attire to something elegant enough for an arts event.
But not everyone likes to wear bodycon dresses, and while I favor some of them, I tend to buy looser fits. Something more like this chiffon flutter-sleeve dress—which I guess is not a bodycon dress, after all 🙂 There are many solid colors to choose from, and then there are also several floral prints. Here’s their mulberry color and one of their patterns.
And these days I’m also drawn to this kind of design.
This one, made of 95% polyester and 5% spandex, is marketed as a wedding guest dress and, indeed, a friend of mine bought a similar one for a wedding.
Again, I don’t like that clutch! Here’s something I’d wear. Note that this satin purse, too, comes in many colors—oh, the wonders of the internet!
Or this one, made of vegan leather.
At the same time, it’s interesting that looking online I find very few stylish dresses with patterned fabrics. But here’s one (besides that chiffon dress above).
The following dress from Zaberry is supposed to be a casual summer choice. However, because it’s maxi and with a more elegantly artistic pattern, I think it could be right, too, for an evening at the theater or the Opera (probably not with those sandals, though). The other designs that are shown on its page, not so much. This Zaberry dress is made of 95% polyester and 5% spandex.
And you don’t have to go to the Opera in a dress if you don’t want to. But should you like the idea of wearing dresses, I’m here to tell you that they can be a lot of fun! I should know, I’m slowly but surely falling in love with them!
To a happier, healthier life,
Mira
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