What I Wore: The Sun Shorts Gala Night x Cocktail Chic

If there was anything I have learned from Nina Garcia's Look Book, which was undoubtedly her thickest book to date was that to keep things at classy. In this context, classy referred to less fussies, to the minimal fireworks, to classic lines and conservatively sexy we can call it corporate cocktail chic.

There was an entire chapter devoted to dressing up in office parties {while it was a film gala night, it was still work through and through} which highlighted that very fact of dressing up carefully --- after all, "office parties are the stuff made of legend" -- legendary chismis, that is {more on that maybe next time}. And it is a venue where one needs to thread the line between fun and professional.

It was a long, arduous process and in the end, I had only wanted to look like I was having fun. So I did. {Apologies for not being able to take a proper OOTN shot, I was after all, working.}

My friend and I remind me of sapin sapin.

Dress: Luca Heels: Nine West Clutch: Charriol Accessories: H&M

"May butas pala sa gilid yung damit mo!" "Ma'am, nabutas yata yung damit mo?" "Hindi nga plunging, wala namang gilid." "Hindi ba malalaglag yan? Katakot."

These were only some of the comments I got from wearing my Luca dress, a two-color dress that was knotted in the middle and exposed my sides, my sides which I worked on for so many weeks prior to the gala night for fear of looking like I had a muffin top {which is impossible cos I wasn't wearing jeans}.

The thing with this dress was that it highlighted what I had and sufficiently hid what I was lacking {or in surplus, in this instance}. I covered myself in a Mango blazer while waiting for some colleagues to leave for Resorts World and found that it was a perfect work wear, too, just add a blazer, heh. Expect to see me wearing this at work anytime soon, too.

While the dress was not exactly a steal at its price, I was only very glad that I was able to snag it when I did/. Indeed a very happy decision, yes?

And if you're curious as to what we watched, here they are {so happy to share them all!}