Paper Doll: Chiaroscuro

No one said it has to be real,
But it's got to be something you can reach out and feel
Now it ain't right, it ain't fair
Castles fall in the sand, and we fade in the air,
And the good girls go to heaven
But the bad girls go everywhere
And the good girls go to heaven
But the bad girls go everywhere
Somebody told me so
Somebody told me, now I know
Every night in my prayer,
I'll be praying that the good girls go to heaven
But the bad girls go everywhere

- Meatloaf, "Good Girls Go to Heaven
(Bad Girls Go Everywhere)"

About a month ago, one of my female friends found herself in need of a white bustier for her organization's annual gathering. By some unfathomable reason, she actually allowed me to tag along as she scoured the malls and department stores for that one article of clothing.

As we went through the sparse selections at various places, we discussed exactly what she was planning to wear: A white bustier, black slacks and a white trench coat. (The white coat, of course, was so that she could get to the gathering without being stared at.) She figured that this was a relatively good combination; I disagreed, primarily because I thought that a black coat would look better.

I think I preferred a white bustier - black slacks - black coat combination because of my experiences wearing formal clothes. We've probably already noticed, for one, that the usual three-piece suit involves a coat that's the same color as the trousers and a shirt that's the exact opposite in tone; I normally wear a white shirt, blue-gray pants and a blue-gray suit to ultra-formal occasions, for example.

(And for those people who have started wondering whether or not I've suddenly gone nuts: No, I am not about to guest on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy or anything. A heterosexual man has to have even a little fashion sense, after all.)

After three or four hours of searching, however, we came up empty. None of the stores we visited had any white bustiers available (or at least, any white bustiers that weren't already attached to prom dresses). She told me that she already had a black bustier at home, however, and we resigned ourselves to the fact that she was most likely going to wear that with the black slacks and white coat.

I considered the idea of the resulting black-black-white combination over the next few days, however, and decided that maybe it didn't seem so bad. In fact, as I mentioned this to her over tea the next time we met, I sketched out a rough idea of how the result would look. While we both liked what we saw, I figured that perhaps it was worth changing the white coat to a white jacket instead. (No reason came to mind at that time... maybe I just like jackets.)

Sadly, however, her organizational gathering had long since finished by then, and so we were forced to shelve the fashion discussion for another time.

But then again, some things have a habit of cropping up in the strangest places:



It doesn't look bad, does it? I don't think it's daring enough for the character's, er... character, but I really shouldn't complain as long as it drapes well.

Well, there's my second entry for Jac's Pilya contest. Now I really must get back to my fiction...