Sunday, August 19th .....

We had an invitation to the opening of a new gallery in Deloraine last night.  On the bottom of the invitation it said ‘Black Tie’.  Beauty, said Marilyn, rubbing her hands together.  We’ve hardly been out for weeks and a black tie affair was the perfect vehicle for us to re-enter society.  I’d been suffering from a sore back for a couple of days but even that wasn’t going to get me out of going.  All dolled up – Marilyn in sparkly black and silver and me in my dinner suit – we headed off to the ‘do’. 

The gallery is in the main street of Deloraine and has previously been a second-hand furniture shop.  Cindy, the owner has cleaned it up with new paint and it’s a very welcoming space.  She’s a very well-known quilt-maker but makes a whole range of other crafty things for sale.  The place was packed with all the local hippies in their finery.

I misunderstood the meaning of ‘black tie’.  In my naivety, I thought it meant wear a dinner suit with formal shirt and black bow tie.  Not any more, apparently!  Among the crowd of 100 or so, there were three dinner suits: the first was an elderly gentleman who seemed bewildered and I think he had come to the wrong function.  The second was a man of my age, wearing a dinner suit I suspect he inherited from his father (or even grandfather), and the third was me.  Every other man had been dressed by Vinnies. 

Unironed shirts were popular as were a variety of hats.  Several men wore over-large overcoats; one, in fact, kept tripping on his.  Dreadlocks are in, semi-shaved chins are de rigeur, boots are an essential fashion accessory.  Most seemed to have made a point of not combing their hair.

For the women, think shabby.  Fur coats are back (one attractive young woman bought hers at the City Mission for $15 and wears it everywhere!).  Again, boots are in, worn with everything.  Even the kids looked odd.  One little girl wore pink wellies with her red dress, a teenage girl sported a man’s khaki trenchcoat complete with belt, and a bowler hat to set it off.

The food was eccentric.  The first trays brought around had little spoons filled with tofu and shredded seaweed, then we had sushi with a dollop of guacamole on top, followed by Curry Puffs on sticks.  There was plenty of wine and the supply seemed endless.  When we left after an hour and a half, it was still flowing freely.  No doubt the party kicked on, but we had an hour’s drive to get home so left them to it.

This has been the only black tie affair that we have been invited to this year and we stood out like sore thumbs.