Curiouser and curiouser...

Hats in all shapes and sizes came together last week to celebrate my turning 26. Previous posts make no secret that im a sucker for fancy dress, so we conjured up the Mad Hatter Tea Party theme - no hat no entry. 20 girlfriends, courtesy of Patrick - had an amazing sit down dinner followed by drinks and dancing into the wee hours of the morning.Invitations specified guests wear something fabulous, accessorized by hat of their choice - the too cool for school wore trilbys and oversized floppys J-Lo style, the wary dipped their toe in the hat theme and wore fascinators and oversized bows, whilst the brave opted for indian headresses and hats from the forces. There was even a pair of Louis Vuitton bunny ears in the mix - tres chic. Being the 'belle of the ball' and not wanting to be outhatted I took the theme literally and decided to fashion my head gear on the Mad Hatter himself, or rather Gwen Steffani's interpretation - a black top hat sprayed silver with fabric snow leopard print flowers (yes, after a xmas vacation the girl with flowers in her hair is back)

The club scene doesnt usually warrant a toe skimming dress, however birthdays come but once a year. Hunting high and low I finally found a black satin nightie I could work with, following a stern warning from the shop assistant whilst standing half naked - that you are NOT allowed to try clothing on, on the shop floor (NB. It was ten minutes till closing time on the penultimate day of my party, I did not have time to go in search of a fitting room!) This repremanding was quickly forgotten at the till when I found out the dress had been reduced to nine pounds. Happy Birthday to me.

Never one to leave things as they are, when I got home I ripped the straps to transform into a halter neck, cut a deep v to create a backless finish and felt tipped the red and cream floral embroidery for a completely noir ensemble. Et voila, customising is clearly the way forward when you're late, you're late, for a very important date!