A woman stepped into a Metro subway car over the weekend wearing a long, simple white column dress that appeared to have been made out of a sheet. It was as if she’d woken up next to her lover, gathered the bedsheet about her like women do only in movies to stand up, but then continued — pausing to wrap her hair in a purple headscarf — out the door and down, underneath the street. It struck me as incredibly chic, modern, and a bit mysterious, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since.

Your incredibly delinquent fashion blogger here, reporting for duty. Thanks to the number of you who wrote me, begging me to come back/making sure I wasn’t dead-in-a-ditch-somewhere. I have no real excuse for my absence other than overall busy-ness with work. I promise to be better, which for me means not obsessing over making a post long or super newsy, but sharing this site as more of a visual diary of fashion and whatever else I find interesting. Anyway, enough apologies and promises. Let’s kick things off with some fun dresses! I’m not one to post many personal style shots, but I can’t resist showing you three amazingly gorgeous dresses I’ve worn recently(ish) to events at work and around town.

This is a silk Mischen dress from Gilt Groupe that I wore to Washington Life’s Young & the Guest List party. I love the shot of bright coral with that peachy pink and bone neutral. I’m loving long dresses and skirts lately – the look is certainly enjoying a renaissance, thankgawd, effing minis…- and would love to style this dress up to wear semi-casually, too.

Another Mischen dress! This is a closet favorite at the moment, due in no small part to the alterations I had done by my all-time favorite seamstress gurus, Kristen and Erin of ReVamp (out of an apartment in Shaw, for now). Both work at Treasury when they’re not tailoring and repurposing. If you love something, have it tailored.

Speaking of fit, observe the dress I wore to the Corcoran Ball, made for me by local designer Taimur Baig. The dramatic molded shoulders were hand-embellished with jet beads and feathers, and the overall look was inspired by his Spring/Summer 2010 moth+butterfly themed collection. Yes, we do have this level of design talent in this town.

* who’s that girl with the dark Uma Thurman bob and awesome taste in dresses? My colleague, Kristin!

Food and fashion compete for top billing in my ever-expanding stable of interests, so I was thrilled to be invited to attend the RAMMYs this year, the awards gala for the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. The event was forties themed and what I hoped would be a fantastic eating opportunity. So, pretty much the ultimate combination for me, and I wasn’t disappointed. I snapped a handful of attendees in adorable outfits and glam hair and makeup (including my Sidewalk Style subject for this week), and I ate. Ohhh did I eat! There was so much decadent food that I was disappointed in finding myself full after checking out only two of the four region-specific stations (Chile, Virginia, Australia, Mexico). I wore a simple black forties dress (scallop-edged sleeves, peplum waist) and the whole glossy waved hair and red lips things that I love so much from that timeperiod. Unfortunately, the only photos I have of the outfit reveal a bit too much of my (very pretty, if I do say so) underthings. Next time I’ll remember a slip…

I hosted a segment about spring essentials this morning on FOX5. Five essentials, to be exact. I talked about florals, having fun with color, lightweight scarves, cheery shift dresses, and footwear alternatives to flip-flops (a topic that will never die in this town). It was awesome, and the ladies who woke up early to model for it were hilarious and, most importantly, all on time (something I appreciate as a 15-minutes-late-as-standard person). Thanks to Nana, Treasury, and Bloomingdale’s for loaning clothes…and thanks to H&M and Urban Outfitters for having breezy return policies! Check out the segment here.

Afterward, I found fashion inspiration in the most unlikely of places: the FOX5 studio bathrooms! Neutrals teamed with a pop of neon or bright color – one of my current favorite trends for spring.

Kevin Williams, Many Hearts

As I mentioned before, I’m having near-constant home decor fantasies, despite the fact that I have NO cash to allocate to it and no business buying “major” furniture for a rental property I share with others. That being said, artwork is one of the few things that makes sense to invest in now, since it takes up so little space and can lead multiple and fantastically different lives in different spaces.

So I’m loving the art sale and beauty event being held tomorrow from 5:30-7:30 at WVSA’s ARTiculate Gallery. They hold an open house “Third Thursday” every month, where art from those participating in their art outreach programs is shown and sold. Tomorrow’s (free) event will unveil artwork focused on art + beauty, and guests will have the opportunity to not tour their event spaces (art galleries seem to be the coolest event spaces these days), but purchase affordable art and get free makeovers and samples from event partner LIERAC Paris. Prices generally fall between $100-$300, and a percentage goes directly to the artist. Or for the same cost, you can commission a custom piece.

The works for this show will be unveiled tomorrow, but these are some of my favorites – love the lively (local!) street scenes and energy of the hearts. These found-art style paintings would add a lot of personality to a room, especially mixed in with other inexpensive finds or juxtaposed with modern decor.

Derek Holloman, Florida Avenue

Michael Tutson, Green Couch with Large Dog

Jamal Williams, Untitled

Also, love the local art-of-the-month concept called Project Dispatch (hat tip to DCist). Every month, a new surprise!

Brad Ulreich, Friction Powered

Corcoran alum! Chandi Kelley, The Storm (think of how great this could look arranged with actual books…)

Speaking of art (and the Corcoran), preparing for opening our next show has kept me really busy…generally I’ve got less time to blog now than I ever did. That’s why I’m trying to keep things fun and low-stress around here. So I’m sorry if things get quiet on occasion, because I know that they will. And at some point I hope to overhaul the categories and figure out how to integrate a propah blogroll for all my wonderful blogosphere friends. Thank all of you for reading whatever random bits of inspiration land here, and for your ideas and comments!

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting designer Norman Ambrose at Neiman Marcus. It was a random weekend day, I was there as part of errand-running, but I knew his work from last year’s Spring preview, where I saw one of his impeccable hand-beaded gowns for the first time. Aside from being enormously talented (he’s not yet 30) and sharply-dressed (he prefers the trad-but-slim-cut stylings of Tom Ford suits…for now, til he ventures into menswear), he’s wonderfully gracious and funny.

His line is so fantastically ladylike and classic, reminiscent of the days when women dressed for lunch, dinner and cocktails. Fittingly, he imagined an heiress making her trans-Atlantic voyage for his Spring collection.

Such shameless romance and fantasy! His off-white silk gown was inspired by what he called the “intelligent elegance” of Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief. Designing with glamour in mind is in his DNA: after fleeing Europe during WWII, his grandmother came to California and worked for silver screen designer Irene Lenz.

Norman asked a model to slip into this dress while we talked. The lining on this incredible party dress is just one example of the thoughtful details that set his pieces apart – the drape falls away from the body just so, and the coral lining creates a flattering pink glow on the exposed skin. Built-in lighting. Genius (I might add that Dorothy Draper often lined her curtains in pink to, I assume, achieve something of the same effect).

With a classy outfit or with something more casual and surprising, I love love love this “peony” evening jacket.

I’m so ready for Spring, can you tell (and look closely, the merchandise is already hitting stores)?! Since we are still in the throes of the cold winter months, though, I’m loving this iteration of the iconic YSL Le Smoking.

Last night I stopped in to the Capitol File holiday-issue party, which Hilary Rhoda attended as the issue’s cover girl and guest of honor. Just a few observations, in no particular order:

- The blonde is her mom. Yup.
- Hilary was wearing Stella McCartney. I knew you’d wanna know.
- Hilary is at once totally normal-looking and intimidatingly model-perfect. It’s sort of weird. Just when you’re like, okay, she is like kind of normal-skinny and girl-from-Maryland, you snap a photo like the up-close one above and realize again why she is the face if Estee Lauder. She…is…gorgeous.
- I want her eyebrows.
- I want her eyebrows.

Read an interview with Hilary Rhoda here, or check out the new Holiday 2009 issue in stores.

Last week I attended the “Cool Creative Christmas” party at the residence of Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Peterson. The house itself is filled with incredible mid-century modern design – including some gorgeous oversize lighting fixtures you can see here. But for the party, the already fabulous residence was completely transformed into a fairytale-inspired winter wonderland – and green, to boot – at the hands of students from the Danish School of Design and our very own Corcoran College of Art + Design. It was amazingly gorgeous and even more amazing to think of the months and months of work that went into making the thousands of lush paper flowers (from, among other things, coffee filters!), wreaths, floating lights, and more. Just like a fashion show, hours and hours are put in to create a brief moment of pure, indulgent fantasy. Speaking of fashion – each of the students, above, was a total fashion plate in her own right. Look at all of the amazing headgear! Inspiring, inspiring, inspiring….This photo above + more here.

And if you want a piece of emerging-art-talent for yourself (or for someone else…it is that time of year, isn’t it?), don’t miss the Corcoran College of Art +Design’s Off the Walls Sale starting TODAY (til 9 p.m. tonight, perfect for after work) through the weekend.

Guests were treated to a lavish buffet of incredible Swedish dishes prepared by Chef Trina Hahnemann (including some insanely amazing and crispy pork rind…yes). I left with a copy of her cookbook, which I devoured (in the figurative sense) snuggled up on the couch Saturday, when I woke up to that first snowy, winter day. It’s more like a coffee-table book than a standard cookbook in that the photographs are stunningly beautiful and, like the recipes that accompany them, evoke the pleasures of each season. The winter images were particularly meditative.

eBay recently launched a new style/culture/shopping Web site (check out the NYT article here) – The Inside Source – the idea being a fun editorial online mag that sources the cool stuff on eBay so you don’t have to. I’m proud to have represented Washington through a street-style set.

I teamed up with McLean over at Deacon Does DC, who shared 10 great picks for holiday shopping and fun in the District (can’t wait to check out #8!).

It’s all a part of eBay’s Mobile Boutique Tour, taking place TODAY AND TOMORROW inside Union Station, offering a unique virtual shopping experience for everything you’ll be looking to buy this holiday season – for yourself or for others on your list. Shopping stations will showcase the most coveted items on eBay, so you can find top items purchase right on the spot. I only recently began shopping on eBay – and it’s very rapidly becoming a problem – so I’m loving the site, chock-full of great fashiony articles, like this one on pairing tough and feminine items, and especially this piece on ideas for an “antiquarian Thanksgiving” through the words of one of my very favorite bloggers, Hollister Hovey.