Shopping in Monti {Tina Sondergaard}

Does this happen to you? You get an invitation to an event (My husband is a diplomat at the United Nations, so we get a lot of these.) You check the calendar, politely RSVP, and then the morning before the event you go to your closet and realize you have worn everything, sometimes more than once, already. No amount of scarf or shoe or jewelry trickery is going to fool anybody. It is time to go shopping. Now I love to shop. But not really for cocktail party dresses. Thankfully that has changed and I barely had to leave my street.

Tina Sondergaard has been designing dresses for years. I had walked by her store on via Boschetto oh, about a thousand times. I loved the 1950's vibe of the designs with echoes of an Ossining era Betty Draper, yet somehow just a little more modern. But was intimidated. Would the dresses fit me?, would the designer be annoyed if they didn't? Ridiculous. My pal Elizabeth instructed me to get over myself and go buy a dress. As I always do when she gives me advice, I listened.

It was hard to pick from the stripes and checks, bold graphics and jewel colored shantung dresses all hanging in a precise row. I finally chose a golden hued silky cotton blend in the trademark design of a close fitting bodice, nipped in waist and a just flouncy enough skirt. I slipped it over my head and I felt like Cinderella when I turned around. It was perfect. Tina declared she didn't need to adjust a thing. (Which she is happy to do if the neckline is a little high or the waist a tad too loose or snug.)

So now I have the perfect dress for the ball, or at least the summer cocktail parties and weddings that I have RSVP'd to.

Tina Sondergaard
via Boschetto 1/d

Tina also designs for the shoe store, Colpo di Tacco, a few doors down at No. 15a