Frostiball Pics!

What is there to say about Frostiball? In short, lots of fun, and for me, the fashion is the most important part!
Because of our “mid-sized Midwestern city” status, we’re not known for being the most adventurous city in fashion. This was no more obvious at Frostiball, where I was surprised to see the sheer amount of black cocktail dresses and long gowns that were worn! The group I attended with shrugged off the confines of black—we were a colorful bunch. As you can see in the photo we wore blue(s), red, pink and white!

My theory is as such: Although black is a standard cocktail party-frock color, I think that some people pulled out their older or previously worn dresses and wore those again. With the economic downturn (aren’t you sick of that phrase yet??) my feeling is that spending money on a new fancy dress might not have been in the budget. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to be thrifty!

The standouts I saw: a few red dresses here and there, some pretty blue gowns and a forest green cocktail dress. One gal accessorized her classy white dress with red accessories—love, love, love that. I posted images of some of these standout dresses I refer to, namely the woman in red and blue, and the lovely white dress/red shoe combo. (photo credits and names below).

I accessorized my hot-pink silk gown with turquoise chandelier earrings and chunky turquoise cocktail ring ☺ because well, I always have to stand out. Or, as a certain person in my life always points out, I frequently tend to wear two bright colors together, like a yellow shirt and blue shoes (trust me, it doesn’t look weird). He doesn’t understand that—why they don’t perfectly match—but I figure life’s too short to play it safe with clothing and match exactly all of the time. Pick up any major fashion mag or peruse a style website and you’ll see that pairing color combos is trend-right.

What I propose for next year’s Frostiball: let’s all take a little risk and don some color!

Top photo courtesy of Tiffany Thom. Second from top photo by Kris Ugarriza. Rest of photos by Adriana Gross.
Photo credits start from top; all people left to right:
1. Sarah Andler, Tiffany Thom, Shayna Miller and Katie Vaughn
2. Shayna Miller, Katie Vaughn and Nazia Husain
3. Steve and Laurel Brown
4. Anna Thiel
5. Katie Vaughn, Connie Lanter and Peggy Howard Moore
6. Bob and Toya Ablove, Milanie Cleere and Jason Oliver
7. Randy and Kate Whitson
8. Elizabeth Wewerka
9. Melissa Fellows
10. Sarah Andler and Grant Frautschi

Frostiball Pics

After a long and arduous process, I have (finally) learned how to upload pics from my new digital camera on to my computer! I wanted to share with you our Frostiball adventure from February 2.
Frostiball is an annual Downtown Madison, Inc. event that's held in the dead of winter. Good thing, because the people and hot fashion provided a little spark in downtown's Overture Center. This year's theme was "Urban Elegance" and I have to say I was quite impressed with the beautiful looks that came out of the closet.

Black (not surprisingly) was the color of the night. I saw halter style gowns, strapless numbers, cocktail length creations and more. View one of my favorite black looks seen on Liz Katz. Her strapless creation was by Jessica McClintock and her charming red ruffled handbag was from a small boutique in Green Lake, Wisconsin.


I also saw the ebony and ivory of fashion, black and white, on at least three dresses. One black/white combo was a gorgeous Marilyn Monroe-esque white halter gown with a black sash I saw on a party-goer.

Two shades that added a pleasant jolt of color were vivid red and blue looks. Check out Sarah Andler, Tiffany Thom and Laura President-Brown's red looks from my pics and you'll see what a HOT color it is. Nice job, ladies!

Caitlin Suemnicht, general manager of Fresco, sported an eye-popping royal blue baby-doll look. The sequins added dazzle, of course. Food Fight's Lisa Schell (below) wore a gorgeous black dress with vintage-look rhinestone pins. Katie Vaughn's custom creation (she added the black sash to her dress!) was a hot-pink oasis in a sea of black.


My dress was a white beaded sheath, simple, yet elegant (well at least I thought so!). I didn't see much white on gala-goers that night but I thought it was totally Frostiball-appropriate. Plus, it reflected the fallen snow from earlier that day. We are in Wisconsin, after all.

More Pics:
The first pic is the contemporary centerpieces on each table at the Frostiball.
The second pic shows Tiffany and Katie's lovely gloves on our fancy dinner table.
Enjoy our other pics, below!