Indy Indy Indy!

Dress (Nikki Blaine Couture); "No Wire Hangers" bangle bracelet (vintage); Shoes (Seychelles)

I may have started the month of May with a "Pink Out" in Louisville for the Kentucky Oaks, but as a lifelong Hoosier you know I can't resist breaking out the black and white as Memorial Day Weekend in Indianapolis approaches. Sporting the colors of the checkered victory flag may not be as closely tied to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing as hats are to the Run for the Roses, but you might not know it from the sea of black and white that crops up in local boutiques and on fashionable Indy 500 fans throughout the month of May.

Nikki Blaine Couture recently opened a fantastic new boutique in Zionsville, where you can shop off the rack or request a personal consultation and let the designer herself create something special just for you.

Race day itself calls for casual attire (as my friend and long-time race companion Pete once said to me, "this ain't the Derby, you know..."), but there are plenty of other opportunities to bust out the black and white for day and night. As one site accurately describes, the Greatest Spectacle in Racing "is actually the culmination of a month long event. It begins the first week in May with the Mayor's breakfast and parade around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway" followed by qualifications, practice days, and lots of pomp and circumstance. The race itself is always on the Sunday before Memorial Day, and regularly attracts some 400,000 spectators, earning it the title of the largest one-day sporting event in the world.

....and of course I'm sporting the spectators. I may or may not have them in a green and camel color scheme, too. (Shoes: Seychelles).

I never miss an opportunity to capitalize on a theme, so I know you're not surprised to see me sporting black and white this month. Not that I need an excuse to wear this graphic print, jersey shirtdress from critically acclaimed local couture designer Nikki Blaine (not to be confused with the cigar and martini bar Nicky Blaine's, another Indianapolis icon and a hotspot during the month of May.

Ringing in the 2014 New Year with Nikki herself (center), and local fashion maven Murph Damron (right).

I met Nikki several years ago through a mutual friend, and I've long admired her attention to detail and out of the box design aesthetic, particularly when it comes to evening wear and repurposing vintage textiles or outdated styles into something fresh and exciting. This dress, which I picked up during a sample sale she held last Fall, is more basic than what I typically think of as the "Nikki Blaine style." But, it bears the hallmarks of her steadfast attention to fine tailoring and I can honestly say it's one of the most comfortable dresses I own. Plus, the fabric is so silky that it feels great swishing around as I walk! It seems fitting to wear the dress of a local Indy designer in a nod to the city's color scheme of choice this month. I may just need to stop by that martini bar after work... you know, just to help complete my Indy experience and support the local economy...

Fashion is what you buy; Style is what you do with it!

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