Bob Mackie on Being Elegant and Glamorous

I was actually feeling great about myself last night — given it was a Tuesday — given I was alone wearing a gold lame Bob Mackie top.

I was feeling great and grateful when I walked into the Chicago History Museum. I was invited by a new friend to a Costume Council Gala honoring the iconic Bob Mackie.

For me he is the designer of my rehearsal dinner dress 1988. For others — ha ha–he is of course the jaw dropping look of Cher — Ann Margaret — even Carol Burnett and Krystal Carrington (what was her real name?) He is beads and glitter and shoulder pads and timeless.
By the way, he is alive and well and charming at 77 years old. It was a thrill to meet him and a bigger thrill to be wearing the aforementioned gold lamé top (that I bought on eBay for $75.) It is quite fabulous AND he recognized it!

Last night also was the third time in a week where I walked into an event seriously knowing only one other person in the room. By this I mean a crowded room full of hundreds of absolute, complete, total strangers.

Anonymity is an interesting companion. When I introduced myself to the man at the bar in the tartan blazer I could have said my name was Coco Chavez from Venezuela. (Although I would have been busted if he started speaking Spanish.)

Of course, I introduced myself as Lauren—recently moved to Chicago, empty nester, mother extraordinaire—blah, blah, blah. I was just “me,” happy and surprisingly confident. After all, if I knocked over a tray of champagne, nobody knew me.

But the most inspiring part of the evening was not tartan blazer man at the bar or the lovely beautiful people I met, but the words of Bob Mackie.

He was asked to define glamorous. Without pause, he answered, “Glamour is confidence.”

Anybody can “rock it” when they feel good—strong—brave—steady from the inside. And then somehow it just comes naturally. Glamour comes from within.

I would also add it comes with age. Confidence truly comes when we honestly take the years to get know ourselves…and then like what we see in the mirror.

My friends…this is glamour. Take the chance to buy a gold lame top on eBay. Take a chance on meeting wonderful new friends. Take a chance on being happy to introduce yourself as “you”…not Coco Chavez from Venezuela.

The point is, it is so much fun to literally step into something new, something unexpected and unfamiliar, standing tall and glowing with confidence…it doesn’t even have to be the “Cher confidence of wearing a feather headdress to the Oscars.” It’s the confidence to face that anxious moment of “oh no I don’t know anyone here!” and following it up with “that just means more interesting people to meet.”

* Important note to every woman.  If you look good—you feel good. Go get your make-up done. There are super talented make-up artists at every department store cosmetic counter…just waiting to make you look better — they can put liquid eye liner on straight…a talent I have never mastered even before I needed “readers.”