I know you’ve all been breathlessly waiting to hear the results of my Practical vs. Extravagant question. Wait no longer! (For those of you who are breathlessly confused about what I’m talking about, you might want to read the post that started this great debate.) Here is my finished outfit:

Since this skirt was, after all, intended for dancing, I decided to throw all caution to the wind— yes, ladies and gentlemen, I went Extravagant! My lovely dance skirt is now composed of two swirly layers, topped off by one very sparkly layer. The undermost layer is a crepe-back crushed satin, followed by a semi-sheer tie-dye-print georgette, and the sequinned topping provides the piece de resistance, without which my skirt would be… less than extravagant.

Since there’s (let’s be honest) so much going on in the skirt, I went with simple-but-not-boring for the top; I made it with a beautiful vibrant coral-colored stretch velvet, with an intriguing (and fun to sew) twist in the bodice. And P.S.: this color goes perfectly with the lining I put in my grey sequinned skirt from my Changing My Method post; I can’t wait to wear them together! (And pattern information for the top and skirt is included in the original debate post.)

What do you think? Given the intended use of this outfit, would you have gone Practical? Or Extravagant? Of course, I like to think I can have it all with this outfit: an Extravagant skirt plus a slightly more Practical top, both of which can be mixed (not matched) with other things in my closet to make entirely new ensembles. More on that later when we return to… Practical vs. Extravagant!