OverDressed for Life

Theresa LaQuey designed every one of these gowns as well as the costumes for the DecoBelles.

Congratulations to Oakland fashion designer Theresa LaQuey who was among the eight honorees at The Art Deco Society of California Preservation Ball on Saturday evening May 23, 2015. An expert in design of the 1920s through the 1940s, Ms. LaQuey was honored for her contribution to the preservation and education of fashion in the Art Deco period. She has designed many a ball gown for Art Deco Society members and a group was on hand to show off their lovely TLQ originals. (A side note: I have several TLQ daywear creations including a super chic suit. Click here to see.)

The venue for this year’s ball was another honoree, The Scottish Rite Center. This 1927 building located on Lake Merritt in Oakland was recently renovated and sports a grand ballroom on the first floor as well as four more floors of rooms including a library and smoking room. We gathered dressed in our Deco finest on the fifth floor, which has a deck with a fabulous view of the lake and several anterooms leading into a ballroom where Don Neely’s Royal Society Jazz Orchestra played for the dance-lovin’ crowd.

Dr. Elaine Ashby donning her own gloved gown.

Plus, just for added fun, it was a masquerade ball in honor of one of the other evening’s award recipients, Hearst Castle, and all the glamorous parties given there by Hollywood actress Marion Davies and newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Some attendees wore masks and others went in fancy costume including Dr. Elaine Ashby who, knowing her way around a sewing machine, made her own gown embellished with vintage white leather gloves. Handy skills to have as the lady is a surgeon. But when not practicing her craft on patients, she likes to attend Carnival of Venice for which this talented doctor has created many a stunning gown.

Autumn Adamme also arrived in a costume she made herself, which of course, had to include a corset. Ms. Adamme is the woman behind Dark Garden Corsetry a corsetry, couture clothing, and bridal shop in San Francisco. Known for excellent corset handcrafting, Dark Garden Corsetry attracts high-profile clients such as Dita Von Teese and Christina Aguilera.

Fellow fashion designers Autumn Adamme & Theresa LaQuey.

Now that’s what I enjoy about this annual event, Deco dress-up and meeting such an array of interesting people.

Congratulations to all the winners: Diego Rivera Mural Project, Oakland Scottish Rite Center, Glenview Elementary School Preservation Efforts, Sailors’ Union of the Pacific Building, Brian Kendall (Administrator with the City of Oakland’s Façade Improvement Program), Ed and Karen Archer, Theresa LaQuey Couture, and Hearst Castle, which received the first ever award given by the ADSC for eclectic architecture of the 1920s.

Let’s have a round of congratulatory applause (clap, clap, clap) to Preservation Ball Co-Chairs, ADSC President Heidi Schave and ADSC Secretary Alice Jurow. And more claps for the many volunteers, who do magic behind the scenes.

It happens again next year. Stayed tuned to OverDressed for Life.