What are you wearing New Year's Eve? - Beauty and style: for the new Black woman

Ebony, Jan, 2003

AT the major parties and black-tie events of 2002, you've probably witnessed the most fashionable Sisters stop the show with colorful leather ensembles and posh, strappy hells, while the Brothers ruled the scene with the Samuel L. Jackson-inspired three-quarters-length topcoats and, occasionally, the elaborately decorated staff at their side. Chances are, you're the proud owner of a b-a-a-a-d outfit that's known to turn heads, and sometimes inflict the whiplash effect on unsuspecting admirers.

Yet the 2002 fetes provided a mere prelude to the awesome fashions the oh-so-stylish ones are likely to unveil when they come out to celebrate the 2003 New Year. In many social circles, the New Year's Eve party is regarded as the absolute granddaddy of all social events, which makes the fashion stakes considerably higher.

"I think it's very important to look your best on New Year's Eve," says Chicagoan Sheila Rugege, 28, director of client services for PR Networks-Chicago. "It's the beginning of a new year; it's a time to get your mind right. And it's a time to dress up and enjoy the festivities with friends and family."

Can't you just see them now?

Hordes of lively partygoers counting down the New Year--the modish males wearing the snazziest suits and three-quarters-length coats; while the fashionable women aren't too far behind, in variations of the standard little black dress, complete with a dizzying array of "just right" accessories and, of course, the "oh-my-gosh-she's-going-to-tip-over" open-toe heels.

Hip partygoers from both coasts and everywhere in-between caution that if you're considering wearing whatever falls out of your closet to the New Year's bash, perhaps you should reconsider. No self-respecting entry-level employee, up-and-coming corporate insider or ingenious entrepreneur should be caught dead or alive wearing substandard threads to the biggest event of the old, and new, year.

Your New Year's Eve outfit should be a declaration of your zeal to let bygones be bygones and to let 2002's trends, hypes and fashion faux pas remain a thing of the past.

What shouldn't be discarded with the rest of 2002, however, is your fashion sensibility. No matter your individual style, knowing what to wear and how to wear it is an art form that should remain with you always.

If you're attending a New Year's Eve party, soiree, get-together, corporate function, social gathering, reunion, bash, or knee-slapping hoedown, you should read your invitation carefully and adhere to the stated dress code. (The consequence of ignoring the dress code is obvious--just think of the poor dude stuck in a three-piece suit while his more comfortably dressed co-workers enjoyed a night of music, messy finger foods and board games.)

For decades, well-dressed Brothers have had a love affair with the tuxedo, but on special occasions you must curb your enthusiasm, read your invite, and only wear tuxedo when the invitation states "formal, black tie," "black tie invited" or "black tie optional."

If you find a tuxedo that is complementary to your physique, don't just rent it, buy it, advises Dwight Gates, 32, a Chicago-area pharmaceutical sales consultant. Gates says that when he found a tuxedo that suited his distinct body type, he took it home for good.

"I'm thin, but I have a decent, muscular build," he says. "If I wear certain boxy clothes, I can't accentuate my physique, so I prefer tuxedos that are tailored for someone like me. I own a tuxedo that has a traditional cut coat that's not too long with three buttons. I wear it with a black bow tie and a very nice tuxedo shirt with studs."

Tuxedos are appropriate to wear at a formal ball or dance, dinner party or reception, and of course, to the opening night of the opera, symphony or ballet.

On the other end of the spectrum, some Sisters have never met a skintight dress that they didn't like. But just because the dress is tight doesn't mean that it's sexy or appropriate for a black-tie event, says LaMeka Keys, 24, an accounting associate for a Washington, D.C.-area media company.

"I chose to wear a particular gown to a black-tie fund-raiser because it didn't show too much," Keys says, "and at the same time it was elegant and very sexy. The gown just falls on my curves, but it's not too tight."

For Sisters, the more trends change, the more they stay the same. The movers and shakers at this year's festivities will likely be wearing sparkling shells (bronze, gold and silver metallics almost never go out of style) with complementary accessories. In shoes higher heels rule. "I only wear heels, [that are] three inches and higher," says Rugege, a former Miss Black USA.

As you decide which New Year's Eve parties to attend, take a little extra time to create a dazzling ensemble for your grand entrance.

They say that time waits for no one, but if you do it right, no one will be watching the clock anyway. All eyes will be on you.