Happy New Year! With Throwbacks to 1994 and 2004.

On Dec. 31, 1994 — 20 years ago today! — I rang in the new year with my gorgeous sister and friends at the re-opened Studio 54. I have never been a big fan of crop tops, but I made an exception for a cropped, silver twinset by Cynthia Rowley. I might have gotten it at a sample sale. I did a lot of sample-sale shopping back then.

Terri Berry (left) and me (right) on NYE in 1994.

The patent-leather Jill Stuart mini skirt I wore that night was definitely from a sample sale. You can see a little bit of its waist in this picture.

Blowing my own horn.

You can see all 14″ of its length below, because I still have it!

I had to get rid of the cropped twinset long ago because the Lurex got weird stains, but I’ve hung onto the skirt. I can still squeeze into it, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to wear it except as part of a Halloween costume. Maybe my niece will wear it someday. Right now, I’m keeping it for sentimental reasons. I wore this skirt a lot in 1994. That was a great year — my friend David Chang, a DJ, took a little group of us with him to lots of his club jobs, like this one.

Dave usually had Thursday gigs, which was perfect for me because my days off were Friday and Saturday. I was working at the Wall Street Journal and the paper didn’t come out on the weekends then, so my work week was Sunday through Thursday.

Dave also took us to a fashion-related party on April 24, 1994, where the photo below was shot by Bill Cunningham.

Click for more information on the leopard jacket and how I feel about getting rid of old clothes.

I was wearing either the patent-leather skirt or a suede Jill Stuart skirt I got at the same sample sale. That was an official “end of fashion week” party … in April. Nowadays, New York’s fashion week for fall collections takes place in February! The cycle has really accelerated. And here’s a look at the length of the suede skirt — as you can see, I did wear it for a Halloween costume. I think this is from 2002.

Devil in a suede mini.

Anyway, back to the ’90s! Another job that Dave took us to was — as you might have guessed — Studio 54 for New Year’s Eve. I kept the invitation as well as my skirt.

Here’s a photo of Dave hard at work that night. See the crates of vinyl records? We used to help him carry those.

There was a good crowd there.

Ten years later, in 2004, I was married to MrB and celebrating New Year’s with friends at Rosa Mexicano.

One of the guests that night tried to catch my gorgeous friend Stef and me doing something scandalous in the bathroom, but, to her disappointment, we were just fixing our lipstick.

I don’t have a photo showing the full-length of the red Versace I wore that night, but I wore the same dress to a party in London in April 2007. That was the night I met my one true lipstick love — Lasting Lust by MAC.

In London, wearing my old dress and new lipstick, in 2007.

I felt extra-glamorous that evening. Having a whirlwind romance with a new lip color will do that to you.

Red lips and a faux-ny tail. What more could I ask for?

Do I still have this dress? Take a wild guess!

Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever you wear tonight ….

best wishes for a healthy and happy 2015!