St. Patrick's Day

I have to honest, I have never thought of St. Patrick's Day as a particularly chic or fashionable holiday. To the contrary, it has always seemed a bit tacky and silly to me. But I have to admit, I have seen such amazingly fashionable St. Patrick's Day wearing of the green today that I am beginning to change my mind. Likewise, some of the local honoring of the day have been almost elegant (I'm still not ready to call St. Patrick's Day elegant.... sorry).
Some of the more lovely St. Patrick's Day ideas that I've seen today include:
** bagels (regular bagels, not the horrid green bagels) with a lovely parsley and kale garnish beneath them on the tray. These were served with regular cream cheese and butter (again, not the horrid green dyed stuff) and a green veggie cream cheese. This seemed to have cucumbers, peppers and other greenery chopped into it, giving it a slightly green flair while still tasting excellent and not turning the stomach before the first bite with a florescent green dye.
** shamrock shaped cookies sprinkled with a light dusting of green glitter. These looked fabulous at the local coffee shop where they were on special with Irish Coffee (of course!)
** a strolling bagpiper in full kilt and regalia. This was a magnificent display. This extremely talented gentleman played for about 20 minutes. He looked amazing in the full regalia and the bagpipe sounded spectatular. I have to admit, I am not usually a big fan of bagpipes. The little droning noise underneath the actual music is very distracting for me. But, this was fantastic.
** green top hats on the waiters in the local restaurant. They wore their usual uniforms of white shirts and black trousers, but added this little touch of the Irish. It looked smart and befitted the restaurant's image and a spiffy place to lunch.

I also noted quite a number of very fashionably dressed ladies today who managed to wear the green without looking ticky-tacky. some of them looked absolutely amazing!
** One woman I work with wore a green/blue plaid skirt with a green turtleneck and a lucious bulky aran knit sweater in a rich cream color. Wow. I even own all of those pieces. I just didn't think of this.
** one of our clients arrived wearing jeans, a white buttoned shirt (menswear style) and a smashing looking bright green scarf with gold celtic knots on it. She had added green leather loafers. On my budget, that probably isn't going to happen any time soon, but the rest of the outfit was inspiring.
***another client arrived wearing a subdued green suit with a white blouse. This was a suit that you would wear any day of the year and not feel self-conscious about the green. It was that half olive, half khaki kind of a green that sprouted up in the last season or two. She had added some large gold jewelry -- heavy cuff, large chain necklace and celtic knot style earrings.
** another colleague arrived in cream colored pants, a light green ribbed turtleneck, and a cream quilted vest. She looked very "spring".
** similarly I was a woman on the street with cream pants, a green turtleneck and a black vest. She had added black loafers to finish off the look.
** one of the most smashing outfits I observed today was a woman in light colored khakis (the beige kind) with a white buttoned down shirt with green pinstripes and a large silk scarf that was a white background with hundreds of little green shamrocks all over it. This probably isn't the kind of a scarf I'd wear more than once or twice a year so I wouldn't think of it as an investment piece. But it did look amazing as she walked down the street. I was impressed.
So --- maybe St. Patrick's Day can be a classy, elegant holiday after all --- or at least a chic one!!