Anna was not
in lilac, the colour Kitty was so sure she ought to have worn, but in a low-necked black velvet dress
which exposed her full shoulder and bosom that seemed carved out of old ivory,
and her rounded arms with the very small hands. Her dress was richly trimmed
with Venetian lace. In her black hair, all her own, she wore a little garland
of pansies, and in her girdle, among the lace, a bunch of the same flowers. Her
coiffure was very unobtrusive. The only noticeable things about it were the
wilful ringlets that always escaped at her temples and on the nape of her neck
and added to her beauty. Round her finely chiselled neck she wore a string of
pearls. Kitty had been seeing Anna every day and was in love with her, and had
always imagined her in lilac, but seeing her in black she felt that she had
never before realized her full charm. She now saw her in a new and quite
unexpected light. She now realized that Anna could not have worn lilac, and
that her charm lay precisely in the fact that her personality always stood out
from her dress, that her dress was never conspicuous on her. And her black
velvet with rich lace was not at all conspicuous, but served only as a frame;
she alone was noticeable — simple, natural, elegant and at the same time merry
and animated.
Banana Republic’s Anna Karenina Collection
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