An art opening is a chance to dress with a point of view, not a code to follow. Start with a jacket that gives the silhouette some authority, since it is the piece people see first across a crowded room. Givenchy's Pinch peplum jacket and Alaïa's cotton peplum do it with a cinched, flared waist, while sacai's sculptural-shoulder melton and Magda Butrym's off-the-shoulder blazer push the shape out at the top. Dries Van Noten's draped jacket and Galvan's sculpted satin blazer soften the line without losing the structure. Keep the palette narrow so the cut does the talking.

Once the jacket sets the shape, the accessories should feel like they belong in the gallery too. Alaïa's resin Minaudière and Lemaire's molded Egg bag read more like small objects than bags, and the Khaite Lotus tote brings the same idea to leather. The shoes follow the same logic: Ferragamo's spherical and S-shaped heels and The Attico's Cheope slingback turn the heel into the talking point, while Alaïa's Wave wedge mules keep the line fluid. Finish with one bold piece of metal, like Charlotte Chesnais's Surma cuff, Tom Ford's black lacquered Fera cuff or the Sportmax interlocking necklace, and keep the rest of the look clean.

We would skip anything that looks like it was bought for a conventional cocktail party. The pieces that work here have a clear shape, whether that is a peplum waist, an exaggerated shoulder or a heel that looks carved rather than made. Pick one hero, either the jacket or the accessory, and let everything else support it. A sculptural bag with a quiet jacket works, and so does a dramatic jacket with a single cuff, but stacking every statement at once starts to look like a costume. If you take one thing away, dress the silhouette first and add the strange, beautiful object last.