Last Sunday, we had brunch at Fig & Olive, which is one of my favorite restaurants in L.A. Some places make you feel like you’re on vacation even when you’re only in West Hollywood, and this is one of them: white tablecloths, a dining room bathed in sunlight, and the best-smelling bathroom in Los Angeles thanks to the restaurant’s signature, scented candles, which you can buy in the gift shop  for $35.

For a meal at a restaurant inspired by the French Riviera, I thought something demure and romantic was in order. I wore Reformation’s Katrina dress in the Nantucket print with a wide-brim straw hatcognac-colored heels (similar) from Aldo, and a red lip. The fabric of the dress is viscose and the color is a subtle tomcat gray with a Hawaiian-inspired white-floral print. Like all Reformation’s offerings, the dress is flirtatious without being especially revealing, and the belted waist shows off the body without being skin tight. You could easily wear it at night, but I think it’s best suited for daytime dates, and goes perfectly with long idle meals, good conversation, and, most important, sparkling wine cocktails with accompanying strawberries.
If there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s eating in courses. I acquired a taste for this kind of menu when I studied abroad in Paris, and I’m famous among my friends for taking very small bites. Fig and Olive offers a prix fixe brunch that includes tiny little desserts like shortbread with mascarpone and strawberries, and it’s the ideal place to feel lovely and refined, like you’re Grace Kelly picnicking on the Cote d’Azur with Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief

Photography by Mark Champion
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