Fauxlero -- 80s-Style

I must be getting old, because this pattern from the 1980s is engendering a kind of gauzy nostalgia (instead of nausea) in me. Granted, in the 1980s I wasn't really in a Dynasty-era power-dressing place (I was in jr. high, which requires power dressing of a different kind), but I don't think I expected to like this dress (at Cemetarian) as much as I do.

[ETA: Whew, I haven't suddenly caught 1980s nostalgia. (Which is good, since the cure is painful and involves jelly shoes and listening to a lot of WHAM!) Rita checked the date on this pattern and it's from 2003.]

Of course, that horrible beige color has to go (and the hat has to go, too -- sorry, all you hat-lovers out there). Those pointy shoes should be replaced with lace-up high-heeled oxfords, and I would shorten the sleeves to 3/4 or bracelet length ...

Wouldn't this be nice in gray flannel, with a choker of gobstopper-sized cloisonné beads?