With Summer on the downswing, we need to celebrate the white dress before Fall arrives.  I especially love this white and silver sequin dress by Alice + Olivia.  And with a snug fit, a keyhole back, and a exposed zipper, this dress is the perfect combination of sexy and sweet.  Though, I think I’ll pass on the booties and try something a bit softer.

Alice + Olivia Sequin Dress (ShopBop, $396)

As for the perfect cocktail to go with such a dress, I suggest a White Lady.  Dry and citrusy, the drink is perfect for an evening spent dining on a rooftop terrace with friends.

The White Lady

Ingredients

2 ounces London dry gin
1/2 ounce Cointreau
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1 egg whites
Cocktail Glass

Instructions

Shake well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

There’s another version of the White Lady that replaces the lemon juice with white crème de menthe, multiplies the Cointreau by four, adds 1/2 ounce brandy, and omits the gin entirely. If you’re going to call that a White Lady, you might as well call a Manhattan a martini. Far more meticulous in matters of nomenclature was Esquire’s Lawton Mackall, whose laboratories generated the Boxcar — merely a White Lady in a sugar-rimmed glass with the minor addition of a dash of grenadine and the substitution of lime juice for lemon.