DH, Anita Rani and the see thru dress

[DontShow]

Going to a ball soon, and I want to wear something lovely, also fashionable.

I was looking at more transparent dresses, as they seem to be in and I definitely have the figure for this. I am 46.

DH said it's all inappropriate. He's never really been fussy about me looking sexy before, he has always liked me to look classy, I call it Princess of Wales style.

So I said, what about Anita Rani, she is my age and looked amazing. "Let's see" he said, "I have always thought she is beautiful". So he looks at the photo for a while, says nothing about her, but says I should not wear something like that as it would be sad.

So, AIBU, or do you need a divorce like Anita to wear what you want at 46?
She has credited her divorce as the catalyst for wearing this, and I think she looks amazing frankly!

She looks ridiculous.

Stealth brag OP?

Anita dress is rather unflattering and looks cheap and tacky. Just because you have the figure for it doesn’t mean it looks good.
If you really want to do sheer then maybe pick a dress with sheer panelling.

You are insane, wearing a nude dress is a big mistake unless you have dark skin or spray on tan.
Even if in your mid forties you have the figure, you are not on a beach, no-one wants to look (& they all will) at your crotch.
Its not classy or feminist, to me it's bad taste, & shows how you dont understand "class" at all.
Sorry, why are you trying to be "that" person ? The entire room will be looking, judging, criticizing, gossiping & laughing.
Your poor child will be the school joke.

Imagine the snickering when the parents can see little Johnny's mum with her arse on show at the school ball. It'll be talk for weeks.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. (I note I'm not the first to post that, but it's true).
I'm an Anita Rani fan, I suppose, I've always admired her work, she's a good presenter. I'm impressed she has a good figure and lots of confidence. But I'm sorry she seems to have lost her senses of taste and decency.
She looks like a desperate, cheap woman in that dress. Please don't do that to yourself.

I understand that you feel that you should not listen to husband and wear what you want and we should applauded that, but if we did that in this case we would not be showing true female solidarity because you would look awful dressed like that at a ball not classy At all and none of us told you, just to get one over on your husband.

It's a trashy look and nit appropriate for a school ball, it screams 'I'm 40 and desperate for a shag' if that's the vibe you want to go for then fine. It's a bit try hard and desperate.

My job involves lots of balls and socialising with the ultra wealthy.

Sheer dresses like that are not in, and would be considered inappropriate. It’s not even nice.

Your DH is right, but you can wear whatever you want…

Anita is a very beautiful and clever woman but thar dress would look a bit silly on anyone

Unless you’re Abbey Clancy you will look absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing.

I went to a ball this week where someone was wearing this dress
https://www.ohpolly.com/products/serena-heart-cup-evening-gown-fire-red?currency=GBP&variant=41839610724561&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&stkn=64257c5b20b8&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADcAMd2FJLltrDvNzuKz2j-6SrOQ8&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuffQloTdhgMV3JJQBh0uwQKsEAQYASABEgI8xvD_BwE

it looked vulgar and tacky. Just highly inappropriate and there was a lot of negative commenting.

if lady gaga had worn it on the red carpet, no problem. At an exclusive private school ball people will not be thinking “stunning and brave”

Slightly agog at the ideal of a private school ball for parents?! Is that even a thing? How weird!

They are generally charity fund raisers for bursaries etc.

Quite frankly what she wore looked desperate. The only place semi transparent clothing is appropriate is at the beach and I'm not a fan then, anywhere else it's attention seeking

I've never seen a single transparent dress that I didn't think looked fundamentally cheap, nasty and tacky. The one the very attractive Anita Rani is wearing is no exception. Even the £££ ones look bad , crude and pointless. I certainly wouldn't wear one to a private school ball. I wouldn't have worn one as a pupil - when I certainly had the body for it- or now as an alumnus in my 30s. I go to white tie balls now sometimes including a big society one every so often. There's a dress code. Even if you technically got round the restrictions and they actually let you in looking like that, you'd be so out of place, quite honestly.

I also wouldn't wear that pink sugar plum fairy number linked upthread either. It looks a bit naff and despite the initial price tag the look of the fabric suggests it would very cheap irl. It's not particularly elegant.

“Ball” just means expensive ticket, sit down meal and entertainment/band

Even her own face looks like she's saying WTF have I got on.

Why on earth are you responding the poster’s un edited thread that has a typo? That’s a bit mean.

It’s not a good look. I like Anita’s style but this would be so much better if it wasn’t transparent.

You cannot wear that to a school ball if you have DC at the school. They’d be mortified and everyone will take the piss. You’re not on Love Island.

Yes it's just a 1970s dinner dance. Not a Bridgerton ball!

At school balls the kids where the glamorous outfits, the parents sink into the background, I wore full length navy but fairly plain and certainly nothing too revealing, all the other mums were similarly dressed and the few that wore low cut stood out. Also note most the parents didn't dance, I did and it was oh so embarrassing for dd at first but her friends thought we were cool (also much younger than many parents who must have been nearly 20 years my senior)

How do you discreetly deal with a wedgie in such a dress?

Someone designed that dress?

OP, as everyone has said, it would be cheap and tacky attention-seeking anywhere, but at a school ball you'll humiliate your children as well. Don't be That Parent.

I’m still not convinced this isn’t a joke but there are loads and loads of sequinned dresses on thick flesh coloured fabric. Literally dozens of women at your function are likely to be wearing one. Just don’t pick one where you can actually see your undies.

I literally cannot work the op out. The replies are, well, odd.