stylisty fashionistas...what to wear for my graduation next saturday?

[Heathcliffscathy]

Have pencil skirt/blouse combo as backup...but also have budget to buy something new....

will be under gown, so am thinking either dress or skirt suit.

nipped in waist jackets/pencil skirts suit my figure. I have fabulous shoes (high, black with pink satin detail...sound gross but are absolutely gorgeous).

have been to maxmara (closest to what i wanted...), whistles, jigsaw, phase8, jaegar to no effect.

where else might i find what i'm looking for (sexy, formal, academic, translates to dinner out). the ceremony is at 7pm and we're going out for posh dinner afterwards...can you help me

size 12. big boobs. v narrow ribcage (my best bit). stomach not quite flat yet, but getting there.

Just a word of advice (having sat through loads of these on the 'stage' side!). Make sure you can walk in your shoes! Falling up the steps to the stage is not a good look...and I've seen it happen loads of times.

Mind you... you sound like you know what you are doing here... Good luck finding the outfit you want!

have spent far too much time wearing academic dress so here are my personal tips (feel free to ignore at will!):

• wear trousers

gowns come in all different lengths, but hire ones are normally either too short (hem of skirt peeks out) or too long (perfect hemline of skirt is obscured and little ankles stick out the bottom)

• wear a good colour

you can guarantee your hood will be garish. Either find out in advance what colour it'll be and get something that matches/coordinates, or go for black to match the gown.

• wear something with buttons

the hood usually has a loop at the front to put round one of your buttons to stop it slipping backwards and trying to strangle you - men have it easy as the neckband of the hood goes under a tie. Avoid necklaces for the same reason - the hood will strangle you with them.

• wear long sleeves

gowns often have really freakish-length sleeves too, and I always find I look very odd with little bare wrists emerging from huge flapping sleeves

• keep track of your hood

they have a dreadful habit of slipping off at the shoulders, making you look like weirdly risque dancer. Couple of pins may help. Some handy hints here

• keep tugging your gown forward by the front facing the back pleats are very heavy - combined with an off-the-shoulder hood this can get both messy and uncomfortable.
• take kirbigrips if you're going to wear your mortarboard

Generally I wear a black trouser suit with a white blouse, or sometimes a camisole, as it ticks all the boxes, is comfortable, and doesn't clash too badly with my nasty yellow hood, but a black wrap dress or the pencilly skirt outfit could work too.

Great tips there from MrsB. Re. the hood issue. I now always go equipped with safety pins, as looping the thing round buttons doesn't always work either... it just hoiks (sp?) all your shirt up at the front in an unattractive manner. Last few times I've pinned the loop to my bra (taking it in through front of shirt), but you can also pin hood to sides of gown to avoid the off-the-shoulder look.

oh, missed a clause there - ideally wear a jacket with buttons to loop the hood round - def doesn't work on blouses or cardigans.
Good tip pinning it to your bra though - have squirreled that for future reference .

oh my god i'm so glad i asked.

have completely been overlooking gown nightmare.

apparently has gold and burgundy trim (puke).

so black outfit then. (the pencil skirt and blouse are sort of two shades of taupey....will that look disgusting?).

will deffo take safety pins.

Do you have the wear mortarboard (looks horrified).

Taupe could conceivably work as it's so neutral but go carefully.

You don't have to wear the mortarboard but you may (obscurely) find you want to...

sophable have you tried Linea, HOF do it, they do good stuff for this sort of thing I think

Hobbs had some nice sexy looking suits of the type you describe last time I was in there

ici

ooo yeah, hobbes number 3 looks great.

hmmm...going to be tough getting there this week (half term). but needs must!

right: kirby grips for hair, and pins for gown. must remember.

all i give a toss about is that i look better this go round then i did when i graduated with first degree (was fat as a house then, and the photo which I glimpsed today at my grannys makes me cringe).

thankfully am much slimmer than was then...and will be even more so by next week (spreads fatfree stuff on quarter of ryvita).

ditto what they all said. also consider the fact you will be putting safety pins in your blouse/jacket to keep the gown secure rather than throttling you..so do you want pins in a gorgeous expensive outfit?

i personally wore one of my interview suits, probably from next, then changed for dinner afterwards.

check out my thread and look at the Karen Millen dress - it was in the sale and is divine and flattering, esp as has nice length and nipped in waist. Is a bit stretchy so smart and flattering.

dimpled....change your name...i bet they're not, and anyway you don't need constant reminding...

thanks for rec...but i can't do shirtdresses..they never look good on me!

oh - just took the time to read the rest of the thread - go for the trouser suit also on my thread.

BTW congratulations!

thanks!

sarcastic or heartfelt???

heartfelt!!!!!!!