Graduation ball dress for mature student

[Monr0e]

I am due to qualify later this year and our graduation ball has been arranged for shortly after. I have zero clue on what to wear and even less of a clue on where to look and what would suit me.

I am the oldest in my cohort so don't even want to try and dress like some of the much younger students, but I would really like to look and feel great on the night.

Any tips or advice? Or even better does someone want to come and be my personal stylist for the day? I am useless at this sort of thing and have no idea how to accessorise either so need the full works.

If it helps I am 5"7, size 12/14 with quite big boobs, pale complexion and long red hair. Any help would be very appreciated!

I wore a coast dress to mine (also a mature student). Like this but last season's version...

And with this bag from Accesorize

That's a beautiful dress bodger. Is that typical of the type of style for a graduation ball? I really have no idea what. Obviously!

When I qualified as nurse 5 years ago mature students made up the majority of our cohort (myself included). Most people wore long dresses that were dressy but not ball gownesque. There was a decent amount of Asian women in our cohort too who wore traditional dress which was amazing, all the beading must weigh a ton.

Basically my advice would be to find a dress that makes you feel amazing, imagine red carpet amazing... I'm.of the opinion we get so few opportunities to really glam it up we should make the most of it and judging by my grad ball most people think the same.

Formerly, that's a lovely way to look at it. I don't think I will ever get an opportunity to dress up like this again so will definitely make the most of it.

It depends on your budget & your taste.

Quiz (at Debenhams) & Lipsy (at Next) have some lovely longer dresses at the cheaper end of the scale, then there's Monsoon for example if you want to spend more.

At size 12-14 you will have a lot of choice.

Have a look at their dresses online & see what you think.

Then you just have to get shoes, bag & jewellery! As a pp has shown, Accessorize do some lovely bags.

If I was going to a ball and had the budget for something new I might like a long tulle skirt and a sparkly T-shirt type top (not sure if I’m describing that well. Asos probably sells something that fits the image on my head.

Alternatively you could go for something more elegant and timeless