Posh London lunch

[IslaPineappple]

Help! I'm going to lunch at a nice London restaurant next month and I really need help finding a pretty dress and (ankle?) boots

I'm currently a size 13 but today is day 1 of my diet and I will try to stick to it. 5.4" so I get drowned if dresses are too long.

I really want to look elegant and together, budget about £150. Can anyone help, I'm open to anything. Never had my colours done but look okay in most except bright red.

Thank you.

What do you think of this dress? I like the pattern but not sure if I've fallen into the safe rabbit hole.

@IslaPineappple are you 75? 😉

Plain can be very chic. Well cut trousers, silk shirt, great jacket uplifted by a fab bag, good jewellery and a well groomed you will be very occasion appropriate. If you go super glam
I fear you may end up feeling self consciously overdressed - even the top end restaurants will have people rolling in from their shopping trip in very casual clothes at lunchtime

@VanCleefArpels

Plain can be very chic. Well cut trousers, silk shirt, great jacket uplifted by a fab bag, good jewellery and a well groomed you will be very occasion appropriate. If you go super glam I fear you may end up feeling self consciously overdressed - even the top end restaurants will have people rolling in from their shopping trip in very casual clothes at lunchtime

Concur with this.

OP, just wear something you feel great in, and if you want to spend money, spend it on hair and a good manicure. It's little things like this what makes one feel (and look) more polished.

As an aside, god, those Boohoo dresses are foul - the silky wrap dress looks flammable and the other two look cheap.

For context the last smart London lunch I had back in the summer I wore chino type trousers, wedge trainers, a plain T and a linen blazer. I carried my nicest handbag, wore slightly bigger earrings than usual and still felt at the top end of the dressy scale compared with my fellow lunchers. I would go so far as saying that really dressed up screams Country Mouse goes up to Town

The thing is, you will wear what you want - but it's nice thinking of idea & getting friends to suggest things, isn't it?
I'm quite sure you won't wear any of our suggestions but it will help you home in on what you do want to wear.

So.

Another dress https://www.irisfashion.co.uk/collections/dresses/products/bailey-dress.

[quote VanCleefArpels]@IslaPineappple are you 75? 😉[/quote]
Nooooo! I'm 43 and I left my style back in the maternity hospital 18 years ago

@thecatfromjapan

The thing is, you will wear what you want - but it's nice thinking of idea & getting friends to suggest things, isn't it? I'm quite sure you won't wear any of our suggestions but it will help you home in on what you do want to wear.

So.

Another dress https://www.irisfashion.co.uk/collections/dresses/products/bailey-dress.

Some of those are gorgeous. Over budget but I may well think fuck it and get one

M&S have several styles and colours of Chelsea boots this season.

@VanCleefArpels

For context the last smart London lunch I had back in the summer I wore chino type trousers, wedge trainers, a plain T and a linen blazer. I carried my nicest handbag, wore slightly bigger earrings than usual and still felt at the top end of the dressy scale compared with my fellow lunchers. I would go so far as saying that really dressed up screams Country Mouse goes up to Town

I second this. DH is a banker - I've done the posh restaurant/client lunch thing with him in London, Paris and New York and this is pretty much what I'd wear in any of those places, but swap the wedge trainers for brogues or loafers. Might chuck on a silk shirt - Equipment or Equipment inspired - if I'm feeling v. fancy.

(I'm coveting the Zadig & Voltaire hidden wedges though,and all my lady finance/consulting friends have them. )

Also, I wouldn't judge you for your outfit and so hope your sister in law wouldn't either. Have you asked her what to wear? I wouldn't think it weird if my rural SIL asked me if jeans were ok. Hell, if I'm going somewhere new I'll text the friend taking me about dress code.

[quote VanCleefArpels]@IslaPineappple are you 75? 😉[/quote]
Oh fgs. Not this ageist nonsense again.

It's all so relative and personal isn't it? Personally, I wouldn't be seen dead in wedge trainers and think sunglasses in dark October would look pretty stupid.

Pineapple - I don't love the dresses you linked to most recently, but I also wouldn't think twice if I saw you sitting in a restaurant wearing one of them.

I don't like the BooHoo satin thing at all, and would mistrust the fabric and quality of anything from there.

I really like the shape and colour of this but fear the fabric would be horrible. I'd wear it with black tights, mid-heel ankle boots and a biker jacket.

OR, to throw another idea into the mix - leather skirt with a silk blouse? Less 'work' than black trousers, maybe?

www.johnlewis.com/mango-carnaby-abstract-print-mini-dress-brown-multi/p5701834

Possibly cheaper than you'd like but you'd be able to pay more for your boots

Or a silky skirt, with a plain black slim-fitting turtle neck?

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I am a huge advocate for wearing sunglasses all year round, not least because it is great for one's skin, particularly around one's eyes.

I'm not a fan of wedge trainers, even if they are Isabel Marant's finest. Converse are fine, have lost count of the times I've worn them with jeans and a silk blouse for lunch at a naice (and fancy) London restaurant.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

It's all so relative and personal isn't it? Personally, I wouldn't be seen dead in wedge trainers and think sunglasses in dark October would look pretty stupid.

Pineapple - I don't love the dresses you linked to most recently, but I also wouldn't think twice if I saw you sitting in a restaurant wearing one of them.

I don't like the BooHoo satin thing at all, and would mistrust the fabric and quality of anything from there.

I really like the shape and colour of this but fear the fabric would be horrible. I'd wear it with black tights, mid-heel ankle boots and a biker jacket.

OR, to throw another idea into the mix - leather skirt with a silk blouse? Less 'work' than black trousers, maybe?

Oh a leather skirt would be good. Knee length? And then black tights and boots?

Thanks very much for all the help everyone, it's really making me rethink my wardrobe in general.

London is really dressed down. I always end up overdressed and by northern standards I’m a scruff

Slightly below knee, with tights and boots would be good. www.mintvelvet.co.uk/product/Grey-Leather-Midi-Pencil-Skirt/37450?gclid=CjwKCAjw_L6LBhBbEiwA4c46ukEUseLAKJhrSbsTPpd9s2vkUrib6zH-WfEoyEOCTCamoxQT6LeZ2hoC8nkQAvD_BwEThis is a nice look, though personally I'd prefer ankle boots.

Sansucre - I think it takes a certain type of person to wear sunglasses all year round, however good for one's eyes it might be. I am not that person!

People say that London is dressed down, but the beauty of it is pretty much anything goes and people can generally dress up or down as they wish.

I love the leather pencil skirt!

As a Londoner, anything goes. Silk shirt anc jeans would work well too.

A nice midi dress, chelsea boots with a bit of a heel and denim or biker jacket

New look

I'm too short for a long dress I think but I like the pattern on it

I'm swaying towards a leather skirt and silk shirt. I'm trying to find a shirt with a pattern on. I saw one once with little soldiers and red phone boxes on but that that's a step too far

shirt

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I really like that in the white but they've not got my size. It's a bargain though.