Is this a party dress or ok for work event?

[GetOffMyDoorJack]

I love this dress but I'm not sure if it's too dressy for a work event. I will have to wear it during the day in the office before the event and I don't want to look like I am heading straight off for cocktails after! The event itself is a product launch and I am there as a guest but will probably be helping handing out drinks, hobnobbing etc. The men are expected to wear suits and ties (there has been no mention of what the women are supposed to wear!). I would be wearing black tights and shoe boots with it.

Now when I click the link it’s a black and gold shirt dress. It’s really nice and just about ok for your occasion and not too dressy for work in an office. Perhaps bring a change of shoes, jewellery, hair style for the event. So I’d wear with boots in the day and maybe a heel in the evening.

It's very frumpy.

How insightful. 🤪

I have a few of these dresses. For me they are great because they are practical and quite plain. I do a job that involves attendance at funerals, which is where I wear them!!

Wear a trouser suit OP! Set yourself at the same level as the men!

How did that even happen? It’s now showing a completely different dress. My comment about being suitable for a coffee at soft play related to the navy jersey dress with flowers on it.

I don’t think a sparkly gold dress is appropriate for working at funerals!

I saw a black & gold dress. It's OK, I don't love it & there's no way it would make me think you were going out for cocktails after work .

I would not wear a dress to something like a product launch though. I work in a creative sector where there are lots of launches & I only ever wear trousers or trousers suits. I do wear dresses but usually when I'm going out with dh or friends.

Depending on your usual role in the organisation I'd also watch the expectation that you'll be pouring Frank's/ handing out nibbles unless your male colleagues are all doing that too? It's do easy to slip (be shoved) into these roles simply because we're women - note taking, tea / coffee making, drinks pouring & even if you think you can 'hobnob' while topping up drinks it really does create a separation between you & your male colleagues.

Drinks

Anybody else now besieged by ads for horrible polyester jumpsuits?

Possibly the worst dress I have ever seen in my life.

I liked the black and gold dress because it looks comfy and easy to wear. I am also an informal dresser, so anything very fancy makes me feel like a small child playing dress up in my Mum's clothes. So the black and gold is smart but not too smart as to feel odd. Also, I like clothes that are multi-use and I think that is a dress that could be used on other occasions such as going out for a nice dinner, parties etc.

I would wear it much like the model in the photo, with black tights and ankle boots.

I would not wear a dress to something like a product launch though. I work in a creative sector where there are lots of launches & I only ever wear trousers or trousers suits

And how is that relevant? (Always wearing a trouser suit doesn't sound particularly creative)

This is what I think too. Especially as @GetOffMyDoorJack says she really isn’t a dress person. There are so many great trousers suits out at the moment that won’t break the bank and they are really so versatile. It will also make you seem far more youthful and current. Much more elegant as well as professional

God, this thread is depressing. There are no hard or fast rules that instantly make trouser suits more 'elegant or professional' and there are no rules that define that because one person chooses to wear trousers, then all women should.

Surely the point of equality is that the OP can wear a dress IF SHE CHOOSES to, or trousers IF SHE CHOOSES to.

Oh and as for wearing trousers to "Set yourself on the level of the men" I have no words. Well, I do - but they are rude.

What’s depressing about saying an elegant, professional solution for you as you don’t normally wear dresses is a trouser suit, which by the way are everywhere at the moment and therefore at a range of prices???? I didn’t say trouser suits were more elegant than ALL dresses though I don’t think the dress shown is elegant at all.

I think it's a 'useful buy' dress - if you don't wear dresses very often then it looks like something you could wear for most occasions .

And speaking as someone else who is normally a jeans and tip person - I would feel no more comfortable in a trouser suit than a skirt suit . A casual dress with thick tights / leggings and shoe boots I would feel perfectly comfortable in .

I thought that poster was being ironic but possibly not.

I clicked on the OP's dress link earlier and a very everyday flowery dress came up. I clicked on the link again just now and a different dress in black and gold came up - the second one a bit more dressy. Which one are you talking about OP??

Sorry obviously I need to RTFT.

Please could someone post a link to the heinous blue and white dress, so I can decide if I’d lower myself to shovel shit wearing it?

I like the black and gold dress, OP, and I think it would be fine for the work event. I can’t work out if the buy-a-shiny-suit crowd are ageing Dynasty fans who think all lady business people are Krystle Carrington clones, or 20-somethings who think the trouser suit has just been invented. But none of them work in my office.

Is this thread turning into the new "is it a black and gold or blue and white" dress? 😂

Definitely not too dressy. It's quite casual, but lovely

Neither dear, just quite keen on clothes and style. Although I didn’t say anything about shiny.
A pic of the navy dress has been posted in the thread.