Lounge suit dress code

[Goodornot]

Any ideas for a size 10/12 5ft5ins?

I'd like to wear a dress. I get that it's a step below black tie but still quite formal I don't know where to start?! Work wear or more dressy?

You’ve given no idea of context, or budget! Or any idea of where you usually shop.

‘Lounge suit’ by itself is awfully vague - it depends on the culture of the people attending the event. Young men in inexpensive suits from H&M, or oligarchs in handmade Savile Row?

Could you be more specific as to where, amongst the 30 million odd women in the country, you want to position yourself?

Got up on the wrong side of the bed did you?

Such unnecessary rudeness so often on this site. What on earth happened to you this morning to make you so angry.

Forget it.

Oh! And there was I, trying to be helpful!

Very tedious if one always has to add a to every post …

Anyway, I’m sure there’ll be other posters whose tone you’ll prefer! And who’ll magically know, without any clues, exactly how much you want to spend, exactly how fashionable / visible / whatever you want to be, and exactly what context you need to dress for.

It takes a fair bit of time and energy to search for clothes for a stranger on the Internet. I’m always happy to do it for fun and distraction, and to be helpful - but there are thousands of possible sources of clothes, so it’s a little pointless to begin without any detail to narrow down the search.

You are the one being rude. Lounge suit is formal business wear for men. It's dressy but not evening wear dressy for women but in the absence of context, size, preferences and budget it's impossible to give you suggestions.

To be fair the OP has given her size and height …

Smart workwear if it’s a work event.

Nice dress if it’s a wedding or similar.

Tone is really tricky to gauge on the internet. I get Gruelle’s point that it is hard to search for clothes without it being narrowed down but I can also understand why OP felt chastised and was defensive.

Lounge suits IS a tricky dress code for women. If it’s in the day I would probably go for the sort of dress you would normally wear to a wedding, so something smart but not glitzy or too short or strappy (unless boiling hot). Alternatively a smart jumpsuit or tailored trousers/palazzo pants with a (90s phrase incoming…) ‘nice top’ in a more luxe fabric.

I would probably wear heels or some smart flats. If it’s in the evening you can veer more towards something more strappy/sparkly/cocktail, but stay away anything even vaguely pageanty or you’ll feel overdressed.

I definitely didn’t intend anyone to feel seriously chastised!

It’s just, for all we know the OP could be a sixth former preparing for a careers service event - in which case wedding guest wear would be wholly inappropriate. Or it could be her niece’s wedding. And a low key country pub reception might suggest a different look and budget to a high profile Knightsbridge do. Zara, or Zimmermann?