Conference outfits (only female attending)

[Kellioo]

I don't know what to wear. All men who will be a mix of shirts and ties or shirts and chinos.

I'm a lower level than everyone else. I'm flattered to be invited but wondering why and have massive imposter syndrome anyway.

I want to look professional, confident and like I belong.

5ft 10in size 10 but some excess lbs so not feeling great.

Budget needs to be less than £100.

I don't do links but I agree with majority, slouchy slacks, I get mine from Uniqlo the flannel ones in grey, my favourite top is a pale pink cashmere m and s v neck with a black tshirt beneath. Loafers or trainers, I have some from m and s but any will do. And definitely a cross body bag to keep your hands free.

That skirt is actually pretty great, although it manages to look awful with that weird pale blue top. However I just don't think there's any reason to try to look cool/fashionable among a bunch of men at a haulage conference, and it's£85 so wouldnt leave any budget for a top or anythingelse to go with it. Black trousers, neutral top and contrasting blazer are the way to go, otherwise just the trousers and a patterned blouse would be fine.

https://www.stories.com/en_gbp/clothing/skirts/midi-skirts/product.pleated-midi-skirt-black.1201363001.html

This cardigan / jacket comes in Navy and camel. I would wear with dark jeans and ankle boots or loafers.

Well I do!

I love a tailored dress!

Gee whizz that dress on sale is hideous. Who wears stuff like that!

The skirt is fine for what the OP is looking for. It's been put with boots and a top that are completely unsuitable and ruin It.

It wouldn't be my first choice but I'd take it any day over the "wide legged trousers" which some posters can't seem to see past for "work wear"

I'm a solicitor in a large private client firm. I haven't seen people dressed like that even pre- Covid.

Agreed. They're dreary too.

Lol @HideTheCroissants I often wear a dress from somewhere like Next to work and so do many of the women I work with or see 🤷🏻‍♀️

Some people on this thread have genuinely come across as a bit simple and ignorant with daft sweeping statements. NO ONE WEARS THAT

Well yea, they do, people wear all sorts. It's baffling they can't see beyond their own experience! There's also a really weird derail about whether she'll be considered ToTty truly a bizarre showing tonight!

Luckily there have been some really lovely suggestions and ideas for OP to choose from.

Aha, @RokaandRoll - the full entry for the black skirt wasn’t available this morning - which is why I used the one for the irrelevant blue top that included it.

Obviously a wool kilt would be better, but it wouldn’t be £85, unless pre-owned.

https://www.ft.com/content/61abf187-6ab5-4c7c-961b-4054b293aa16

https://amp.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/jan/05/claudia-winkleman-tartan-moment-shows-kilt-is-well-and-truly-back-the-traitors

If I was going, I would not want to blend in.

What's all this wide leg trouser stuff?

I would wear a smart shift dress with heels, blimey are you going to be slinging a tarpaulin over a trailer

Jeez why should we hide

Stop being so rude about my “totty” comment. It was meant to be shorthand for “to address your concern about feeling as if people may doubt your professional credentials to be there, do not wear figure-hugging/glamorous clothes that will make you stand out like a tropical bird amongst the chino chaps”. I’m glad that many of you have not experienced the practice of dull blokes inviting along pretty young girls to “liven up” events but it does happen I’m afraid.

You do understand I was using the expression “totty” in the persona of the type of man who would think or say it, it’s not my own words?

Oh sorry @Heather37231 I didn't think I was 'so rude' about you at all just meant this thread had gone a bit weird no offence was meant

Kilts to haulage conferences, what a fickle mistress is fashion.

Winkleman looks like the Welsh psychopath from Fargo.

You do understand I was using the expression “totty” in the persona of the type of man who would think or say it, it’s not my own words?

Other than possibly Harry Enfield/ Fast Show type sketches I don't think I've heard anyone say it.

I think some posters sneering at wide leg trousers might have missed that the OP has already decided to wear her own wide leg trousers and buy a shirt with her budget, as per her update.

So if there's a debate that women are invited as 'totty', why is everyone's clutching their pearls about knit dresses being as stylistically revealing as rocking up in a thong bikini?

Surely either OPs colleagues are lecherous beasts who have only invited her to stare at her arse. Or actually, they genuinely won't give a fuck what she's wearing, and they're just there for a jolly out of the office, aren't all that bothered about her arse and therefore she should wear what she wears in the office every day and above all be comfortable? Ideally in her existing trousers as frankly, old favourites are by far the way to go for something like this.

I think posters on style and beauty generally care about their clothing beyond basic functionality. Asking for advice about what to wear to a work event and stating a budget strongly suggests she intends to buy something new.

Obviously we could all attend every event in the comfy clothes we already own but that's not really what S&B is about.

That's nice. It's the only item posted I'd wear. Every industry is different but that would be just right for a conference in mine.

There were a couple of women in my office wearing very similar this week. I don't think they were going anywhere special (one definitely wasn't as she's a junior admin assistant but is always very smart) but they stood out amongst the sea of mostly casual stuff.

Wow, this is hard work. I am not saying that her male colleagues are all lecherous.
I am saying that some non-lecherous colleagues could jump to the conclusion that she was only invited as eye candy by some old lech somewhere in the organisation. She has expressed concern about people’s perception of her professional right to be there. I am sure that she has every right to be there but if this is a concern of hers then looking as un-decorative as possible is one strategy to avoid people jumping to that conclusion. This would have been more relevant had it turned out that she was actually very young, which she is not.

I think when you're in a hole....stop digging. You're really not making it better.

She has expressed concern about people’s perception of her professional right to be there

No she hasn't. You've projected that. She said she wants to look professional that's it. You've filled in the blanks, and frankly, your attitude towards women in the workplace is baffling.

I live and work in the real world.

No, you haven’t read the OP properly. She says:

I'm flattered to be invited but wondering why and have massive imposter syndrome anyway.