Black Tie Event- what to wear?

[Lavendersquare]

DH & I have been invited to a black tie event, it’s a works function, think professional association annual event. Easy enough to know what DH needs to wear but what does ‘black tie’ mean for me. I thought I could wear a dress I have, it’s gold fairly sparkly midi dress but a friend of mine says if it’s black tie I have to wear a long dress. Do I really need to wear a long dress? If I do any suggestions for a 50 year old, medium height size 12 woman that doesn’t make me look like a bridesmaid!

No you don’t need to wear a floor length dress for black tie. Women will be wearing all lengths of dresses and some might be wearing trousers/jumpsuits

traditionally black tie for women means long dress. I was told off by a senior partner at a law firm for wearing a “cocktail” (knee length) dress to a black tie event in London. I was an uncouth Aussie immigrant who obviously didn’t know better. So there may be some sticklers out there but I would hope no one would care, much less comment, if you wore a knee length dress.

I'd suggest googling the event and seeing if there are any photos of previous years and then looking to see what the women are wearing.

I went to one with work recently for the first time and had to also look into what was suitable to wear!

Formal wear, modest, often floor length if a dress (generally below knee) is what I came up with! Might not be right but it was actually in line with what most women there were wearing.

(Dress doesn’t have to be black but think more toned down than potentially a party or wedding dress.)

Hope that helps! :)

You don’t have to wear a floor length dress for black tie, gold midi length sounds perfect.

I agree with Londonmummy about googling images from last year to see what women were wearing.

Most of my black tie frocks are calf length, one is floor length but it’s a pain in the arse to walk in.

For me, work black tie events have mostly involved knee length dresses for women. Its a minefield!

I was at a black tie do last night. There were a variety of dress lengths but I’d say ankle length was the most common. A couple of people had mini dresses on and they stood out. Looked good but it was not quite right. Some people were blingy and others more understated.

Thanks all, I think my gold dress will be fine, it’s mid-calf and is dressy enough so should be fine.