Thoughts on this dress?

[NewHome26]

Going to London with my bf (of 3 months). Booked a few fancy restaurants and going to see a musical.

I wanna wear something nice but am confused about the dress code for London Friday night and Saturday night.

from Glasgow. Our evening out usually ranges from jeans (usually guys) to mini or midi dresses.

i was thinking these 2 dresses but not sure if too fancy…

mainly for musical, fancy dinner, evening drinks, a nice evening out. My bf is wearing dress (white) shirt, trousers, leather shoes and a long coat.

he’s saying my dress is probably too fancy for what we’re doing…

should I just go for a cami top, jeans and heeled boots. But then it’s rather casual…

Honestly I think the split leg dress is too much but jeans not enough.. something in-between would be better. I'm sure there will be lots of brilliant suggestions on here

I agree the dresses are a bit formal. I'd lean towards the jeans and cami, depending on weather. What are the restaurants?

Some of it will depend if the restaurants are in Mayfair or East London.

It's a gorgeous dress (two dresses?) but you don't often see people dressed up in London for a west end musical. There will be a lot of tourists in the audience who just turn up in whatever jeans and fleece they've been wearing all day.

Still, a dress would be a nice choice for your evening - maybe something shorter and more cute/fun, less slinky?

Wide leg trousers and top/blouse or a more day dress and less dinner/formalwear dress. Definitely something you can sit comfortably in for a long time in a theatre

The dress with the slit is too fancy for the theatre. And I suspect if you were hanging out in the type of restaurants where people dress like that, you wouldn’t feel the need to ask advice here.

The second dress (though I can’t quite make out the fabric) would be just about ok if worn extremely casually, on a hot day, or with a casual bomber jacket, with flat sandals and a cross body bag. Otherwise you will look too dressed up, and may feel self conscious. It also doesn’t look terribly comfortable for eating, or sitting still for three hours!

Take it if you’re longing to wear it, but pack some less formal alternatives.

Which restaurants are you going to? Can you name them? that may help with dress code.

I think the dresses look lovely and if you want to dress up for a night then why not? I love to dress up to go to the theatre or a fancy restaurant 😀

London is a big old mash up of personalities so East London is different from West London and North and South are different again. You’re totally free to wear whatever you wish and no one will really bat an eyelid so be reassured about that. That being said a lot of London is very casual and you don’t see very dressy dresses or heels worn a lot. I do actually dress up for the theatre because what the hell am I saving it all for otherwise but I think in terms of layers and comfortable shoes. The theatres can be hot and they don’t all have air con.

This

London really is casual BUT it's so big there are representatives of literally every style and culture here. You can't really be out of place, and I think that's what makes it so fab.

You won't get horrible looks for turning up to the theatre in your dresses, but neither would you in a shell suit. People genuinely don't care. Which I take to mean green light for wearing what makes you happy and feel good.

(I liked previous suggestion of dress with bomber jacket and flats. I'd be terrified of the theatre in heels - such steep stairs and low rails! You could always stash smarter jacket and heels for restaurant if it was that kind of place/ you really wanted)

I agree, you can wear what you want.
I'd think about practicalities – are you going to be cold in the theatre? (I don't know if you're going somewhere with air con). Restaurants can be cold as well IMO, but it all depends which ones.
And can you sit comfortably in your dresses? Walk in your shoes? Not be annoyed by having to hold your bag all the time?

Way too OTT for the theatre and also even nice restaurants. This is a look much more suited to a formal event or a suburban 'nice' restuarant.

I'd go for more than jeans and a cami though, there has to be something in between?

London West end audiences really dress down. Definitely jeans/cord/widelegs and a cami. Or a more casual, loose dress. Anyone in a dress like that would stand out as not getting the dress code.

I think it's a shame as there is almost never an opportunity to dress up these days but if you want to fit in, dress down.

The dresses look a bit dated for London tbh. People don’t dress like that really.

Do you have anything less formal?

Thanks so much everyone. Lovely suggestions. I’m thinking I’m gonna go for something comfortable but feminine.

im probably gonna do something like this , which I’ve worn in the past and I know they are comfortable.

will wear sandal heels for a bit of height but yet casual enough I won’t feel out of place.

@NewHome26the last time I was at a West End theatre (and I don’t like the WE so it was a few months ago) every single person I could see in the auditorium was either in some version of smart casual, or looking a bit rough at the end of a long day of sight seeing. Except one woman in full glittery cleavage, vast hair attachments, and a figure hugging white dress. I have no idea whether she was actively looking for the amount of attention she garnered from the rest of the audience.

Even if you go to the Royal Opera House most people will be in their nicest smart casual or work clothes. Some women will be in gorgeous colourful loose silk or printed dresses. Your black dresses by comparison, do look a little stiff and (forgive me!) uptight. It’s fine if they’re what you feel best in - but remember you’re supposed to be having fun.

ETA - for some reason your flowery dress + jacket also looks oddly stiff and formal. I don’t know why. Perhaps you’re posed as if on the way to a wedding?

The flowery dress looks stiff and formal really? Aww ok.

it was at a university graduation actually.

the flowery dress was from Mango. I go on holiday with it. But I put a blazer on for graduation to look a bit more formal.

I don’t wanna wear jeans as my bf is wearing something smart.

Oh, I meant to ask - when you say your bf is wearing a ‘white dress shirt’ - presumably you mean a normal white shirt and not full black bow tie and cummerbund? Because a white shirt / day wear trousers, leather shoes and a coat doesn’t sound unusually dressy? (He may want to swap the coat for a lightweight jacket if the weather continues.)

I don’t know, @NewHome26 - there honestly is a huge amount of choice in the land between Occasion Wear and Jeans.

How about a trouser suit in a nice bright colour? Not sure if they're still in but gives you the chance to dress up and down with accessories and wear a nice top underneath. No more than medium heel if you're walking around all day.

BTW, I thought you were saying your BF was wearing a dress at first! 😄Not that he can't do that if he wants to, of course....

I went to the ballet this weekend and wore black barrel leg trousers (not jeans), a nice belt, Mary Janes (but I actually wish I'd worn a low heeled boot because my feet were cold), white t shirt, a suede jacket, and my Coach Pillow Tabby.

So, I would consider if you don't want to wear jeans:
Wide leg trousers (or any trousers) but not in a jean material
A blouse /shirt or t-shirt
Nice jacket
Heeled boots (not high, you will be in pain walking around in London)

There were people wearing dresses but they were figure hugging, just easy dresses you could easily wear day or night.

It's still really quite chilly at night down here.

Jeans are certainly not seen as casual in London. You could wear jeans to quite literally any event and no one would bat an eyelid.

I think your floral dress is nice but I think you'll be cold!

Or there's so many nice waistcoat/trousers combos in the shops at the moment! That would be perfect

(Did you mean ‘they weren’t figure hugging’, @ponyinmypocket?)

I think the issue was that the OP doesn’t feel jeans quite meet the occasions she’s dressing for, or her BF’s degree of formality.

If I looked like the model (at all!) I reckon I would wear that for the school run!

But more seriously @NewHome26 yes I do think those are a bit dressed up for London theatre. Or rather, they are much dressier than you need.

Last time I went to the theatre in London I wore vaguely tailored black trousers, a smartish Seasalt jersey top and a cashmere cardi. DD (20s) who was with me wore black trousers and a denim jacket. My point is you can literally wear what you want. Jeans and boots is all good.

tbh it’s more about the restaurant (does it have a dress code than bans jeans?) than the musical.

Otoh if you want to dress up and look fancy (and why not?) then go for a lovely dress. No one will blink an eye (except to think, oooh she looks nice). You do need to be comfy in London theatres tho (the leg room is not aways huge) which may be an issue.

BTW, I thought you were saying your BF was wearing a dress at first! 😄Not that he can't do that if he wants to, of course...

If OP's boyf does want to do this, London is totally the place to go for it with nobody giving a shit!