Is this velvet dress too wintery for a May party?

[MrsDuskTilldawn]

I’m after opinions please. I’m posting a pic of a dress I have in my wardrobe. I’m going to a 50th birthday party on Saturday. Nothing else I currently own or have ordered to try looks good or makes me feel nice. My question is, do you think a velvet dress is too wintery looking for May? That’s it. That’s my dilemma. Help! Am I overthinking this? 🤣

I have a 'Christmas' dress I wear all year, it's got red berries and green leaves (not holly) over a navy background. It reminds me of the descriptions of calico prints in Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.

Well that may be the case but British weddings also have their own vibe which will not be velvet heavy in May. And not wishing to sound argumentative but the New Romantics were early 80’s not 90’s ( I was there ). You could try a Stevie Nicks type look but the dress is probably not long enough and the OP would need to benefit from cascades of hair or be confident enough to inject fringing or maybe a tambourine 😀. Midsummers night dream?? I’ve never seen it performed but I’m thinking chiffon and flower garlands. It’s obviously fine… I get the desire to wear something you really love. Keeping her accessories away from darker colours and forgoing tights etc will help and keep her on the right side of Hey Nonny nonny.

I’m in the “that’s a winter dress” camp, I also feel hot just thinking about it!

could you find a different dress from Boden that will be your summer version? https://www.boden.com/products/women-lola-blouson-maxi-dress-ocean-blue-d1013blu?_pos=8&_sid=6ec85024f&_ss=r

Although it’s an evening party not a wedding so it’s probably fine!

It's a 50th birthday party.

It’s lovely as a dress. Maybe it’s my semi-goth tendencies but I would absolutely wear velvet (and silk, and lace, probably with denim!) all year round if it was cool enough. I’ve also shivered in summer clothes when the British summer has been the ‘12 degrees and wet’ version of itself, so I think given the forecast tomorrow, and more importantly the fact that @MrsDuskTilldawn loves this dress, she should just wear it and look fabulous.

Good!

Dressing ‘seasonally’ only makes sense in very loose terms in the U.K. where we have weather - that’s what we need to dress for.

The idea that red and green should now only be worn at Christmas is frankly idiotic.

Love the dress and glad you are wearing it. Someone suggested pink accessories though. Don’t. Pink and green give off Golden Girls 80s vibes as Ive said on here many times but nobody ever listens…

And remember of course the other MN "rule" that red and green can't be worn at weddings either. Equally idiotic.

What's wrong with Hey Nonny Nonny?
I was around in the 90s and some of us were New Romantics.
Anyway, tastes differ.

Oh crikey! Here I was thinking wedding …. Sorry. I think I’m so used to the threads on here about weddings attire. Hope you have a fabulous time then.

Green is spring!

@ErrolTheDragon I have that dress. It’s not really the colour. Green is great all year, but it’s a heavy velvet. You simply don’t really see that type of velvet worn in May. It’s why Boden sold them as winter party clothes! They are not selling them for summer events but they are in the sale items. It’s just a very heavy winter fabric and there’s no getting away from that. Autumn onwards it’s great!

I love the dress, I'd definitely wear it, it's beautiful! I don't have seasonal clothes either, unless you were going to be too warm. Agree about wearing it with pink, it's a beautiful combination.

@Mintine So you wear thick knitwear all year? How odd. Summer parties are not the time to wear heavy velvet. People will just think you don’t have something for summer! It’s meant to be a style thread and velvet isn’t really style in May. I could get maybe trousers or a skirt with a silk top but a heavy velvet top is odd in May.

You’ll stand out wearing a velvet long sleeve dress at a 50th in May, I have this dress and a similar dark red one, I wear them for work (events) from mid Nov to New Year with thick tights and heels or knee length boots. You’ll look like you have no summer wardrobe and have just arrived from a Christmas Party!

I don’t agree with you on velvet, I think it’s colour and garment not so much tne material on its own . As said I have three velvet pieces I wear a lot.

1/ I have this waistcoat. I wear it year round. More in the warmer months as I wear it as the model does, with nothing underneath . It doesn’t look Wintery.

https://editorialist.com/p/meem-velvet-tailored-vest/

2/ i also have this blazer in a deep navy and it’s great with jeans for going out, and again not winter in my view. It’s not heavy.

https://www.meandem.com/stretch-velvet-sharp-shoulder-contour-blazer-black?glCountry=GB&glCurrency=GBP

3/ I have the Bella Freud one, it’s in a lovely cognac colour, and again fab for going out, with jeans or a pair of cream trousers and a silk top. This one is heavier but the pale golden cognac colour makes it look lighter.

https://bellafreud.com/products/velvet-saint-james-jacket-dark-marine?srsltid=AfmBOoqv29s8itEGlMktdETAJZCR_qJK8y_b-vvV7JFK7FZIptKaJkXt

I’d not wear in the height of summer when I don’t need a jacket in the evenings, nor in the depths of winter when I need a proper coat, but I socialise a lot and these three things I wear a lot to go out in,ie dinner, drinks, shows etc, the velvet blazers I usually team with light silk tank tops in summer and spring, and when it’s cooler a fitted fine knit. The waist coat, I wear with wide leg jeans or trousers.

i think velvet can be great and five a very luxurious feel to an outfit, I think the issue is when it’s red or emerald green or a dress, as there is nothing to break it up, where as with a jacket or waist coat, the rest of the outfit, in different materials, breaks it up.

Gosh I thought that was REALLY daring until I realised it was a jumpsuit! The photo looks like a dress with an enormous split 🫣😜

Oh goodness no! Definitely not a dress and if it had been they should have given me the award for ‘most likely to expose a body part on stage’!

That's not what @Mintine said. I don't have hard and fast rules other than for very obviously winter coats and dresses and very obviously summer dresses. I assumed that is what @Mintine meant. For many items I dress for the weather, not the calendar.

Today I'm wearing what might be a leading to summer dress and a cotton cardigan because it was deceptively sunny this morning. It's now dull, overcast and a chilly 16c. I've resorted to my in office emergency shawl.

People will not think "you don’t have something for summer!" May isn't even a summer month in the northern hemisphere.

In the UK, spring is officially recognized by the Met Office as the months of March, April, and May. Meteorological spring runs from 1 March to 31 May,

On the contrary if the other guests were nasty enough to judge in that way I think up here in Northern Britain if you turned up in a summer dress to an evening party at today's temperature they might, if they were nasty enough, think " why's she wearing a summer dress - doesn't she have a party dress?

It's very gorgeous 🥰

OP, I'm very much in the "wear what you like as long as you're comfortable" camp. Your dress looks lovely. I would probably overheat in it, even in Alaska, but that's just me!

Well aren't you nice.

Completely agree. The last 2 weeks I’ve been wearing everything from jeans and a jumper through to light cotton dresses to work. Dress for the weather not the season. Even this last weekend when it was glorious the whole time it was chilly in the evening, we went to some 50th birthday drinks in a pub and people had jumpers and scarves on. I’ve also been wearing a chocolate colour velvet shirt over the spring because I like it.

I do associate velvet with Christmas time but it’s too lovely to restrict to that season only. I would imagine your friends would think “oh I like you in that dress” rather than “oh dear, does she not know the rules of seasonal clothing?”

Hope you have a great party OP!

Eh, I’m not allowed to laugh at myself?

I’m so sorry. Only dead serious replies henceforth.

MN seems to have a rather limited definition of "nice" at times 😆