What is 'day dress'? Help please!!

[Laura032004]

Not meaning to boast but we've been invited to The Queen's Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. The dress code is Day dress with hat (for men it's Morning Coat or Lounge suit), so what does that mean?

I've got a dress, which I hope is appropriate. It's got shoe string straps, but I'd wear it with a matching cardigan. Not sure if it's above or below knee, or one of each as bias cut.

Can you wear a cardigan with a hat?

Help please - so don't want to wear the wrong thing and feel stupid. Would rather be over than under dressed.

Thanks

Jacket would be more suitable I should think - and dont forget a big handbag to slip some of the famous chocolate cake in!

NOOOOO I think cardigan is fine if it's fairly classy and you put on a few jools etc? Day dress to me just means not evening dress? Wear whatever you'd wear to a fairly smart wedding?

Question marks because I've never been so am not certain. I'd say just think what would Jackie O do, and that doesn't mean necessarily wearing exactly what she would have worn in the sixties, but she wouldn't have gussied herself up in a big suit with a hurge jacket IMO.

NB I would indeed wear a big suit because I am an 80s kid. You're clearly not.

Have a lovely time!

Laura my auntie has been invited to tea at Buckingham palace too!

What a small world Sparkler! Have just read that there will be 8000 people there, so I'm sure there will be people more underdressed than me, whatever I wear!

Can anyone suggest a nice shop for suits? Just had a flick thru Next.co.uk, and they don't seem to have any nice ones in. Will prob be a skirt and jkt, or dress and jkt, as I always find trousers too long for me.

Thanks for your input acnebride - I'd love to wear the outfit I already had in mind - I wore it to dh's passing out (Navy graduation thingie) when I was 10 wks pg with ds, so it has lots of happy memories.

Thinking back, it was probably a similar dress code that day, and I felt fine (but was so smiley inside anyway that it would have taken a lot to dent me )

I've never been either but I would second the smart wedding advice. Have you got a Coast near you? I think they're always good for occassion type wear. What about Whistles or Jigsaw if that's not too pricey?

Unfortunately we're in the depths of Cornwall, so decent shops are few and far between. It might have to be a jaunt to the 'big smoke' of Plymouth to visit Debenhams and John Lewis.

I'm in Glasgow and John Lewis here stocks Coast, as does Debenhams actually.

Have a lovely day.

Have now purchased a nice suit from M+S. Hopefully I'll find something I like better, but at least I've got something. Just need the hat, handbag, shoes......