What to wear to dinner party?

[Wardrobefullofnothing]

I have namechanged for this, not really because of embarrassment but so that I cannot be identified if my friend happens to be a Mner.

I have a dinner party to go to. Informal, neighbour thing, but when I say informal, I don't think it would be a jeansy occasion. What should I wear? I am really struggling to come up with an outfit because I haven't got many nice clothes (mainly jeans and sloppy tops) and certainly no money to go out and buy something.

I do actually have one lovely skirt I would like to wear, but the top that goes with it is a sloppy jumper so that would be no good.

Basically, what would you wear? If you told me that, I might suddenly realise I had the right thing in my wardrobe after all.

Also, advice for dh would be nice too as I know he will ask me, and I won't know what to suggest. I am guessing a plain shirt, trousers and tie for men?

DH - striped/checked/plain shirt for dh. Smart trousers. No need for a tie.

Your skirt would be perfect. You could wear a nice long sleeved T Shirt. Maybe a little cardigan?

I have a 3/4 sleeved summer jacket (fitting, nice, but not quite the right shade of colour) but literally nothing to wear under it - no nice tshirts, shirts, anything I thought maybe I could stick a lacey vest on underneath so it peeped out the top of the jacket and hope I don't have to take the jacket off.

But then I put it on and the jacket really is a bit smart (but I have a fear of dressing too nicely - maybe that is obvious?) and it definitely isn't quite right with the skirt.

Thanks for advice re dh. He does have a stripey shirt. Phew.

Any nice trousers that could go with the smart jacket?

No jacket was bought to go with a dress for a far more formal occasion.

My standard nice black trousers are too small for me right now. [despair]

You could wear jeans if you dressed them up. Smart jacket. Necklace. Heels.

Thanks hf. I think my dh would scream if he saw me wearing jeans though. He hates the fact I already wear them 9 days out of 10.

I am thinking it will be the skirt, definitely. Will have to wear boots with them as I have no nice shoes. Just need to sort out a top now.

Beware wearing boots in case your hosts expect you to remove shoes and your left wearing just unsuitable socks all evening!

Boots will be fine. What colour/length is the skirt?

you're

Skirt is just below knee length - flared. Sorry, nothing sexy or fashionable probably, but definitely nice. People have complimented me on it before. Green and brown pattern.

The house we are going to is the sort of place where you remove your shoes on entering, but surely no hostess would ask you to do so at a dinner party? I mean, I'll wear tights, so I won't be left in Snoopy socks but if I am going to be shoeless, I would take along my slippers too!

I would wear my long sleeved black wrap M&S dress that was £5 from a charity shop, with boots.

I wear it for anything that might be casual or might be smart because it magically seems to sense what other people are wearing and become more/less smart to match.

Have you even a few pounds and an hour to spare charity shopping? Or could you borrow something from a friend?

They can't ask you to remove shoes - goodness, I hate that nonsense!

they can! got caught out once with v.v.bad socks!

You must be going to the wrong houses!! It is very bad form to ask.

Don't worry about the other people. A velvet mini skirt would be fine. How are your legs?

My only good best feature!

I wear a dress and cardigan, or a skirt and top, to dinner parties. Normally sleeveless (arms are still fairly attractive despite the years).

Your green and brown skirt sounds good, plus sloppy jumper that goes with it (unless it's very warm). Or black mini skirt. I wouldn't go the jacket or dressed-up jeans route, esp. not the jacket because you might feel uncomfortable (but that's me speaking as a non-jacket person).

I think the black mini skirt with black opaques and boots would be good, and you could wear a sloppy-ish jumper as long as it wasn't longer than the skirt. Have you got a denim jacket? YOu could have that with a tight t-shirt underneath with the black skirt too?

Oooh, how about the green/brown skirt with tights, boots and the sloppy matching jumper but belt it in around your waist so it looks a bit more fitted??

Thanks everybody, you are all brilliant!

I love all your ideas, but I have actually been most influenced by Fimblehobbs in that I went out this afternoon and bought a dress from a charity shop for £7. It is red (not a colour I have worn before but I am dark so I think it will be ok), figure hugging but made from stretchy fabric so room for the food! I have teamed it up with the only decent little cardigan I have (thanks Bonsoir!) which is black, and I am going to wear black tights and will have to squeeze into some black suede shoes I have which are too small but my boots are brown which I don't think will go. I even have a black beaded necklace which my mother used to have and which she gave me when I was a small child which goes fantastically with it. So all in all, I am really pleased. Dh says it looks casual enough not to matter if everyone else is in jeans, but dressy enough if they are not.

So, thanks for talking me through it and giving me ideas. I probably have 2 or 3 outfits there if I try, so hopefully there will be 2 or 3 more dinner parties to come.

PS Can anyone advise me if patterned black tights are the thing nowadays? I still have some I am very fond of from the 1990s, but I can wear opaques if they would look hopelessly dated.

Patterned tights are good with some outfits - I think they would work with your new red dress. Well done you.

Although I would stick to plain!

Sounds like you did well

I'd go for plain tights with a red dress personally.

Have fun and don't let DH wear a tie. My DH would wear smart dark slim fitting jeans and a nice shirt.