Tip Tuesday: How to dress for any occasion

Birthdays, weddings, banquets or your office holiday work party — with a variety of occasions to attend, it’s easy to become confused about what attire is appropriate. To banish your wardrobe worries, here is a quick reference of party definitions and dress codes.

Black Tie

A Black Tie invitation means serious business — it is the most formal dress code when it comes to weddings or galas. A Black Tie event usually consists of weddings, fundraising events and award ceremonies. Men wear tuxedos while women usually wear long, elegant dresses. It’s traditional for women to wear floor-length gowns, but in this day and age, exceptions are often made. A little black dress is a perfectly appropriate choice.

Black Tie Optional

A Black Tie Optional allows guests the option of wearing a tuxedo or formal dress, but should clue you into the formality of the event. If not a tuxedo, men should wear a dark suit and tie while women should wear cocktail dresses, long dresses or evening separates. This dress code is often in the context of civic or business groups, such as a dinner sponsored by a chamber of commerce.

Formal

The dress code for formal wear is similar to Black Tie, but is generally more flexible for creativity or unique style preferences. Tuxedos are not required. Men can rock suits in various colors, while women have the option to choose shorter dresses. Such occasions include weddings, formal garden parties or dinners, debutante cotillions or formal dances.

Semi-Formal

With a semi-formal dress code, you can switch out tuxes and floor-length dresses for dark suits and cocktail dresses. Semi-formal is usually separated into two categories: daytime and evening (also known as before five and after five). For daytime, feel free to spice it up with color — think Easter or church weddings.

Business Formal is generally similar to evening semi-formal, except that it suggests women opt for more tailored, dressy suits and dresses. Keep it business appropriate — nothing too sexy or slinky.

Festive Attire

This is your chance to have some fun. Festive attire occasions are usually around the holidays like Christmas or New Year’s Eve.  Seasonal wear in holiday colors is encouraged. Think gold sequin skirts, brocade, elegant lace or a classy red dress. The occasion may even call for “ugly Christmas sweaters” depending on the host or invitation.

For other non-holiday festive attire occasions, there are plenty of options to choose from: a little black dress, ’20s inspired slinky dresses or bold colors and prints. Go ahead and be playful with statement jewelry or bold accessories.

Cocktail Attire

Cocktail attires give you the chance to have fun with fashion while at the same time dress formally. This calls for short, elegant dresses for her and dark suits for him. Express and Bebe provide a great selection of cocktail dresses to choose from.

Casual

Casual generally means anything goes. Jeans, sneakers, khakis, sun dresses, a leather jacket — whatever you would wear to school.

Dressy casual calls for, well, dressed-up versions of casual. Dressy pants and a blazer are a good choice or a sport coat and slacks. Jeans, shorts and T-shirts are not appropriate.

For more tips on how to dress for any occasion, please visit: http://www.realsimple.com/beauty-fashion/clothing/wardrobe-basics/dress-for-any-occassion

Lulu’s has a wide selection of dresses for any occasion, and Tuxedos Online can fill all your vest, suspenders and cufflinks needs.

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