The black tie nightmare

A few weeks ago, me and my colleagues received an email we had long been waiting for: the Christmas party email.  Christmas parties at my company are always really good but the details of the party are always kept secret until a few weeks before. 

When I opened the email, I was super happy to see that this year’s theme was James Bond and that the dress code was black tie.  “Amazing!”, I thought…  Little did I know about how confusing the black tie dress code is to some people though.  

Guys have it easy, they just need to wear a tux and look impeccable, but for us, the ladies, it’s a different story.

Everyone seemed quite relaxed at first, then I started doing my research and asking what people were thinking of wearing and I was shocked to hear some of the answers I got… Ranging from “very short glittery dress” to “long backless dress” , most of the answers were just highly inappropriate suggestions for an office black tie event.  Now, 3 weeks before the event, most people are panicking because they haven’t found a dress yet…

Black tie first came into fashion amongst the higher classes in the Victorian era, became a convention in the Edwardian era and after World War II it was relegated to special occasion attire, and nowadays, one doesn’t get invited to many black tie events, so I can understand the confusion here…  But let’s get this straight; black tie dress code involves a long dress, unless the host specifically tells you otherwise.

I was browsing around some websites and these are some of my favourite dresses.  (Admittedly, there was not an awful lot to choose from):

All images from http://www.net-a-porter.com/

So first of all, the dress needs to be long.  Now, what about the cleavage? What about the back? Well misses, my advice here is don’t show too much skin. You want to look classy, not tacky.  I guess my three rules for black tie dresses are: boring, simple and classic – after all, don’t forget we are not going clubbing.

Another thing to take into account, just on a more general note on office events, is that one the party is over, you still have to go back into the office on Monday and work with all those people at the party, and trust me, if you wear something that is too sexy, their opinion on you will change (and just for the record, this is NOT a good thing).

In terms of accessories, be creative! Since the dress will be so formal (and a bit boring), you can add some colorful notes on the earrings, necklace, bracelets… don’t overdo it though, statement earrings won’t go well with a similar kind of necklace, so choose one and wear a nice bracelet!

This might also be a good time to go to the hair dresser and get that long overdue blow dry done. Messy hair does not belong in such a formal event.

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