Some parties are special enough that the standard jeans and t-shirt look just won’t cut it. For occasions like this, a girl needs a dress that is not necessarily overly formal but is fancy and hip so that heads will turn when she walks in the room. Parties like this don’t call for a ball gowns or slinky, long evening gowns; they need fun, flirty styles that work well on the dance floor.
Girls who want a stand-out version of the ever-popular “little black dress” will love the Marilyn Monroe “Some Like It Hot” inspired V-Neck Short Jersey Dress. Fun, flirty and fashionable, this understated sleeveless A-Line jersey dress works for both formal and informal events, depending on how you accessorize. The dress has a deep v-neck with a jeweled ribbon tie belt accenting the waist. It is fully lined and is made of polyester and spandex. This dress comes in black and plum and must be hand-washed.
Black Tie
The most formal social gathering nowadays is the black tie affair. A traditional wedding held in the evening or a political dinner often requires formalwear. That means tuxedos for the guys and evening gowns for the girls. The definition of an evening gown is not set in stone. As a general rule, the hemline should reach the ankles. Full length or tea length dresses are preferred. Luxurious materials like satin, silk, velvet and chiffon are commonly used in evening gowns.
Semi-Formal
Cocktail and dinner parties with close friends are generally semi-formal affairs. While an evening gown would be over the top, guests are expected to dress up a bit. One easy way to select a dress is to consider where the party is being held—the venue. If the semi-formal event is a holiday office party, it is probably best to dress a bit more conservatively. A tea-length cocktail dress or a little black dress with tasteful accessories is appropriate. However, if the semi-formal event is a dinner with close friends, shorter cocktail dresses are okay.
Business Formal
Events that are held at work or with business clients often call for business formal attire. Unlike the holiday office party, guests are expected to show their respect for their clients and colleagues by dressing appropriately. This means either tailored business suits or long dresses. A cocktail dress is fine as long as it is long enough.
Many brides in the United States think of white wedding dresses as “traditional,” but the white wedding dress is actually a fairly recent custom. When Queen Victoria was married in 1840, she chose a white wedding dress and immediately started a fashion. While most working-class brides continued to get married in a best dress, regardless of color, well-to-do brides in Britain and America followed the Queen and got married in white.
As other brides followed suit, people began to think of the white color as a symbol of purity, and within one short century the white wedding dress became a must.Whenever we think about wedding dresses, we automatically think of a warm, summer’s day, with a crisp, wafting white dress to match. However, there is a growing trend towards winter weddings. Winter wedding dresses may not be pure white and are often the preferred choice for second time brides.
Trends in winter wedding dresses include deep red colored dresses or dresses that include a large amount of black. Another great idea is to include a fur collar, or long fake fur coat. If you love a touch of luxury and you want something a little different, then winter wedding dresses may just be the thing for you!
Wedding Dresses for the Summer Wedding
The key to summer wedding dresses, this year, is color. Many wedding dresses are now using substantial amounts of colored fabric to add a classic touch to an otherwise traditional white or cream dress.
Weddings are becoming much more sophisticated; generally, brides will select a theme that they will maintain throughout all aspects of their wedding. Wedding dresses must, of course, fit into this theme and as such colors and accessories are vital. Popular, seasonal colors for wedding dresses include lilac, pink, blue and yellow. Often, brides will choose a half-color theme where the bodice is colored or the skirt is colored, but the other half of the dress is kept in a plain cream or white.
Korean brides wear green overlays over their wedding dresses. The overlays may be embroidered with flowers – a nice way to set off the colors in your bouquet. Irish brides, in contrast, rarely wear green at weddings, as the usually lucky color is considered bad luck at weddings. A blue dress, however, is considered very good form at a traditional Irish wedding. Blue dresses used to be far more popular in all of the British Isles – the color was popularly supposed to guarantee a long marriage and a faithful husband. Israeli brides often wear blue or blue highlights for a different reason: the color symbolizes the bride’s spiritual powers.
If you like red, you’re in luck. It’s considered good fortune for brides to wear the cheery color in China, traditional areas of Russia, and many other nations. Japanese wedding gowns are often lined in red, and as mentioned above, many Indian brides wear the color as well. There’s even a case to be made for calling a red gown an American tradition as well – some brides wore it during the Revolutionary war to show their desire for independence.
