Choosing the Right Dress For the Right Occasion

Lets say you have a big night planned.  The first thing you would probably do is book yourself into your favourite salon, with your favourite stylist to get your hair looking fantastic.  Then you look through your wardrobe to find "that dress".  The one that will make you look like your floating effortlessly across the room when you dance.  The one that makes you stand out from the rest.  The one that give you the attention.

The right dress can do that, but the wrong dress will have the opposite effect.  And if you choose the wrong style of dress for the occasion, will have people thinking your a style disaster.  So here we will examine some of the occasions that require a certain type of dress and the options that are open to you.

Ball Gowns
A ball gown is a long flowing dress that is required at formal functions.  The dress code on the invitation will either say "white tie" or "evening dress" and the event will be something similar to an award ceremony or most functions.  Ball gowns can be thought of as the ultimate dress and as such they are made from the most expensive and luxurious like silk and velvet. 

Length wise they should either be touching the floor (known as full-length) or floating around your ankles (known as ballerina).  Ball gowns are usually fully skirted, exquisitely made and exotically trimmed.  They are designed to reveal your shoulders and generally are decollete in style (meaning a cleavage produced by a low-cut neckline).  Do not show too much cleavage though as this will not be acceptable at most functions.

Evening Gowns
Similar to a ball gown but just not as extravagant, an evening dress is the normal dress style required when the invitation states "black tie".  Made from silk, chiffon and satin they too are ornately designed and delicately decorated.  Dress lengths are not as strict as for ball gowns and allow for full-length, ballerina and tea-length (meaning the dress ends between your ankle or mid calf but never exposes the knee).

For colder evenings accessorise your evening dress with a stole as these are worn over the shoulders and will provide a wind break for exposed shoulders.  You can also add some couture jewellery to your evening dress.  Look for embellishments such as lace trimming, ruching, diamantes, sequins and ruffles.

Cocktail Dresses
Cocktail dresses are sometime suitable for semi-formal events (our advise is always to confirm this if the dress code is "black tie") but more generally for cocktail parties and events where the atmosphere is generally more relaxed and less formal.  A cocktail dress is like a shortened evening dress and normally hang from the knee to your mid-calk, although some can end around your ankles.

Cocktail dresses are less defined by length but more by the level of finish and the materials they are made from which separates them from normal dresses.  Traditionally black used to be the required colour for a cocktail dress but these days feel free to express yourself in a red, blue or even pink if you wish to stand out from the sea of black cocktail dresses.  Bandeau styles accentuate your shoulders but if they are not your best feature then coordinate your cocktail dress with a shrug or small cardigan.