What to wear when they say …
The invitation says, “Black Tie Optional”. What???
If your life is generally “Any Tie Optional” or “No Tie – Ever”, how do you deal with all these dress codes? Besides taking a cue from what she’ll be wearing, here’s a list that should help:
- Black Tie: Tuxedo.
- Formal: Usually means the same as Black Tie, unless your city is particularly trendy. You’ll be just fine in a tux or dark suit and, anyway, you’ll look so handsome in your tux it won’t matter if some fashion-forwards are wearing black shirts with theirs.
- White Tie (also Ultra-Formal): This is full dress regalia, with a white tie, white shirt, white vest. You probably won’t be seeing much of this, but you might want to stick with white wine if you’re wearing it.
- Creative Black Tie: Ask the event host what they had in mind.
- Semi-Formal (also known as “After Five”:) No tux required; a dark suit with tie will do the trick. If it’s daytime semi-formal, the suit could be lighter in color, but in any event the pants have to match the jacket.
- Business Formal: Same as semi-formal for guys. Whew!
- “Cocktail Attire”: Sometimes this verbiage appears on invitations when they want you to wear a dark suit. The nuanced difference between semi-formal and cocktail attire is lost on us.
- Informal: Watch out! This does not mean “casual”. It means “same as semi-formal.”
- “Festive Attire”: Could be an invitation to wear a reindeer sweater, but probably means sequins for her and – guess what – semi-formal for you.
- Business Casual: The catch-all that means “you don’t have to wear a suit, but this isn’t a barbeque either.” Look put-together, coordinated, but no tie. Jacket optional.
- Dressy Casual: More dressed-up versions of casual, meaning not shorts and T-shirts. It could include jeans if they’re “nice” ones or a sport coat if you feel like it.
- Casual: Pretty much anything goes, assuming it fits, is clean, and you look good in it.