Cocktail Dress

Gloomendoom

HPoirot wrote: »

Phew, for a minute I thought you were referring to physical blokey traits! My bad All good in the G household tonight then

Ha ha! Thankfully, she is physically very much a woman. At the moment she is trying on clothes for a night out tomorrow. Looks like she has decided on a cerise (very) mini dress and six inch heels.

Not a cocktail dress in sight.

FatVonD

lostinrates wrote: »

I notice he too can get a bit excited if a pair of trousers is the size it says he 'should' be even if the other trousers he 'shouldn't' be still fit correctly too.

lostinrates wrote: »

The same size they know fit better when they need some hormone room.

:rotfl:

You really are on top form today!

Lunar_Eclipse

Spendless wrote: »

If an invite reads 'Black tie and Cocktail Dress'. What do you take cocktail dress to mean?

A long dress. Not a ballgown, but definitely a long dress by definition and certainly if it's accompanying black tie for a supposedly formal occasion.

In reality, some women will wear shorter dresses, but a cocktail dress is supposed to be a full length dress.

Lunar_Eclipse

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Wow, I love this but t is too much for a cocktail party. But perfect for a film premiere

I think this is the best example of a cocktail dress to accompany black tie (a dinner jacket with a black bow tie!) that I have seen on this thread. I don't think it's too much at all.

It is the type of dress I see at these formal (work) functions. I personally prefer cleaner lines (ie no lace) and black ideally, but this would be perfect for black tie events I have attended.

lostinrates

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

A long dress. Not a ballgown, but definitely a long dress by definition and certainly if it's accompanying black tie for a supposedly formal occasion.

In reality, some women will wear shorter dresses, but a cocktail dress is supposed to be a long dress (at ankle or lower.)

Black tie with no description of 'cocktail dress' to me means 'evening gown' I.e. long. Cocktail dress when asked for can be short and is appropriate is asked for, but evening gown, if not ott, might be acceptable. Otherwise, knee ish to ankle.

Cocktail is certainly not in my experience long 'by definition'

Lunar_Eclipse

lostinrates wrote: »

Black tie with no description of 'cocktail dress' to me means 'evening gown' I.e. long. Cocktail dress when asked for can be short and is appropriate is asked for, but evening gown, if not ott, might be acceptable. Otherwise, knee ish to ankle.

Cocktail is certainly not in my experience long 'by definition'

I checked, to see if my thinking was correct. According to our Oxford English dictionary and social etiquette guide: one said a long evening dress worn to formal occasions and the other said long, often touching the ankle. Admittedly one of them also mentioned shorter dresses may sometimes be worn for semi-formal occasions.

Gloomendoom

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

A long dress. Not a ballgown, but definitely a long dress by definition and certainly if it's accompanying black tie for a supposedly formal occasion.

In reality, some women will wear shorter dresses, but a cocktail dress is supposed to be a full length dress.

This is so wrong. It can be long, but it certainly isn't by definition. Christian Dior popularised the cocktail dress in the late 1940's. Cocktail dresses fall somewhere between formal evening wear and casual day wear. They were worn for informal or early dinners. They typically had a mid-calf or knee-length hem. They still do.

lostinrates

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

A long dress. Not a ballgown, but definitely a long dress by definition and certainly if it's accompanying black tie for a supposedly formal occasion.

In reality, some women will wear shorter dresses, but a cocktail dress is supposed to be a full length dress.

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

I checked, to see if my thinking was correct. According to our Oxford English dictionary and social etiquette guide: one said a long evening dress worn to formal occasions and the other said long, often touching the ankle. Admittedly one of them also mentioned shorter dresses may sometimes be worn for semi-formal occasions.

I have no reference handy, but.....I disagree from experience. . I hesitate to disagree with the OED, and an etiquette guide though. So I am happy to be corrected and find that my experience is wrong. Though it brings the standard of evening wear in uk into an even more sorry for itself situation

In a post further back I actually mentioned that what often gets worn to 'balls' is sorry for itself cocktail , and I stand by that. (And part of why I don't bother with our parish or local hunt ball....:o though there are plenty of other reasons).

HPoirot

To be honest though if OP's invitation had read 'Black Tie' I would have completely gone with an ankle or floor length dress. In my books, morning suit = knee length, dinner jacket = longer length, ballgown = cummerbund. The dress code of 'Black Tie and Cocktail Dress' - and the rest of this thread I have to admit - has completely floored me.

lostinrates

HPoirot wrote: »

To be honest though if OP's invitation had read 'Black Tie' I would have completely gone with an ankle or floor length dress. In my books, morning suit = knee length, dinner jacket = longer length, ballgown = cummerbund. The dress code of 'Black Tie and Cocktail Dress' - and the rest of this thread I have to admit - has completely floored me.

Its quite 'modern' and happens a bit (we get loads of invites, we just rarely accept any of them these days!) I think for men who work in lounge suits (which is what I'd think of rather than morning suit in the evening!) and care more about how they look in a metro sexual world and have less opportunity to put on dinner jackets its all quite fun for them, and nice for us to get our male partners in black tie.

That's why the invite has to specify cocktail dress with the black tie. .

Eta....DH no longer wears a suit most days, so just seeing him ina suit is a treat, and this year we did an evening wear cull and our scarecrow wore an old evening suit...with a very inappropriate normal shirt (mulberry) with the collars and cuffs gone, and .......no tie. (We ties a ribbon around his neck).

Obviously the conflict of attire was too much for a female scarecrow to get her head around as he stood alone all summer. . Illustrating what ignoring dress codes will do for your social standing