Being a young professional woman who enjoys a good night out often presents the problem of gauging what is appropriate attire for a work dinner both preceded and followed by a drinking session.
In this post I am going to aim to give you some tips on how to look appropriate without, hopefully, sounding pretentious, self-loving and patronising, based on what I recently wore to quite a fancy function.
Being a relatively formal dinner, I wanted something that covered me up without looking dowdy or, on the other end of the spectrum, completely over the top. I opted for a long and not too clingy black dress from River Island. The dress, as you will see from the photo below, is ankle length and has a tasteful slit up the side. It does expose arms, but the the straps are high cut so you aren't exposing too much, or indeed any, chest.
My River Island special
Given I chose plain black strappy heeled sandals to go with my dress, I decided a little bit of colour would be nice in the form of a statement necklace. This was gifted to me, but I believe it is from Forever 21. It wasn't too heavy and didn't weigh me down, which is good if you're going to be out for a long time. Nothing worse than a sore neck when you're tucking into your amuse-bouche, I say.
As for make-up, given the occasion I think either bold eye or bold lip is the way to go. Not both. I used my favourite deep red lipstick and just a smidge of black eyeliner to set my eyes. Anything heavier on the eyes and I fear I would have looked like I was performing at a burlesque show. Which is lovely, but not what I was aiming for.
My hair was simply blow-dried and loosely curled with a little hairspray.
For those interested, the dinner was held at the Royal Scots Club on Abercrombie Place; a venue I would recommend both in terms of food and service.
I hope this helps. Happy styling!
