Look Glamorous In A Cocktail Dress
A cocktail dress is a woman’s dress which is worn at cocktail parties and semi-formal occasions.
Cocktail dresses are versatile and can be worn in many ways to different occasions. They are the perfect outfit for a semi-formal affair, yet can also be dressed up with jewelry and accessories and be worn at some formal occasions too.
This staple should be in every woman’s closet and can take on many forms. The length that is conjured up when we usually think of a cocktail dress is just above the knee, but a cocktail dress can go all the way down to touching the ankle. When it’s about 5cm above the ankle, it is called tea length, also known as tea dress. The name “tea dress” has got its own history.
Every one knows that a tea-gown is a hybrid between a wrapper and a ball dress. It has always a train and usually long flowing sleeves; is made of rather gorgeous materials and goes on easily, and its chief use is not for wear at the tea-table so much as for dinner alone with one’s family.
It can, however, very properly be put on for tea, and if one is dining at home, kept on for dinner. Otherwise a lady is apt to take tea in whatever dress she had on for luncheon, and dress after tea for dinner.
One does not go out to dine in a tea-gown except in the house of a member of one’s family or a most intimate friend. One would wear a tea-gown in one’s own house in receiving a guest to whose house one would wear a dinner dress. Emily Post, Etiquette, 1922.
The tea dress has evolved greatly since 1922 and this description is no longer the norm, but it is evidence of this dress’ history and longevity. It is truly a classic piece.
The next length for a cocktail dress, where the hem almost touches the ankle, is called ballerina length. Ballerina length dresses are special occasion dresses that are a touch more formal than the usual cocktail dress. This length can be worn to the more fancier shin digs and straddles the fence into the evening gown category.
The cocktail dress has come a long way. Nowadays, a dress is considered to be “cocktail”, not by where the hem falls, but instead, by the level of elegance the attire reaches. It’s quite acceptable to wear cocktail dresses to most semi-formal events and even some formal ones, so when are they not appropriate? Well, if you are Cinderella headed to the ball, or if the event you are going to is a “white tie” affair, a ball gown will be the most suitable attire.
So now that you are armed with cocktail dress etiquette, you can take it out for a spin to a friend’s wedding, an elegant dinner, the company holiday party, or to an actual cocktail party! You can rarely do wrong in these classic, elegant, and sometimes glitzy dresses. It is truly a must for every fashionista’s closet.
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