What to wear to scary management conference?

Hie all
Its been so long I have disappeared from this forum owing to my job. But I had been visiting this website and reading your posts but not posting any of my opinions on them.
But as this is my second home, I turned to you girls for suggesting me.
So the story is we are having a management conference at our Head office where all our board of directors, management team and bank branches' branch managers will be attending the conference. I need you suggestion on what to wear on this very formal and scary situations.

16th August- Interaction with each other followed by dinner.
17th August- Presentation of branch performance and feedbacks.
18th August- Brainstorming sessions, interaction and dinner

What should I wear on these situations so that I look comfortable, dressy, formal, polished, stylish but not too trendy.

- We do not wear dresses here since showing legs is a no no in our culture. And I also do not want to wear suit trousers since I want something new after wearing uniform all these days.

-I do not want to wear high heels or anything too tight (but still shows my curves and figures), look and feel comfortable too.

- My style is girly, classy and comfortable too. And its summer but I will be most probably spending whole day in ACs.

Pictures would be really helpful in this case.

Thanks in advance and wish me luck to face my bosses in a stylish way!!!!

13 years ago

ramya

Veteran

All the best Fashionista :)...

Personally.... I would wear a kurta and legging with a nice dupatta on one day...

Trousers and a classic shirt another ...

If comfortable I would wear a skirt on third depends on the environment... Not short but more midi lenth...

Anonymous

Ramya has some good suggestions for you. Do you ever wear a dress with pants? That might be a good third look.

velvetychocolate

To me, this kind of occasion/event calls for a fabulous non-suit blazer or two. **Ignore** prices in links below - just pointing to these to give you an idea of what I mean.

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/an.....ltback=560

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/an.....0293-0-1-1

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/st.....0293-0-1-1

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/os.....tback=6440

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/st.....tback=4235

With jackets like these - you can pair with a pair of slim cut trousers (like those shown in photo #3), a simple silk shell or blouse and you will look fabulous all throughout the conference. Bonus is that in some cases, depending on which type of non-suit blazer(s) you buy for the conference is that you'll end up with beautiful jackets that can be worn as part a "smart casual" ensemble on the weekend (with dressy jeans, dressy shoes and dressy top). You'd also have these jackets to wear for evenings out too - all kinds of occasions, really.

Just look for some fabulous jackets that don't look like the typical "suit" jacket. Pair with good trousers and a very simple shell/blouse underneath. The trousers/blouse part are just the backdrop/background for the fab jacket. Does that make sense?

These don't look anything like the "same old" work suit/business suit, and you will look perfectly polished, formal, stylish without being too trendy, ladylike, classic etc.

Alternatively - you could do a reverse of this - pair your work suits with much more interesting blouses and tops to give it that little bit of "non-uniform" but still business-appropriate extra style:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/ne.....tback=4410

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/vi.....tback=8435

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/th.....tback=2345

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/la.....tback=3220

Ok - this is getting long...

Mainly wanted to say choose from:

1. - Very simple, basic slim pants with blouse/shell - fab jacket on top
2. - Go ahead and wear a work suit, but jazz it up with a fab blouse that's a little bit different than you'd normally wear (like that houndstooth shirt in photo #6).

So you can go with fancy/fabulous blouse + boring suit OR you can go with boring pants and blouse + fab jacket.

Ok, now I'm even stressed about the conference now - just kidding

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Sveta

(website)

This sounds like a pretty business formal occasion to me and banks tend to be pretty conservative, at least here in North America. I think leggings with kurta maybe too casual...unless they ar work=n in your culture on business formal occasions.
If you don't want to wear a trouser suit then how about wearing trouser separates? If you have diferent trouser syles you can get some variety this way (slim leg, bootcut, wide leg, slouchy). Unfortunately jeans are not appropriate in this situation IMO.
Do you have a number of shirts, tops and blouses to spice up the trousers? You can really add color and some twist on the top. Also nice jackets come handy too.
Use scarves, necklaces, belts to spice things up and of course shoes! I don't know what do you have but you don't need to wear heels if you don't want to.

MsMary

Honestly, if the men are going to be in suits, I would wear a suit.

If the men are going to be in something less formal than a suit, I would wear something like the following:

1. White or cream trousers, navy silk blouse, striped blazer
2. Navy trousers, beautiful print silk blouse, linen blazer or maybe a beautiful cardigan
3. Either of the trousers, another beautiful silk top, either topper

Gaylene

I'd second MaryK's suggestions. That is exactly the formula that I've used over the years whenever I've had to to do the big conference thing.

I've always felt that this kind of career dressing is not about expressing my fashion sensibilities as much as it is about dressing to fit the context and impression that I want to create. Spicing it up and looking fashionable take a back seat to looking competent and impeccably dressed. So I stick to safe colors and simple silhouettes that I know look flattering, minimal accessories (a great watch, simple studs, classic leather shoulderbag with minimal detailing), and good shoes.

I want the focus to be on ME and my abilities, not what I'm wearing.

Dana

I would echo what most of the other posts are saying. It sounds like a pretty formal event. Chances are good that many of the women attending will think of it as "time off" and dress inappropriately. You really can't go wrong with suits and suit separates, especially if you are wanting to impress your bosses and move up in the company.

You can inject some of your personal style with blouses/shells and your accessories. Have a great time, and most of all focus on being your fabulous self!

fashionista

Thanks so much ladies for your suggestions.
So after all your suggestions I have come up with these combinations

1. Black slim cut trouser with maroon button up shirt
2. Black slim cut trouser (I have two of them..LOL) with either a citron button up or a baby blue button up shirt.
3. Light grey slim cut trouser with black button up.
All this while my shoes and bag will be of similar type and quality- black structured leather bag, black pointed toe ballet flats.
Thankyou so much the recent update is that the dress code is semi-formal, and yes Sveta jeans is a really no no in this occasion.

Thankyo ladies u saved me from being inappropriate dresser even if would be stylish. So what's the use of being stylish and fashion forward if its not occasion appropriate. I owe this to you all.

Angie

Fashion Stylist

Sounds like you are sorted! Just chiming in to say that it's nice to see you post again.

Thanks Angie, I will be back with some more, once I sort out this reporting and all those trainings and meetings.
I love you all and will be back soon.

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