We invited about 30 of my husband's colleagues and friends over for a party yesterday and I was very unsure about what to wear. I kept imagining that all his female colleagues would be impeccably dressed and would find my lack of hairstyling/makeup/chic factor appalling! Silly, I know but we've never hosted a party before and I was so so nervous.

Rather than wear a lot of colour (which is my signature), I decided to go for a more subdued, neutral palette. I wore a new grey dress (got this from India) with burgundy tights. To add some interest, I wore a studded burgundy leather bracelet and burgundy lipstick. When it became colder, I added a black bolero that had silver metallic thread running through (pic 3). This is a recent purchase and I really love it! Sorry the picture I took is so crappy! You can see the bolero in pic 4.

All the girls who came were in neutrals (mostly black /grey/cream) so I felt like I fit right in and that calmed me down enough to actually enjoy the party! Of course, they wore more makeup than me and had some elaborate and pretty hairstyles, but I found that I didn't mind that so much. I would feel silly being that made up, it just isn't me and I'm glad I didn't try.

What do you think of the outfit? Is it too plain?

Oh and I have a question - One of my husband's friends has invited us to another party next week, so now that I'm over my initial panic about fitting in, I might wear something more colourful - my emerald lace dress maybe (pic 5)? What do you ladies say? I would stand out in the sea of neutrals, but it'd be boring wearing neutrals for two parties in a row! I would add tights, of course, maybe black or navy.

Thanks for reading and helping!