What Does 'Black Tie Optional' Mean?

Go to Marshall Fields and look for a dress. Your husband should wear a suit with a Tie. This is a dressy occassion...get your hair done or at least spend extra time on it to make it fancier that usual and take extra time for make-up as well. These can be fun events...have a great time

We are going to a holiday party that is also "Black Tie Optional". Black Tie is the tuxedo tie. It's optional, because not everyone at the party will be wearing tuxes,...because it's optional. But, you can guess that it's a very dressy occasion. Probably dresses, heals, etc. and ties with either a dress coat, or sport coats. Black Tie Optional means one step lower than Tuxedo's and evening gowns.

Hi J.,

It for sure means dress up. I think it means your options are a suit or a tux, but no more casual than a suit. Especially since it looks like it will be a bunch of lawyers, who always wear suits, you should probably dress up.

Good luck and have tons of fun!

My sister put that on her wedding invites and it confused everyone. I had so many people ask what exactly that means, so your are not alone. It means dress up, and for men wear a suit or a tux, and for women it can mean wear a floor length dress or dressy shorter cocktail dress but I would stick with a dress verses dress slacks. I was in my sister's wedding so I luckly didn't have to worry about what I wore. Good Luck!

Yep, suit or tux for him. For you, well you have MANY options. Sexy black coctail dress and heels...or a gown...or even a formal slack suite...now by slack suit I mean flowing slacks that look almost like a long skirt, perhaps with a sequin blouse or satin. I always try to find the most comfortable outfit possible. Let's face it, no one likes to hub-bub with stuffy people that you don't even know anyway, so be as comfortable as you possibly can while looking 'finished' and sophisticated.

Him: at least a suit.
You: a great little black dress. If you don't have one, you might want to invest in one if your husband is being invited to these type of work functions.

I agree with the other responses - it means definitely a suit, and he can wear a tux if you want. For you, a nice dress/cocktail dress. We went to a black tie wedding the other weekend and I found a great dress at JCPenney's - they had a lot on sale and reasonably priced.