Is it Suitable to Wear Cocktail Dresses for Formal Events?

There is always excitement as well as anxiety when attending a formal event. As most of times, a formal event require certain dress code and a formal dress is need for a fancy formal occasion. For women who have tight budget, it would cost too much for a formal event. So, is it suitable to wear cocktail dress to a formal event?

So there are a lot of similarities between a formal dress and the cocktail gown. There are, however, some key differences and cocktail dresses and formal dresses do vary in a few ways.

Cocktail dresses are worn at cocktail parties and semi-formal occasions, while formal dresses are worn at formal occasions. The length of a cocktail dress can be either down to the knee or all the way to somewhere around the ankles, with the particular length of about two inches above the ankles being called "tea length." Formal dresses tend to be down to the ankles or lower, though they can be tea length or shorter with the right design.

Cocktail dresses tend to be made in lots of subdued colors (hence the "little black dress" phenomenon in fashion, for example, since black can be so subdued it's nearly dead), while the formal dresses tend to be in more commanding colors, such as jewel tones or bright colors. Formal dresses are also made of thicker materials than cocktail dresses.

So, it is suitable to wear a classy cocktail dress to black tie, creative black tie, or black tie optional gatherings, etc. You will have to buy a new formal gown if you are invited to a white-tie, where you have to wear less than a formal dress.