Formal night - black dress or another colour?

[Summertime]

My young girls and I are going on our first cruise next month. I'm trying to decide if we should wear winter colours - dark or black for the formal nights and if lighter, spring colours would look out of place on a formal night? Also, it sounds like the dining rooms are cold and I would prefer to wear something with longer sleeves and as I picture my girls in spring dresses I'm thinking they might be too cold. Also don't want to stand out in lighter colours if everyone tends to wear dark colours, even in late March. What color of dress have you worn on the formal nights and what colour have you seen the most of? Any thoughts or suggestions would be most appreciated.

 

Summer

[Jane110]

Summer,

 

You and your girls should feel free to wear black or any other color. The style and fabric of the dress determines the level of formalness.

 

If you were going on an Alaskan cruise, I'd day stick to the darker colors, but to Mexico, all colors will work imo.

 

Jane

[RenieRaider]

Summertime ~ It seems that the color of formal night is black. By wearing black you can go in a lot of different directions and STILL be appropiate. Bare shoulders and a nice wrap or shawl to take away the chill. Short or long.

[Lois R]

Hi:) You will see all different things and colors on formal nights. I have worn red, green and black.

Whatever you feel most comfortable in~colors and black can both look great. Oh wait, black is a color;)

I felt good in all 3 colors!

 

Have a wonderful cruise:)

[98Charlie]

Summer:

 

You did not say how young your ``young girls'' are, however, I will say that I have seen girls, teens and young adults dressed in all colors and lengths of dresses on formal nights.

 

Younger girls often wear Easter-style dresses; high school girls their prom dresses and college girls wear styles they would wear to dressy college occasions.

 

A light shaw, sweater or other style wrap is a good item to add to almost any style formal dress as not only are dining rooms often chilly, main gathering rooms such as theaters are often a bit cool.

 

Dianne

[cruisingfreak]

I wear black or red, silver.

 

 

You will see most women wear basic black.

 

 

Minette

[Happy ks]

While the majority of women wear black, it is perfectly acceptable to wear any color dress you like. The first day of spring is March 20th, not even 3 weeks away, so that should not even be a concern for you.

[momofmeg]

There are so many cute little sweathers and capes out now that if you want to dress your girls in springy dresses you can still do it-March 20 is the first day of spring and the carb. is warm year round.

 

I have bought my daughter a cute little light turquoise sweather that has just a few sequins on it in soft pastel colors like lavender, pink, teal and yellow. I also found her one of those fake fur "rabbit" capes on sale just a couple of weeks ago. I think either of those would look good with a soft pastel dress for your girls.

 

Black is a good year round color. You see tons of it on formal night. I recently bought a black skirt in a poly-crepe, flounced. founces trimmed in satin, the back is floor length, the front hits slightly below mid calf. I bought this because I felt it was a great cruising staple-I could wear it many cruises with diff. tops. Plus it was machine washable-something I have never found before in formal wear.

 

My last cruise I wore a nice pastel print two piece silk dress with just a small scattering of sequins. I liked the dress as it was a change from the usual black I wear but it did not pack well and I had to have it pressed. So I am going back to the black for my next cruise.

[Ehpride]

I can tell you that I'm not wearing black. I just like color in general and don't wear a lot of all black anyway (it usually has color somewhere) so I'm wearing pink. Mom's going to wear blue and grandma's going to wear purple. I'd say wear what you feel comfortable in and don't worry about what everyone else is wearing. It's your vacation, so if you want to wear pastels, go for it.

[OC Mom]

I don't own many dresses, don't need many as a stay at home mom, so I tend to get black because I can wear them to all sorts of occasions. One dress works for weddings, funerals, dinner, Christmas party.

 

But....being a very pale skinned blonde, black isn't the best color on me (I'm shopping all the time for a new dress). You should wear what looks great on you and what you feel great in. You shouldn't wear black just to fit in with the masses if you look amazing in blue, for example.:)

[Summertime]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts so far. I am still looking for the perfect formal dress for myself but now I feel like I could go with black or any other colour. I do plan on having our picture taken so I want to be able to have us all somewhat matching so it will be interesting to see if I wind up going with the spring look or the black look.

 

Summer

[scarletine]

I can tell you that I'm not wearing black. I just like color in general and don't wear a lot of all black anyway (it usually has color somewhere) so I'm wearing pink. Mom's going to wear blue and grandma's going to wear purple. I'd say wear what you feel comfortable in and don't worry about what everyone else is wearing. It's your vacation, so if you want to wear pastels, go for it.

I'm with you. I've determined for my next cruise I'm going to go colorful! A dress store near me is showing the most beautiful frilly, frothy, 1930s vintage-style chiffon dresses in their window, in the most gorgeous pastel colors, and I'm bound and determined to get one of them for my next cruise. I'm sick of wearing black/dark colors for evening.

[Ehpride]

I'm with you. I've determined for my next cruise I'm going to go colorful! A dress store near me is showing the most beautiful frilly, frothy, 1930s vintage-style chiffon dresses in their window, in the most gorgeous pastel colors, and I'm bound and determined to get one of them for my next cruise. I'm sick of wearing black/dark colors for evening.

 

Sounds beautiful!!!

[momofmeg]

I can tell you that I'm not wearing black. I just like color in general and don't wear a lot of all black anyway (it usually has color somewhere) so I'm wearing pink. Mom's going to wear blue and grandma's going to wear purple. I'd say wear what you feel comfortable in and don't worry about what everyone else is wearing. It's your vacation, so if you want to wear pastels, go for it.

 

I guess I misunderstood her and you misunderstood me. I was not saying she should wear black-I understood she was asking was black okay to wear in the summer or was it a winter color? I just replied it is a year round color.

 

Like another post said-black was not her best color but she tended to go for black as it was good for weddings, funnerals, formal occasions etc. and being a staty-at-home mom she did not buy things just to wear once.

 

As I said my last cruise I wore a beautiful floral, pastel, sequinned two piece silk dress. I loved the dress but it did not pack well and had to be pressed before I could wear it. I bought the black skirt I found because it was poly-crepe, machine wasable and therefore would not be prone to wrinkle. I figure I can wear it a lot with different tops and I could add my color in the tops.

 

I am hoping there will be a wedding or something so I can wear my floral silk dres again-I just doubt I will take it on another cruise as it did not pack well.

[Ehpride]

Mom of meg, I wasn't responding to you but to the OP :) Sorry about the misunderstanding!

[Summertime]

Just wanted to add that I am VERY happy because I was able to find a formal dress last night and it's kind of a taupe colour with a slightly golden shimmer to it. The nice thing is both of my girls have lovely dresses in black that will match it very well so I'm all set! And, it has a jacket with it so I don't have to worry about being cold in the dining room.

 

Summer

[momofmeg]

Just wanted to add that I am VERY happy because I was able to find a formal dress last night and it's kind of a taupe colour with a slightly golden shimmer to it. The nice thing is both of my girls have lovely dresses in black that will match it very well so I'm all set! And, it has a jacket with it so I don't have to worry about being cold in the dining room.

 

Summer

 

It sounds beautiful. I call that color "Champagne" because it is sort of between a gold and a silver. I like it and it is becomming to all skintones. You will look lovely.