A couple days ago I went to an orientation type event and I assumed, since it was a formal occassion, I should try to look my best. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't show up in a prom dress or anything but I did wear something akin to a pantsuit [without the jacket.] Unfortunately, when I showed up, everyone was wearing jeans and t-shirts I tried not to think about it too much, but I couldn't help but think people were looking at me like "what a try-hard/ brown-noser." But then I thought, what if it were the opposite situation; what if I had dressed dowen, and it was a formal event? Which situation do you guys think is worse?

If you're over-dressed, who cares if they think you're trying too hard, or you're showing off? At least you look good. If you're under-dressed, don't worry, just go the other way and say that they're all try-harding cunts.

Its a close call as both can be terrible given the situation. Still I'd say that its better to over dress as you can usually make dressy outfits less formal rather than the reverse on the fly. Ex. Take off your tie, untuck your shirt, and roll up your sleeves for guys.

I suppose it depends on the people around you, the company involved, and the nature of the event itself. It could be said that you dressed appropriately, and the others took it to be completely informal. You probably took the right approach to it "Don't dress to impress, but don't leave a negative impression, either." In the long run, your decision may have left a positive impression on someone in a position to help you advance...generally a good thing to consider.

I personally think it leaves a longer lasting impression if one shows up underdressed, as that's often an event where first impressions are established. Then again, my line of work is quite informal by nature, with some (very highly paid) exceptions.

^ Exactly. You can easily make a dressy outfit look like maybe you just came from a formal event, or that you're just wearing dress-clothing casually. For men it's probably a little easier, but the same could be done for a lot of outfits women wear ^__^ but showing up in jeans and a band shirt to a dressy occasion cannot be easily remedied.

Over-dressed is worse in my opinion. If you don't dress like a total bum that is. Casual is always better and less time consuming.

Perhaps, but that's why you can play it off like you just came from a formal event of some type ^__^ Also, if it's a place where no one is really familiar with you, who's to say you don't wear heels often? Or dress up often, for that matter? But that's my take on it at least XD not unless you always want to have a pair of flats in your purse just in case you may need them!

I would rather be over-dressed. If people wanted to poke fun at me at least I would know I looked a hell of a lot better than they did. There is no real downside to being over-dressed for an event. You look good and can just say that it sucks for them that their event wasn't at a suitable quality for you.

Your use of the word suitable makes me think that you'd be saying an event is not worthy of your suit Sounds like something Barney from How I Met Your Mother would say though maybe it's just cause I watch a lot of that show.

Well if I owned a suit it would be pretty amazing and hard to compete with. So maybe I am. Never saw that show though I hear it is really good.

I still maintain it depends upon the event (I'm speaking of my field in particular, as the majority of our events are large gaming conventions, and formal attire is not as likely to impress the prospective audience...but it's not going to necessarily hurt, either.) If you're bringing your board or card games to sell directly to the public, a suit isn't really necessary, and you may look less comfortable while doing so. If it's an industry-only event, and you're dealing with vendors, a suit's more of a logical choice in that case.

In the cases where it is for business and your job might get a little shaky if you dress inappropriately then I would say there could be an issue. Typically though, those types of events are either obvious as to how to dress or actually say how you should dress when being told/asked to come or invited.

No clothes, occupy my bed.

Personally, I'd rather be over-dressed than under-dressed.

The truth is, though, that If no specific dress code is given for an event, I'll dress however makes me happy and comfortable; I don't really care what most people think. In my case, that does tend to be more on the overdressed side of things.