what does black tie mean?

For a woman... is it full length dress.... how fancy do you have to go? I would usually buy high street for a wedding and generally would get a dress knee length. Is high street ok for a black tie?

Hi! I had 2 black tie weddings this year, first one was fsil and I bought a full length dress in Karen Millen and for the second one a few weeks back I bought a knee length after seeing the amount of people in Knee lengths at the first one I knew it'd be fine! Knee lengths are perfectly fine in my opinion and Warehouse etc have some really nice dresses at the mo!! At both weddings there were definitely more people in knee lengths! HTH, happy shopping!!

"Black tie" as far as I know means "formal evening wear" essentially - a tux for the guys and full length evening gowns or cocktail dresses for ladies. It doesn't matter where you buy it once you stick to the dress code!

Modern cocktail dresses (black tie) are any length from knee to floor length, once its a dressey style, not a summery sun dress or a casual dress. White tie is next step up with the formal ballgown/evening dress, but you dont need to be that dressey. High street is fine, there are some lovely dresses out there at reasonable prices!! hth.

Blacktie seems to only affect the men as they wear a tux... most of the women just wear the type of dress they would wear to a wedding anyway knee length or full length.........