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What to Wear to a Holiday Party: Office, Cocktail and Casual
What to wear to a holiday party as a man: the outfit for the office party, a cocktail invite and a casual get-together, plus what to skip.
Quick answer
Wear one step above what you wear to work. For most office holiday parties that means dark trousers, a merino sweater or a crisp shirt, and a blazer you can take off once the room warms up. If the invitation says cocktail, switch to a dark suit. If it is a casual party at someone's home, drop the blazer and keep the sweater.
In this guide
The office party is still an office event
Your manager will be there, and so will the people who decide on your next raise. Dress for the version of the party that happens at 7 p.m., not the one at midnight.
Start with charcoal or navy wool trousers, or dark chinos if your office is relaxed. Add a white or light blue shirt, or a fine merino crewneck in burgundy, forest green or navy. Those three colors read as seasonal without anything printed on them. Put a navy blazer on top and dark brown leather shoes or suede chukka boots on your feet.
The blazer does the heavy lifting. It makes a sweater look deliberate, and you can hang it on a chair when the dancing starts without losing the outfit. If you need one, start with our guide to the best navy blazers for men.
Read the invitation before you pick the jacket
Holiday invitations use dress codes loosely, so decode them by venue first and wording second.
- No dress code, held at the office: the outfit above, tie optional.
- "Festive attire": the same outfit with one seasonal piece, such as a velvet blazer in navy or deep green, or a dark green or burgundy knit tie.
- "Cocktail": a dark suit in navy or charcoal, a white or pale blue shirt and a tie. Our cocktail attire guide covers the details.
- "Business casual" at a restaurant: chinos or wool trousers, a collared shirt or sweater, and a blazer. No sneakers. If you want the full breakdown, see what business casual actually means.
- A hotel ballroom or a formal venue: go for the suit even if the invite says nothing. Nobody has ever been sent home for a tie.
Velvet and knits are the two pieces worth buying
If you only buy one thing for party season, make it a merino or cashmere crewneck in a deep color. It works under a blazer at the office party, alone with dark jeans at a friend's house, and over a collared shirt at a family dinner.
The second piece is a velvet blazer, and only if you go to more than two parties a year. In navy, burgundy or bottle green it looks like a deliberate choice, not a costume. Wear it with plain dark trousers and a white shirt, and keep everything else quiet. Velvet next to a loud tie or patterned shirt looks like a stage outfit.
Skip anything with a printed holiday pattern unless the party is explicitly an ugly sweater party. Even then, keep the rest of the outfit simple so the joke is the sweater, not you.
The casual party at someone's home
A party at a colleague's house or a friends' gathering calls for the outfit you would wear to a good restaurant on a Saturday. Dark jeans with no fading, a merino sweater or an oxford shirt, and leather boots or clean leather sneakers.
Add a layer you can keep on indoors. A cardigan or an unstructured jacket looks put together without the stiffness of a blazer. Bring something for the host too. What you hand them at the door will be remembered longer than your shoes.
Fit matters more under party lighting
Dim light and photos are hard on loose clothes. A jacket that hangs off the shoulders looks worse in a group picture than it does in the mirror at home. If your blazer or trousers have been waiting for a tailor, this is the month to go. Ask for trouser hems with a slight break, a taken-in jacket waist and sleeves that show about half an inch of shirt cuff. Shoulders are the one thing a tailor cannot fix, so check them before anything else. Our guide on how a suit should fit shows what to check.
What to skip
- Novelty ties, socks and pins at the office party. They are fine at home with friends, not in front of the people who review your work.
- Shiny suits and satin shirts. They catch every light and look cheap in photos.
- Running sneakers. Even at a casual party, they read as an afterthought.
- A heavy coat you cannot check. Bring a wool overcoat you can hand over at the door, not a puffer you will carry all night.
Pick the outfit tonight, try it on with the shoes, and book the tailor this week if anything hangs loose.