Black Tie

• If you receive an invitation to an event or wedding that requires you to dress black tie, this means it is a very formal event. Black tie requires you to wear a black tuxedo, along with a white shirt and bowtie. Polished black dress shoes are also required. If you do not own a tux or are unable to rent one for the occasion, wear a plain black suit with a white shirt, and buy or purchase just the black tie. You may also be able to pull off a quality black long tie as well, depending on the trends at the time.

Professional/Special Occasion

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  Wear professional attire in a formal office situation in which you often interact with clients or management. Professional office attire is also synonymous with special occasion attire for men and requires a suit, tie, dress shirt and nice dress shoes. You're your clothing clean and well pressed at all times, and the colors should all match and coordinate nicely, without being too bright or obnoxious. Sometimes, you can wear a sport coat and dress pants as well, as long as the look isn't too casual. However, a tie is always necessary.

Business Casual

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  Business casual attire is one of the most common dress codes for an office environment. Just because the word "casual" is a part of the title, this does not mean you can wear jeans and T-shirts. Business casual is just a dressed-down version of professional or special occasion attire. Sport coats, dress shirts and dress pants are still required, although you can wear less formal versions of these pieces, such as khaki pants and sometimes polo shirts. A tie is not required for the business casual style.

Casual

• In most social situations, casual does not mean you can wear what you wear lounging on the couch on the weekends. Casual wear, which you can wear for casual Fridays at work or to a casual restaurant, means that you can wear jeans and, in some cases, dressy shorts such as seersucker or khaki. Short-sleeved shirts and polos are acceptable, and sometimes a plain dressier T-shirt without any text or logo will suffice.

Casual Wedding

• Occasionally, you attend a special occasion in a location that requires casual attire. Invitations to destination weddings and outdoor weddings often will instruct you to wear casual clothing; however, it's difficult to decipher just what "casual" means. In this circumstance, dress somewhere in between casual and business casual dress codes, such as khaki or seersucker pants, button downs and nicer sandals. Avoid wearing jeans or shorts.