If the party was sans the clients , I wear my most lush and shiny anarkali dress or desi dress with proper accessories along with it … just to create a difference .. and my colleagues always loved it .. infact one of the Christmas parties , there was this gori colleague who came up to me and said she would like me to go with her to choose a nice asian dress Most of the times , I have felt our asian dresses if nicely worn can become a show stopper at office parties
But when its a semi official party , i.e , clients invited as well for an informal dining .. I maintain my code and wear a long dress , or stylish long skirt …
For semi official, where client n dinner/lunch are involved, I wear something official like skirt or trousers etc.
for other parties like annual dinner or project completion celebration etc, my dress is mostly a plain color cheffon saree with lil work on either blouse or saree boarders. I dont buy heavy work sarees at all.
Yes ppl at function like my sarees alot. I once wore a simple navy blue thin cheffon saree to an official function. it was plain saree but the blouse half sleeves were full of work, mixture of dabka, beeds, n stones etc, all in blue, sea green n silver colors.
i guess there was hardly any person who didnt give me compliment on my dress that evening - but to be honest i was feeling bad n embarrassed later. didnt like so much attention from the Men hazraat :o that too married men
Yeah I know what you mean …as long as its within manners , I guess its fine to recieve compliments …
In my case, I am proud of my roots and culture I belong to .. my colleagues get surprised how I stand by what my elders followed knowing that I havnt lived or experienced that culture much …
But , It feels brilliant to connect with ones culture .. and no perfect time to do it then office parties We once had this somali lady in our office and she wore her long , flary dress at the xmas party and everyone was so interested in knowing more about the somali fashion
I don't get it, are client parties supposed to be much more conservative? or is it that with coworkers its an intimate gathering so cultural outfits are okay?
Sara, yes with Clients , even if its an informal party , most of the times , its best to maintain formalities. At the end of the day, you will be seen as "so and so from that company " .. so , not to take any risks , I dress semi formal.
However with colleagues, its more like a team bonding thing , where you get to know your other colleagues in informal setting, you can joke around with them and talk freely just like you would with friends. Culture is part of our personality, why not share it with colleagues, what better way then to express it via dressing and food
.. infact one of the Christmas parties , there was this gori colleague who came up to me and said she would like me to go with her to choose a nice asian dress 
Most of the times , I have felt our asian dresses if nicely worn can become a show stopper at office parties 
- but to be honest i was feeling bad n embarrassed later. didnt like so much attention from the Men hazraat :o that too married men 
didnt like the attention