Award ceremonies are a time to celebrate you and your accomplishments. For better or for worse, you’ll often be the center of attention for at least a brief moment. During this time you are the center of attention, you should look your best! But what does ‘best’ mean? Is it the fanciest you’ll ever dress, or the best suited for the occasion? (Hint: it’s the latter).

Award Ceremonies vary in formality, from a local sports league to an official government award where you need to refer to the giver as ‘Your honor’ which is far more formal.

There are a lot of considerations to take into account when receiving an award depending on: 

1. What You Won It For
   • Volunteering, academic excellence, outstanding performance, etc.

What you’re winning the award for matters a decent amount in terms of what you then choose to wear. Winning an award for volunteering means you can keep it more casual vs. if you won a Nobel Prize, you’ll probably want to dress up more for the occasion because damn girl good for you. Just make sure you still represent who you are as a person, the award is about your achievement AND YOU. 

A good way of thinking about it more generally (if you’re expected to exclusively fit in or else) is who are the other people going to be there and what type of person are they. 

2. The Type of Award
   • A diploma, a bursary, an award for volunteering, a tournament, etc.

The factor of  what the type of award is exactly is another consideration. If you are there for a scholarship award ceremony you don’t want to dress lavishly because you are receiving money as you’ve been deemed in a position of need. So keeping jewelry to a minimum would be far more important here. You will want to look very plain as your dedication is to your work, not your clothing.

3. The Formality
   • Government, College, Local bar, etc.

The formality affects everything. If you are to be knighted by the King of England or receive a medal from the military, you will dress more according to customs than if you were getting a more general award. 

All of these should be taken into account when choosing what outfit to wear.

There’s 3 main parts for an outfit regarding a ceremony (because the odds are that you won’t be wearing a coat). 

1. Clothing
2. Shoes 
3. Jewelry

And there are also 3 tiers of how you can dress for an award

1. Casual – Just as yourself
2. ‘Nice’ – Looking good but not amazing
3. Best – The best you can within the restrictions of the ceremony
   • Fashionably Best – The best you can look without any notions of societal norms/expectations, so you can dress however you want as long as you feel it’s your best. 

Consider the following table and where you might fall onto the spectrum

And remember, when it comes to the 3 parts of your outfit, (jewelry, shoes, clothing) they can be mixed and matched!

EXAMPLES	Best	Nice	Casual
Clothing	Column Gown	Shift dress	Sundress
Shoes	Heels or boots	Flats or Boots	Sneakers
Jewelry	Fine jewelry	Casual Jewelry or Costume	Costume Jewelry

_{Jewelry doesn’t need to be ‘real’ with actual diamonds for it to be nice enough! Just know the vibes of what you’re planning to wear.}

Now let’s say you’re not the one receiving the award, but you’ve been invited. How does that change what you wear? 

If you’re there for moral support, try not to be the center of attention. Avoid wearing bright colors, prints and patterns or showing a lot of skin. DO NOT WEAR YOUR BEST, just try to look a tier below the award winner so Nice, and if Casual still relatively nicely dressed in terms of how the clothes fit you 🙂 

The red ensemble is something that you shouldn’t wear while playing a supporting role, while the blue flowers is something you might want to check with the winner to see if they’re ok with you wear.

And so something like this: while very slay and very gay, may not be appropriate unless you’re repping your fellow homo homies. 

Try and coordinate with the award winner if you can to make sure you can blend in with whatever they’re wearing. If they wear navy, stick to a complimentary color like olive green (but on the darker side to not stand out!) or other just neutrals. Here are some examples of what could be appropriate.

When it comes to shoes, keep it simple. Low heels or flats if you have any. Simple materials and colors so no fluorescent pink alligator cowboy boots 😦 

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming of: What to wear if YOU win an award.

Here are a bunch of examples of what I might wear depending on each level of niceness. 

Best

Nice

Casual 

Trying to seem modest should be one of the more important factors of your clothing. If you show up wearing a designer monogram suit and lots of diamond jewelry to receive an award for volunteering at a homeless shelter, you will look like an asshat. Awards celebrate your actions, try to avoid shifting all of the attention to yourself through what you’re wearing. 

Revealing too much skin is also something to generally avoid unless you’re aiming to be fashionable, especially if there will be photos taken of the ceremony as when they are shared you want to seem humble. Showing off your body can make you seem unprofessional, naïve, or even narcissistic depending on the occasion, so sadly, no cleavage or thigh if you can help it. Something like this would generally be considered inappropriate for all but casual expectations.

Avoid any patterns or prints that aren’t “classic”. Geometric, floral patterns, stripes are examples of classic options. Fashionable or casual settings really means anything goes as long as you pass the vibe check.

Dresses are still a solid choice across the board though. Just make sure you keep them at an appropriate length, so cover your knees or have them land right above them. 

For something very formal, keep it simple. A black dress will fit into most situations.

This is what I wore when receiving my award.

However, something like this black dress works well for something more casual, but because of the neckline, there would be too much skin for something ‘Formal and Nice’ unless you put on a jacket overtop.

It is also helped by wearing tights as they can make you appear more modest when your scandalous legs get covered by a thin veil, saving you from impurity.

Shoes matter quite a bit because they can really change how the rest of your outfit is defined. Sneakers are going to dress down what might be an otherwise very fancy dress, and boots can elevate an otherwise plain outfit. I would almost always go with boots though as they are a much better finishing touch. Even when wearing jeans, you can see how this outfit doesn’t look quite as casual with boots compared to the sneakers.

Jewelry also makes a big difference in terms of how much you wear, and what it is. Generally for anything where there will be lots of pictures, the less jewelry you wear the better. It’s more important to pick a few things that work as ‘statement pieces’ that stand out, than to wear a lot. 

The exception is any event where you’re meant to be more fashionable. Just don’t look tacky.

Remember, you’re going to be the focus of your award as it is celebrating you, so make sure you are dressing as yourself! You wouldn’t want to frame a photo of something where you look like a different person.