Off shoulder formal dress in velvet, floor length

With an off shoulder formal dress, your collarbones show and almost everything else is covered, which is why it’s welcome at events with a dress code. Most of ours are velvet. Many reach the floor and open at a slit when you walk.

Velvet to the floor, with a sleeve so you won’t freeze

Bare shoulders in winter sound cold. They aren’t, once the rest of you is in dense velvet. Our black maxi keeps a sleeve to the wrist, and we’d send it to a wedding, a dress-code dinner or an awards ceremony with no wrap at all. The burgundy, emerald and white floor-length gowns have a three-quarter sleeve instead, so your wrist is free for a bracelet or a watch.

Navy is the draped one. Its fabric gathers into soft folds across the body, and under warm lamps the blue goes almost ink-dark.

Then there’s the one-sleeve cut. Here the left and right sides differ, with one arm sleeved and one shoulder left bare. On the red gown, a high waistline makes your legs look longer, and the velvet has enough stretch to lie flat along the figure while you dance.

Midi and knee-length cuts when the invitation says cocktail

Does a formal evening always need a floor-length hem? No. A black velvet midi, with draping that runs into a side slit, goes to a restaurant dinner or an anniversary. Our red pleated midi is for a night with a lot of dancing. Its fine folds move with you. If you’d like some shine, the black lurex-knit midi glitters in any light and has long sleeves, so it’s a winter dress too.

Shorter still, there’s a red velvet style whose hem lands at the knee or slightly lower. We’d pick the beige mini for a birthday.

Hair, earrings and the shoes a slit will show

Skip the necklace. An open neckline is already the decoration, and long earrings do more for it. Pin your hair up or smooth it back so the shoulder line is clear from across the room. Shoes matter more than usual, because the slit shows them at every step and a heel keeps a long hem from getting under your feet.

We cut every off shoulder formal dress in XS to XL. The fit is close, so measure bust and hips, then open the size table on the product page. From here you can see all our formal dresses, stay with formal velvet, or look at bare-shoulder maxis and shorter cocktail cuts.

Frequently asked questions

Is white velvet all right for a formal evening?

Yes, when the evening is yours. It’s lovely for an engagement party, a civil ceremony or a wedding photoshoot. Going to another couple’s wedding as a guest? Then white stays home.