What to wear to a conference

Cold halls, lanyards, queues and chairs

Each of the four has a simple answer once you know to expect it.

• Cold halls: venues are cooled for a full room of people in suits. In a half-empty session the air is chilly, so a layer you can add while seated is essential.
• The lanyard: a badge hangs at mid-chest all day. It lies flat on a plain front and tangles with heavy embroidery, tassels and long necklaces. A badge that clips on needs an edge: a placket, a collar or a pocket.
• Standing: coffee breaks, registration queues and exhibition stands mean hours on your feet. Flat or low block-heeled shoes matter more than anything else you wear.
• Sitting: long sessions crease linen and fine lawn across the lap. A fabric with some texture or a little blend in it still looks fresh at five o’clock.

Building the outfit, piece by piece

In kameez terms, the outfit looks like this.

• Kurta: knee length and straight, in a plain colour or a quiet woven texture. The straight kameez is the cut that reads most like tailoring.
• Neckline: a band collar or a modest V with a placket gives a clip-on badge or a lapel microphone something to hold.
• Trousers: straight trousers or cigarette pants with a pressed line.
• Layer: a waistcoat or an unlined jacket over the kurta, or a fine wool shawl in your bag. Our guide to a waistcoat or jacket over a kameez covers proportions.
• Pockets: at least one that takes a phone and a handful of business cards. Ask for it in your quote.
• Fabric: cambric, cotton blends and textured weaves hold their shape through a day of sitting. If you are flying in, our guide to travel-friendly kurtas lists fabrics that survive a suitcase.
• Dupatta: optional. A slim scarf is easier to manage with a coffee in one hand and a programme in the other.

If you are speaking or on a panel

Stage lights and cameras change the rules slightly. Fine stripes and tiny checks can shimmer on screen, and pure white glares under strong light, so a solid mid tone is the safest choice. Bangles and long earrings knock against microphones.

Check the outfit sitting down, on a high stool if you can, since panels are often seated above the audience: the kameez should cover your knees and the side slits should stay closed. A battery pack for a microphone clips to a waistband or a pocket, which is one more reason to have both.

A second look for the conference dinner

Most conference dinners are smart, not formal, and few people have time to go back to their room for long. Change one piece. Keep the day’s trousers and swap the plain kurta for a dressier one in a fabric with a soft sheen and delicate or detailed embroidery at the neckline, or keep the kurta and add a richer dupatta and earrings.

For an evening reception where the point is to meet people, stay with something you can stand and talk in for two hours. Our office party outfit ideas suit the same sort of work-social evening.

Ordering before you travel

A conference has a fixed date, and we do not take rush orders, so count backwards. Making takes 5 to 7 working days from approval and full payment, and shipping time comes after that.

Through our custom stitching service, a day kurta, a dinner kurta and one pair of trousers can be made to the same measurements in one order. In the quote form, give the fabric you want, the embroidery level for each piece and the kameez length, and mention pockets and any waistcoat. Our work and campus page shows more outfits for working days.