Tbh... wearing black jeans to a "smart" event just makes people look like gypos who don't own a pair of smart-ish trousers. It's the sort of thing your mum might tell you to wear for your work experience when aged 16 because you don't yet have a suit.
If you go down that route you might as well top off the schoolboy "look" with some scuffed up/not polished cheap black shoes + not bother ironing the shirt. It's not a good look as a grown man IMO, though it was something that I saw sported by some techies at one company I worked at when they were told to dress smart one day for some clients (they usually wore Metalica t-shirts etc..). One guy turned up in a white shirt that he could barely fit into and probably was his old school shirt purchased from the early learning centre...
I don't see why a suit would be OTT, if the day guests are wearing them then that would be the safest bet. Otherwise - do you not have some smart-ish trousers you wear to work? Just go with shirt and smart-ish trousers (not black jeans!
If you go down that route you might as well top off the schoolboy "look" with some scuffed up/not polished cheap black shoes + not bother ironing the shirt. It's not a good look as a grown man IMO, though it was something that I saw sported by some techies at one company I worked at when they were told to dress smart one day for some clients (they usually wore Metalica t-shirts etc..). One guy turned up in a white shirt that he could barely fit into and probably was his old school shirt purchased from the early learning centre...
I don't see why a suit would be OTT, if the day guests are wearing them then that would be the safest bet. Otherwise - do you not have some smart-ish trousers you wear to work? Just go with shirt and smart-ish trousers (not black jeans!
