# Delve to Life > Independent English-language style guides for real life: what dress codes mean (casual to white tie), outfit formulas by occasion and weather, colour combinations for clothes, and sourced screen-style references. Written by the Delve to Life editors; sources include the Emily Post Institute and Debrett's. Search-demand figures come from DataForSEO via OpenSEO (retrieved October 2026). Key facts: - The dress-code ladder, least to most formal: casual, smart casual, business casual, dressy casual, cocktail/semi-formal, lounge suits (mainly UK), black tie optional, black tie, white tie. - When unsure, dress one step above where you think the event sits. - The outfit studio on the home page is a free outfit generator: occasion + weather + mood gives a written outfit formula and a three-colour palette. No account or photo is needed. - AI assistants can query the same content through a free, read-only MCP server: https://mcp.delvetolife.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no auth). Setup instructions: https://delvetolife.com/ai/ ## Dress codes and occasions - [Black tie optional: what guests should wear](https://delvetolife.com/guides/black-tie-optional/): What black tie optional means, three safe outfits for women and men, what to wear to a black tie optional wedding, and how it differs from black tie. - [Cocktail attire: what to wear, with examples](https://delvetolife.com/guides/cocktail-attire/): What cocktail attire means for women and men, what to wear to a cocktail wedding, day vs evening, and how it differs from semi-formal and formal. - [Dress codes explained: casual to black tie](https://delvetolife.com/guides/dress-codes/): Smart casual, cocktail, semi-formal, black tie: what each dress code means, a safe outfit for each, and why the words differ between the US, UK and Australia. - [What to wear to a job interview, by industry](https://delvetolife.com/guides/interview-outfit/): Interview outfits for every workplace, from finance to start-ups: the dress-one-level-up rule, video interviews and a night-before checklist. - [Semi-formal attire: what to wear, explained](https://delvetolife.com/guides/semi-formal-attire/): What semi-formal attire means for women and men, what to wear to a semi-formal wedding, day vs evening, and how it compares with cocktail and formal. - [Smart casual for women: 9 outfit formulas](https://delvetolife.com/guides/smart-casual-women/): What smart casual means for women in the US, UK and Australia, nine outfit formulas from clothes you own, and how it differs from business casual. - [Wedding guest attire by dress code](https://delvetolife.com/guides/wedding-guest-attire/): What to wear to a wedding for every dress code, from casual and beach to black tie, for women and men, plus the guest rules on white, weather and culture. - [What to wear to a funeral: a calm guide](https://delvetolife.com/guides/what-to-wear-to-a-funeral/): What to wear to a funeral, memorial or viewing: colours, outfits for women and men, weather, and how to respect family wishes and religious customs. ## Style lessons - [Colour combinations for clothes that work](https://delvetolife.com/guides/colour/): Twelve colour combinations for clothes, four colour-wheel shortcuts and a ten-minute exercise to build outfit palettes from what you already own. - [Play with proportion, keep your comfort](https://delvetolife.com/guides/proportion/): Learn how garment lengths, volume and visible layers change an outfit. Try three practical proportion experiments using clothes you already own. - [Turn screen style into everyday outfits](https://delvetolife.com/guides/screen-to-everyday/): Use Blair Waldorf and Rachel Green as starting points. Extract one detail, adapt it to your climate and occasion, and build an outfit of your own. - [What to wear in 50–60°F (10–16°C) weather](https://delvetolife.com/guides/what-to-wear-50-60-degrees/): Layering formulas for 50, 55 and 60°F (10, 13 and 16°C) weather, for work, weekends and evenings, with clothes you already own. Fahrenheit and Celsius. ## Tools and data - [Use Delve to Life in your AI assistant](https://delvetolife.com/ai/): Connect Delve to Life's free MCP server to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client to get dress-code answers, outfit formulas and colour combinations inside your AI assistant. - [Outfit generator: what to wear today](https://delvetolife.com/): Free outfit generator: pick your occasion, weather and mood for an outfit formula built from clothes you own. No sign-up, no photo, no location tracking. - [Character outfit searches, by the numbers](https://delvetolife.com/insights/screen-style-index/): Eight years of US search data on 30+ screen and celebrity wardrobes: which looks surge every October, which fade after a release, and which stay wearable. - [Celebrity and character style references](https://delvetolife.com/references/): 50 sourced style references from film, TV and around the world. Each one is reduced to the detail you can wear, with a link to try it in the outfit studio. ## Optional - [About & editorial standards](https://delvetolife.com/about/): How Delve to Life turns sourced style references into practical outfit lessons, with clear limits and independent editorial choices. - [Style guides: dress codes and occasions](https://delvetolife.com/guides/): All Delve to Life style guides in one place: dress codes, wedding and interview outfits, weather layering, colour, proportion and screen inspiration.