Black Tie Attire for Women

I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I'd post this quick topic to hopefully spark some reader input. I am attending a black tie affair this Friday night. It's a local Red Cross event and I don't know anyone on the host committee except for my great friend who is taking me as her date. She insists that whatever I wear will be grand, but I have a sinking suspicion that this is more of a senior black tie event than, say, the Contemporaries Black and White ball at CMA. If I'm right, a knee-length dress will not, in fact, be appropriate.

All the websites out there say that the "rules" are if the invite says black tie, women wear long dresses or fancy black pants and beaded tops (see "senior" reference above). Apparently one can only push the envelope when the invite specifies "creative black tie."

Let me just get this out: never have I been so paranoid about what I am wearing since I moved down here. As many of you faithful readers know, I am normally very confident about my fashion sense (hello, this blog), but the South occasionally throws me some curve balls. This is one of them.