假若朋友约你去烧烤，你竟穿晚装赴约，朋友会对你说：You look over-dressed.（你穿得太华丽）或It's too dressy.（过于讲究/华丽）或It's too fussy.（过份装饰）。相反，假若穿得太过随便出席隆重宴会，别人会批评你说：You look under-dressed.（你穿得太随便）。此外，对于那些一把年纪却‘装可爱’的人，可以对他们说：You look like mutton dressed as lamb.（你像一头扮成小羔羊的老羊），就是讽刺人家扮青春。
对 话
Brian: Honey, you look over-dressed.
Rachel: No I don't. Everyone dresses up at these events.
Brian: But do you really need all that jewelry and all those fancy clothes?
Rachel: Of course, this is a fashion show, I have to look the part.
Brian: But it's a sportswear collection. Go and change, now!
布莱恩: 蜜糖儿，你穿得太华丽了。
蕾切尔: 不会，每个人都盛装出席这些场合。
布莱恩: 但你真的需要那些珠宝和这些昂贵的衣服吗？
蕾切尔: 当然啦，这是时装秀，我要配合打扮。
布莱恩: 但这是运动服秀耶，现在去换衣服吧！
蕾切尔盛装出席简单的运动服秀，难怪布莱恩说：You look overdressed。Overdress是‘穿着隆重得与所出席场合不相称’，反义词是underdress，例如：(1) Don't overdress (yourself), wear something simple but decent（衣着别太过隆重，只须简单而得体）。(2) Without a dress handkerchief, I felt underdressed（我没有礼服手帕，自觉寒伧）。
说衣着隆重，英文有两句常用成语。一是to be dressed up to the nines，直译是‘穿到第九’。第九和盛装有什么关系？有人说，the nines是the eyes之讹；‘衣服穿到连眼睛都几乎盖着’，就是盛装了。也有人说，十级评分制之中，到第九级已近乎完美。无论这两个解释哪一个正确，to be dressed up to the nines即‘一身盛装’，例如：I guess he is going to attend a job interview: he is all dressed up to the nines（他穿得那么隆重，我猜是要参加求职面试）。
另一句常用成语是to be dressed to kill。Kill这里有‘使人倾倒’、‘使人着迷’的意思，to be dressed to kill即‘刻意穿得很帅，要别人心生爱慕’，往往有‘希望吸引异性’含义，例如：Whose affections do you think that dandy is trying to win? He is dressed to kill tonight（你认为那花花公子想赢得谁人芳心呢？他今晚穿得特别讲究）。Dandy是讲究打扮的男人，也可称为fop。
