Baby showers are one of those celebrations where the dress code is never quite spelled out — and yet everyone somehow feels the pressure to get it right. Too casual and you feel underdressed; too formal and you feel like you have misread the room. The good news is that baby shower dressing has its own clear logic once you understand it, and there are a handful of silhouettes and fabrics that work almost universally.
Here is everything you need to know about what to wear to a baby shower as a guest in Australia.
The general rule: smart casual and feminine
Baby showers in Australia are almost always daytime events — brunch, lunch or an early afternoon tea — and they tend to be held at a home, a restaurant, a garden venue or a hired event space. The dress code is almost never black tie and rarely full casual. Smart casual with a feminine lean is almost always correct.
What that means in practice: a midi dress, a floral blouse with tailored trousers, or a soft printed dress. Nothing too structured or overly formal; nothing too relaxed or casual. You want to look like you made an effort without looking like you are going to a wedding.
The best dress styles for a baby shower
Midi dresses are the single best choice for a baby shower guest. They are appropriate for a daytime celebration, they photograph beautifully in group shots, and a well-chosen midi in a soft or floral print strikes exactly the right note of celebration without being overdressed.
Floral prints are particularly well-suited to baby shower dressing — there is something that feels genuinely celebratory about a beautiful floral midi, and they tend to look wonderful in the photos that inevitably get taken throughout the day. Our Balayage Dress in Cream Floral or Sage Floral is a perennial baby shower favourite for exactly this reason.
Soft, feminine colours — dusty pink, sage, powder blue, cream, lavender, butter yellow — also work beautifully. If you are looking for a solid colour rather than a print, a linen midi in one of these tones will always look appropriate and elegant.
Bump-friendly options if you are pregnant
If you are pregnant yourself, a baby shower is actually the easiest dressing occasion there is — because a floaty, relaxed midi or maxi dress is both the most flattering and the most appropriate thing you could wear. Our entire Korbela Dress range is bump-friendly and maternity approved, as are the Celie Dress, the Iolana Dress and the Ilyndra Dress. All of these work beautifully for a guest who is expecting.
What to avoid
A few things that tend to not quite work for baby shower dressing: overly revealing cuts, all-black outfits (fine technically, but a little at odds with the celebratory mood), very formal evening wear, and anything too casual — jeans, athleisure, graphic tees. None of these are rules, but they tend to leave you feeling slightly out of step with the occasion.
Shoes and accessories
For a garden or at-home baby shower, flat or low-heeled sandals are almost always the right choice — practical on grass or uneven surfaces and appropriately relaxed. A woven bag, a simple gold necklace and sunglasses complete a daytime baby shower look effortlessly.
For a restaurant or venue shower, you have a little more latitude to wear heels if you want to, though strappy flat sandals are equally appropriate and considerably more comfortable for a long lunch.
Shop the look
Browse our full Midi Dresses collection and Floral Dresses collection for baby shower-ready styles. Free shipping on orders over $150, 90-day store credit returns.
