# How I Picked My Holiday Party Outfit Virtually to pick a holiday party outfit, I kept my own black velvet top in one full-body photo and used TryAnyOutfit's virtual try-on with the Bottom only option to compare a gold sequin skirt and an emerald satin skirt. Measurements, a sitting test and the return window settled the rest. By TryAnyOutfit Team · Created 2026-10-28T09:07:39.174Z · Updated 2026-10-28T09:07:50.775Z ![How I Picked My Holiday Party Outfit Virtually cover with a black velvet top, an emerald satin skirt and a gold sequin skirt on a clothes rail under fairy lights](https://storage.googleapis.com/tryanyoutfit.firebasestorage.app/blog-images/medium/how-i-picked-my-holiday-party-outfit-cover-fa87b187.webp) Short answer: to pick a holiday party outfit, I kept my own black velvet top in one full-body photo and used TryAnyOutfit's [virtual try-on](/tryon) with the Bottom only option to swap in a gold sequin skirt, then an emerald satin skirt. The previews picked the skirt. Garment measurements, a sitting test at home and the return window picked the size and the timing. ![How I Picked My Holiday Party Outfit Virtually cover with a black velvet top, an emerald satin skirt and a gold sequin skirt on a clothes rail under fairy lights](https://storage.googleapis.com/tryanyoutfit.firebasestorage.app/blog-images/medium/how-i-picked-my-holiday-party-outfit-cover-fa87b187.webp) *Two skirts on the rail and the velvet top that was staying.* The invite for the team holiday dinner landed at the end of October: second Friday of December, a long table at a wine bar near the office, "dress festive." Festive how? Nobody at work had ever defined it. I knew what I'd wear on top. I have a black velvet long-sleeved top that I bought two winters ago and still reach for whenever there's candlelight involved. What I didn't have was the bottom half. My basket held two midi skirts from the same shop: a gold sequin one and a deep emerald satin one. The sequin skirt looked like a party. The satin one looked like something I'd still wear in March. ![A gold sequin midi skirt and an emerald green satin midi skirt lying side by side on a made bed, with a folded black velvet top between them and a phone face down by the pillow](https://storage.googleapis.com/tryanyoutfit.firebasestorage.app/blog-images/medium/gold-sequin-and-emerald-satin-skirts-on-bed-3b21d8a7.webp) *The two skirts in my basket and the top I already owned.* Both would go fine with velvet in theory. In practice I had no idea. And with the party six weeks out, I didn't want a box of sequins sitting in my hallway while I made up my mind. ## Changing only the bottom half One evening I opened the [virtual try-on page](/tryon) on my laptop. The setup has an **Outfit** box and a **You** box, each with Paste and Upload under it. Next to them sits a row of chips: Top only, Bottom only, Jacket worn open, Sleeves rolled up. ![The TryAnyOutfit try-on setup with empty Outfit and You boxes, chips for Top only, Bottom only, Jacket worn open and Sleeves rolled up, an optional note box, and Ratio, Quality and Generate in Studio controls](https://storage.googleapis.com/tryanyoutfit.firebasestorage.app/blog-images/medium/tryanyoutfit-tryon-setup-bottom-only-chip-screenshot-0c6dae31.webp) *The setup on tryanyoutfit.com before any photos are added. Screenshot taken October 28, 2026.* I picked **Bottom only**. The velvet top was staying, so I wanted it left alone in the picture and only the skirt changed. That meant the photo of me had to include the real top. I put it on with black jeans, stood by the hallway mirror where the light is even, and took a full-body photo facing the camera, arms slightly out from my sides. Midi length is the whole problem with midi skirts. A waist-up photo would have hidden exactly where each one stopped on my leg. For the outfit side, I saved the shop's front product photo of the sequin skirt, cropped so only the skirt showed. Under the boxes the page says nothing uploads until you choose Create. Up to that point the two photos were just sitting in my browser. ## Two credits, same photo **Generate in Studio** carried both photos into Studio, where I signed in. Each generated image costs one paid credit. It isn't free, but it's cheap to start, and the current options are on the [pricing page](https://tryanyoutfit.com/#pricing). The sequin skirt went first. Then I swapped in the satin skirt's product photo and changed nothing else. Same photo of me, same chip. If I'd used a different photo for the second look, I'd have ended up comparing my posture. ## Velvet against sequins I'd expected to like the sequin preview more, and I didn't. Velvet already catches the light, and with sequins underneath, the picture had two shiny textures fighting from my shoulders to my shins. It looked busy. The satin preview was quieter: matte-ish black on top, a deep green sheen below, and the hem landed a few inches above my ankle, which left room for boots. Before trusting either one, I held each preview next to its product photo. The sequin skirt had a side slit in the shop's picture. I checked that it was still there in the preview, since AI can drop or move a detail like that without telling you, and once a detail changes, the preview shows a slightly different skirt. Something I wondered about, uploading a full-body photo: TryAnyOutfit's privacy policy says uploaded photos are deleted from its servers within 72 hours of the generation request, and generated images within 72 hours too unless you save them to your wardrobe. ## What a preview couldn't settle A holiday dinner is three hours of sitting. A preview is me standing still in a hallway. It can't tell me whether sequins scratch the backs of my knees on a wooden bench, or whether satin creases into a map by dessert. It doesn't know how heavy the sequin skirt is or whether it swings when I walk. And it doesn't measure anything. ![An emerald green satin midi skirt laid flat on light oak floorboards with a yellow tape measure across the waistband and another down its length, black ankle boots at the edge](https://storage.googleapis.com/tryanyoutfit.firebasestorage.app/blog-images/medium/emerald-satin-skirt-flat-lay-with-tape-measure-bcade8b9.webp) *Waist and length came from a tape measure, not the preview.* For the size I measured a skirt I already wear often, across the waistband and from waist to hem, and compared those numbers with the garment measurements on the product page. The size letter alone wasn't much help. Then I read the returns page, which mattered more than usual: the party was in December and I didn't want the return window to close before I'd worn the thing to a dinner. I ordered in early November so a wrong size had time to go back and come again. When the satin skirt arrived, I did the real test with the tags on. Sat on a hard kitchen chair for twenty minutes, stood up, and looked at the back. A few creases, gone after a minute of walking around. Fine. ## What I wore in December The emerald satin skirt, the old velvet top tucked in, black ankle boots, small gold hoops. The sequin skirt never got ordered. ![A black velvet long-sleeved top over an emerald green satin midi skirt arranged on a wooden bedroom armchair, black ankle boots on the floor and a small dish of earrings on the side table](https://storage.googleapis.com/tryanyoutfit.firebasestorage.app/blog-images/medium/holiday-party-outfit-on-bedroom-armchair-671a527b.webp) *The night before, all laid out on the chair.* There was no clever trick to it. I saw both skirts under my own top before paying for either, and the busy one looked busy. The tape measure and a kitchen chair did the rest. One honest note: the "I" in this story is an illustrative shopper. The party, the wine bar and the velvet top are made up. The steps are the real ones on tryanyoutfit.com today, and we make the tool, so read it with that in mind. If you're stuck between two pieces for a party, you can run the same comparison on the [virtual try-on page](/tryon) in your browser, or in the TryAnyOutfit app on iPhone or Android, which uses the same account and credits. For planning around an event, there's our guide to [trying on clothes before an event](/blog/try-on-virtual-clothes-for-events), and for previewing a whole outfit rather than one piece, see [virtual outfit try-on for the full look](/blog/virtual-outfit-try-on-full-look). The earlier stories in this series: [How I Try My Bikinis Virtually](/blog/how-i-try-my-bikinis-virtually), [How I Picked a Wedding Guest Dress Without Ordering Three](/blog/how-i-picked-a-wedding-guest-dress), [How I Tried a Burgundy Leather Jacket Before Buying It](/blog/how-i-tried-a-burgundy-leather-jacket) and [How I Chose My Job Interview Outfit on One Photo](/blog/how-i-chose-my-job-interview-outfit). ## Frequently asked questions ### Can I try on a holiday party outfit virtually before buying it? Yes. On tryanyoutfit.com/tryon you add a photo of the garment and a photo of yourself, then open both in Studio to generate a preview. Use the same photo of you for every option so you're comparing the clothes, not the photos. ### How do I change only the skirt and keep my own top? Choose the Bottom only chip on the TryAnyOutfit setup before you press Generate in Studio. Take the photo in the top you plan to wear, full body, so you can see where a midi hem lands. ### Will a virtual try-on show how sequins or satin feel at a seated dinner? No. A preview is a new image of you standing still. It can't show scratchiness, weight, creasing or movement. Try the real piece with the tags on, sit in it for a while, and check the back before you take the tags off. ### When should I order a holiday party outfit online? Early enough that a wrong size can go back and a replacement can arrive before the party. Read the shop's return window before you order and compare garment measurements with clothes you already own. ### Is TryAnyOutfit free to use? Adding photos and choosing settings is free. Generating a preview in Studio needs sign-in and paid credits, one credit per image. There's no free trial, but it's cheap to start. Current options are on the pricing page at tryanyoutfit.com/#pricing. ## Related links - [Virtual try-on](/tryon) - [Try on virtual clothes before an event](/blog/try-on-virtual-clothes-for-events) - [Virtual outfit try-on for the full look](/blog/virtual-outfit-try-on-full-look) - [How I Try My Bikinis Virtually](/blog/how-i-try-my-bikinis-virtually) - [How I Picked a Wedding Guest Dress](/blog/how-i-picked-a-wedding-guest-dress) - [How I Tried a Burgundy Leather Jacket](/blog/how-i-tried-a-burgundy-leather-jacket) - [How I Chose My Job Interview Outfit](/blog/how-i-chose-my-job-interview-outfit)