My work is generally business-casual (but a nicer level of business casual - jeans only on Fridays). This Friday and then again in September, I will be attending important meetings in our main office building, which trends a little closer to almost business formal. "Senior management" will be attending. Probably some of them will be in suits and some won't. I won't say a word during either meeting other than being introduced. I'll be the most low-level person there.

Can a nice dark grey sheath dress (high cut, down to the knees) take the place of a suit, since I'm pretty positive not all of the higher-up people will be in suits? I sadly do not have a suit that fits. Plus, I hate suits. I have a black business jacket I could throw on over the dress to make it look a little more formal. I AM a fed, so standards tend to be a bit lower regarding dress, and full disclosure is I like my nerdy statistics job and resent having to go to these meetings at all, so it's not like I'm interested in the career advancement. But I don't want to look totally out of place or embarrass my boss.

I haven't asked my boss about this yet because he's a man and I feel a little awkward but maybe I should just suck it up and do it. In the past whenever he's commented on what to wear to an off-site meeting he's just told me he'll be wearing a dress shirt and tie and then I have to struggle to find the female equivalent. I don't really feel comfortable asking him if a dress + jacket is nice enough.