dressed to the nines

Fig. dressed very stylishly with nothing overlooked. She showed up for the picnic dressed to the nines. Clare is usually dressed to the teeth in order to impress people.

wearing very fashionable or expensive clothes The door opened to reveal a small woman, dressed to the nines for an evening of partying.

Wearing fashionably elegant clothing. History fails to offer a definitive explanation for this phrase. Among those that have been advanced are emulating the Nine Worthies of the ancient world, the British Army's 99th Foot Regiment's smart uniform, the nine buttons on a medieval woman's gloves, and the nine muses. Whatever the real derivation, we can agree that “nine” has a special significance in the English language, as in “cloud nine” and “the whole nine yards.”