Dressing For A Funeral: Do's And Don'ts To Follow
When a loved one passes, you may be left with a lot of questions and worries. Most significantly, you may wonder how you will go on without them or why they were taken from you so soon. But you may also have some more practical concerns, such as what you should wear to the funeral. Use these do's and don'ts to guide you in this regard.
Do: Use the venue to guide you.
Is the funeral being held in a funeral home, a church, or outside in the cemetery? Use the location of the funeral to guide your clothing choice. For example, you will want to dress very conservatively, probably covering your knees and shoulders, if the funeral will be held in a church. In funeral homes, you can be a bit less conservative. If the funeral is outside, you will need to take the weather into account, wearing more sheer clothing if it's 100 degrees and humid and layers if it's winter.
Don't: Call attention to yourself.
Regardless of what you wear, make sure it is subdued and classy. Your outfit should look nice to honor the deceased, but you don't want to call attention to yourself. The attention should all be on the person who has passed and on their family members. A bright pink ruffled skirt does not belong at a funeral. Neither to those checkered sneakers you've been waiting to wear.
Do: Choose a dark color.
A few decades ago, people only wore black to funerals. This rule has loosened up a little, but you still don't want to show up wearing bright green or white. Stick to dark, subdued colors, as this helps call less attention to your outfit as referenced above. Navy blue, brown, dark green, and dark gray are all very suitable choices. Subtle patterns with these colors, like pinstripes, are also perfectly fine.
Don't: Spend a fortune.
Chances are, your loved one would not have wanted you to spend $300 on an outfit for their funeral. So, instead of spending a lot of money, find a way to work with what you have. Do you have a black dress that is a little too low cut to be proper? Put a sweater over it to make it funeral appropriate. Do you only have colorful dress shirts? Pair one with black pants and a back tie to tone it down. The important thing is that you did the best you could with what you had.
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