Funeral Clothes break from somber tradition by Carole Currie

There was a time when every woman had a funeral dress in her closet. It was black, of course, or at least navy blue and appropriately ordinary. Floral prints were out unless they were tiny flowers on a dark background. This outfit was definitely not a pants suit, and this dress was always worn with stockings.

Men, even those who never wore suits during ordinary times, had slick-looking black or navy blue suits for funerals and generally looked just as uncomfortable in them as they felt.
The church or funeral home was a sea of dark colors, and those who wore colors were noticed in a way most would not want to be noticed.
When I knew my father-in-law didn't have long to live and I had nothing suitable to wear, I bought a navy two-piece outfit for the funeral. I liked it and thought it looked nice, but afterwards, I didn't have the heart to wear it again and finally purged it from my closet.
As I write this, I am aware you may be thinking that is seems inappropriate and unfeeling to think of shopping for a dress when death is near, but I do not view it that way, for several reasons. For one, my father-in-law would have like the outfit and commented on it. For another, I think it speaks of acceptance of death and, in a way, preparation for it.
Now I have a blue pants suit of worsted wool with a little pin stripe that is my funeral suit for all but really hot weather. Now that pants suits are OK, it is always correct. It travels well, is appropriately dark and is comfortable.
If it's a family funeral, my cousin Sharon shows up wearing the exact same suit. Both tall and with short hair, we look like twin funeral home employees but with our dependable funeral suits, at least we have managed to avoid that terrible indecision of what to wear.
Like everything else, times have changed and that means the dark funeral dress tradition of days past is fading fast. For one thing, many funerals now are memorial services with an urn of ashes instead of a casket, and they may be scheduled days or even weeks after the death. Although congregations are no less in mourning, the fashion mood has changed a little.
Young women in sundresses, women in sweater sets or colorful jackets and men in shirtsleeves don't raise any eyebrows. No more boring beige or matronly mauve and not much black for these funeralgoers who focus not on what they wear but on the person they have come to honor and celebrate.
My mother was a woman who valued looking appropriate and fashionable all her life, even in her very last months. I spent evenings going through her clothes, organizing outfits and leaving things out for her to wear the next day so her outfits matched and she could hang on to that dignity. I still have a few of her sweaters and scarves and think of her when I wear them.
For the last two weeks of her life, we were aware that her life was coming to an end. There was plenty of time to prepare. She always noticed and often commented on what I was wearing. Strangely, though, I can't remember what I wore to her funeral, even though I know it would have been important to her.
It must have been my pinstriped funeral suit, probably a little boring for her taste.
This is the opinion of Carole Currie.