Other Colours are available

About 8 months ago before I started delivering funerals, but was about to, I bought a beautiful skirt in a sale – it had landscape, sky, clouds and plants on it- I thought it looked like an embroidered painting – and I thought ‘that will be perfect for a nature lovers funeral’. It’s about to get its first outing.  The dress for the vast majority of funerals is still traditional – maybe that’s because I’m in a rural area? Most days I wear navy or black – I judge it according to the family. I always want to fit with them and what  they want.  A year ago I didn’t own a jacket, now I have a rack of them (all courtesy of second hand and charity shops).

In November I went into a clothes agency looking for a sombre jacket – came out with an irresistible but unjustifiable (or so I thought) red velvet  vintage Marks and Spencers  number (actually the label says St Michael, so that dates it). I adored it and it did get an outing at a funeral for a life long socialist (dress code wear red).

I had to sos my sister to post me a leopard print cardigan recently as all charity shops are closed during lockdown and the whole family wanted people to wear  leopard print, in the preferred style of the deceased.  

Yesterday the family wore jeans as their 95 year old mum and gran always wore them. It wasn’t classic funeral attire, but it was respectful, it respected, remembered  and validated the woman they were saying good bye to.

Next week I have a funeral with the dress code  ‘colour with white rose button hole’ – so looks like the red jacket wasn’t such a bad investment after all!