When a loved one passes on, we get one last opportunity to say our last goodbyes to the deceased during the funeral. Putting on the right attire for this important ceremony is key and you wouldn’t want to mess up being the odd one out. While there are a limited range of attire you could wear, can you wear a leather jacket to a funeral?
Yes, you can wear a leather jacket to a funeral. Leather jackets offers a simpler approach to a formal funeral attire. The racer leather jacket type of jacket can be worn to funerals because it’s highly versatile with minimal design.
It is however important to note that you will need to pair the jacket you would wear with what’s considered generally accepted or prescribed for the ceremony.
There are other reasons you can wear a leather jacket to a funeral and while wearing leather jackets is fantastic, there’re also a few things to keep in mind to make you not only look cool but also fit in perfectly with everyone else in such a solemn time. Keep reading to find out more!
6 Reasons Why You Can Wear a Leather Jacket To a Funeral
In addition to the above reason, here are additional reasons why you can wear a leather jacket to a funeral.
1. Leather Jackets are Versatile
The leather jacket is very versatile and can be worn with a lot of clothing items. Leather jackets perfectly match with shirts, dresses, skirts, trousers, and almost everything you might already have in your wardrobe.
When it comes to leather jackets, there’s almost no limit to what you can or cannot wear. The versatility of the leather jacket makes it ideal to be worn on various occasions and funeral service is no exception.
2. Leather Jackets are Both Formal and Casual Wear
Leather jackets reflect the perfect combination of formal and casual style. You can pair it with whatever you want to enhance your overall look.
The leather jacket can be paired with a black dress or shirt or in the case of a funeral services, the prescribed color for the funeral to make your attire appropriate for the occasion. For example, if you’re after a subtle cool classy look, you can match the leather jacket with a pair of formal dress pants and voila! you’re good to go!.
3. Leather Jackets offer Protection
Leather as a material has been used in times past by the primitive men to battle the elements of the weather and today, leather plays the same role when it comes to the elements of the environment.
The toughness leather as a material offers makes it one of the most perfect materials for clothing that help to fight the weather elements.
Depending on which part of the world you’re from, the leather jacket is an ideal escape from the windy and snowy seasons and if a funeral service falls on such days, why not throw on your leather jacket.
4. The Symbolism of Leather
Generally, leather is considered to be an item of great symbolism representing social status power, protection in many parts of the world.
Once worn as items of war in the form of armors by gladiators, leather today is now considered a must-have staple for almost every wardrobe.
Leather jackets are made from the natural hides of animals and is processed by tanning. Geenerally, the tanning process (vegetable tanning) result beautiful earthly colors mostly ranging from brown, dark brown, and black.
These colors although fantastic for your everyday occasions, are also colors usually associated with ceremonies around death.
5. When The Funeral Is Impromptu
Due to the fast paced world we live in today, there’s just isn’t a lot of time to usually plan long funerals. While many others uphold the norm, society has found very efficient ways to get through funerals quickly. This is because many families are seeing the economic importance of doing so.
This can usually causes funeral arrangements to be sometimes hurried or last minute and this doesn’t allow a lot of time for most people to plan for a suitable attire. With such prevailant situations, it’s definitely okay to swap out a regular suit for a black leather jacket, and you can even make it to a sameday funeral event.
6. When No Attire is Prescribed
When no attire is recommended for the funeral (often the case) matching a leather jacket with either a plain white or a plain black dress or shirt should be perfect. Generally, white and black attires are acceptable for funeral colors and you can never go wrong with it.
Common Expectations for Funneral Attires
While some taditional, high-profile, upper class, families and societies from parts of Africa and Asia will expect funeral attendants to put on traditional attire, for many others, there’s almost no expectations as to what to wear.
There exist some funeral ceremony practices where there’s actually a celebration of life and people will be expected to dress up in bright celebratory colours.
No matter the kind of expectations the society you live in has for funerals, it’s Important the leather jacket you adorn yourself with should be styled in such a way that you still maintain some level of decency and subtlety.
Do’s and Don’ts: Leather Jackets For Funerals
- Go for a black or dark colored jackets rather than a colored jacket for a funeral. You can never go wrong with a dark brown or black leather jacket.
- For women, wearing a leather jacket with either a black dress or skirt is pretty much all you’ll need.
- It is appropriate to wear the leather jacket with an official shirt rather than a t-shirt or hoody.
- For women, pair your leather jacket with flat shoes or short heels (preferably one or two inch heels).
- Wear a leather jacket that is a little more on the formal side. That is a plain jacket with less pockets. Although going for that super cool look by going with a bomber or biker jackets might work just fine, it will be better to go with a plain dark colored zip up or button up jacket
Conclusion
While funeral services held are a time we pay our last respect according various traditions, the rule of thumb around funeral attires is becoming more and more casual and relaxed.
This article highlighted some major reasons why wearing a leather jacket to a funeral is a great apparel alternative.
Since we live in different cultural jurisdictions, it’s prudent to add that you need to use your sense of judgment and if something doesn’t feel like it’s acceptable, trust your instincts and change it.
