# Trad Challenge: Summer Funeral Suit



## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

First, a confession. I don't like suits generally. I especially don't like worsted wool. Even the tropical variety makes me sweat in the Mississippi humidity. Currently, I don't even own a summer suit though a khaki poplin is on my list.

I far prefer odd jackets and khakis all the time, and whether this makes me more or less "trad" is really here nor there in my query here.

Here is my problem: I have several older relatives who, sadly, probably won't make it past the next few summers, and I need an appropriate summer "funeral" suit. While I want to maintain proper decorum, I also will dread wearing any suit constructed of any weight of wool. A navy or olive poplin seems too casual, though the fact that I'm even wearing a suit would make me seem more like my congressman cousin and less like my relations who are either trust-fund Howard Hughes-esque alcoholics or former strippers. My family, as you can see, is a typical Southern eclectic breed.

So, I turn to you, oh Trad Forum, to make some concrete suggestions. I have perused the J. Press and Brooks lines, and there's nothing to solve my dilemma. What options are out there for my worsted wool phobia?


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## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

Navy poplin really seems like your best bet if any sort of wool is ruled out. Linen would be too wrinkly for your purpose.

Perhaps all the funerals will be in the winter.


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## Cardinals5 (Jun 16, 2009)

Mississippi Mud said:


> more like my congressman cousin and less like my relations who are either trust-fund Howard Hughes-esque alcoholics or former strippers. My family, as you can see, is a typical Southern eclectic breed.


:icon_jokercolor:

The only thing that comes to mind is a black linen suit (maybe a 50/50 linen/cotton). You probably won't find them at the likes of BB or Press, but they do exist for just the occasions you're describing.


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## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

Hmmm... closest I can think of off the rack really would be a navy poplin suit, like the ones O'Connell's sells. Switch out the tie above for one in black silk grenadine. The hard part is that black suits with the sort of silhouette we like here aren't very popular. (If you're willing to go custom, you could probably get something made up in a black poplin, or even a black-on-black seersucker.)


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## Starch (Jun 28, 2010)

> Navy poplin really seems like your best bet


I'd agree, though I don't know that it's that great a bet, for exactly the reason the OP mentions. Poplin, in any color, seems a bit informal to me for a funeral even in a more somber color, like charcoal gray or black. Indeed, I kind of see poplin fabric as "clashing," in that sense, with charcoal gray or black, which I suppose is why you don't ordinarily see it in those colors. Plus, if the OP is trying to avoid looking like his congressman cousin, a blue suit seems particularly ill-advised (even without a flag pin).

I guess there are, as mentioned, various blends: _e.g._ silk/cotton, silk/cotton/linen or silk/linen/wool if you can bear contact with a fabric that's, say, 30% or 40% sheep-derived. These are more often used for sport coats rather than suits, but I guess there are suits out there, and maybe you could pull off a jacket-and-pants combo that would look sufficiently somber (with a white shirt and mostly-black tie) to be suitably respectful.


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## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

Seersucker, I mean, it's not like they care.


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## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

Pentheos said:


> Seersucker, I mean, it's not like they care.


For several of my relations, both alive and dead, as long as I accessorized the seersucker with a rocks glass full of spirits, they wouldn't think twice.


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## Cardinals5 (Jun 16, 2009)

Mud, here's the solution

Tain't trad, but fits the bill: Calvin Klein black seersucker suit, $200

https://www.overstock.com/Clothing-...d=123620&fp=F&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=12643133


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## Mr. Mac (Mar 14, 2008)

I can sympathize with the wool thing. I attended a funeral last summer. It was 106 in the shade and about 80% humidity. In a charcoal 100's suit it was absolute misery, pure hell. But I couldn't bring myself to wear anything but as dark a suit as possible.


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## Starch (Jun 28, 2010)

Okay ... count me among those who didn't even know there was such a thing a black seersucker (though I suppose there's no inherent reason there can't be).

So appropriate to the original poster's question it's creepy. Of course, it's creepy to begin with ... very Gomez-Adams-meets-Tennessee Williams Southern Gothic.

If the original poster won't buy one and wear it to a deep South funeral, I may have to get one and start hanging around Mississippi with an eye open for suitably mournful corteges myself.


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

"Mud, here's the solution

Tain't trad, but fits the bill: Calvin Klein black seersucker suit, $200"

Well played. Pure genius, Cardinals.


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## The Rambler (Feb 18, 2010)

Mud, I've been to a number of funerals up here in the relativly well-dressed Philadelphia area in the last few years, and around here anyway the black-suited thing seems to be over, except for morticians. People, even the main mourners, dress conservatively, by their lights, but thats about it. Perhaps it's different in your part of the country, but certainly a nice navy poplin, even by a principal, front row mourner, is more than sufficient, and with any but the wildest ties. The all cotton are the coolest and most comfy.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

^^
+1. While the idea of seersucker fabric and the color black seem totally inconsistent, I am inclined to agree with Cardinals 5 and 32rockandroll on this one!


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## Patrick06790 (Apr 10, 2005)

Navy poplin's my first choice, and a very light and partially lined grey birdseye wool is my second for the summer funeral. Depends largely on how ancient the church is.


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## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

I just have to chime in to urge you not ever to buy a black suit.


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## JakeLA (Oct 30, 2006)

Mississippi Mud said:


> Here is my problem: I have several older relatives who, sadly, probably won't make it past the next few summers, and I need an appropriate summer "funeral" suit.


Is it a tradition in your family that people only die during the summer?


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## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

JakeLA said:


> Is it a tradition in your family that people only die during the summer?


Currently, I have plenty of options for a winter burial. If I can have the foresight to keep cold beer in a county that sells none, I should at least own one summer burying suit. Scout's Motto and all, you know.


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## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

Starch said:


> Of course, it's creepy to begin with ... very Gomez-Adams-meets-Tennessee Williams Southern Gothic.
> 
> If the original poster won't buy one and wear it to a deep South funeral, I may have to get one and start hanging around Mississippi with an eye open for suitably mournful corteges myself.


Wonderful and accurate description. I'm not sure I can bring myself to buy that black suit, not only because it's black but because I would always think that I looked like Gomez Adams when I wore it.


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## Cardinals5 (Jun 16, 2009)

AlanC said:


> I just have to chime in to urge you not ever to buy a black suit.


Alan, what would you suggest for a funeral? I don't doubt Rambler's observations that black suits aren't universal anymore at funerals, but it's about the only place I would wear one (save tuxedos). Maybe just a charcoal worsted?

Secondary question for everyone - was there ever a black 3/2 sack suit? I know Brooks stopped making black suits for over a century because of Lincoln, but were there other makers that made 3/2 sack suits in black? I checked the archives and eBay, but couldn't find any examples of such a suit.


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## Centaur (Feb 2, 2010)

Mississippi Mud said:


> , I also will dread wearing any suit constructed of any weight of wool. ... What options are out there for my worsted wool phobia?


I'm slightly puzzled by your extreme aversion to wool. There are some lightweight 'tropical' weaves that allow the air to circulate and are not at all uncomfortable to wear in hot, humid weather. I had to visit Calcutta three years ago and, previously having had mixed experiences with linen suits, I had Cordings of Piccadilly make me a very attractive three-button buggy-lined lightweight summer suit in their superfine tropical cloth. I was very pleased with it - it was fine even during a spell of very sultry weather while I was in India. It was in a light check and obviously would have been inappropriate for a funeral, but a navy or charcoal would be very suitable. I had the trousers made about two inches loose about the waist, which also helped.


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## Dragoon (Apr 1, 2010)

My father in law is a mortician in Florida and I have never seen him wear a black suit.


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## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

Centaur said:


> I'm slightly puzzled by your extreme aversion to wool. There are some lightweight 'tropical' weaves that allow the air to circulate and are not at all uncomfortable to wear in hot, humid weather. I had to visit Calcutta three years ago and, previously having had mixed experiences with linen suits, I had Cordings of Piccadilly make me a very attractive three-button buggy-lined lightweight summer suit in their superfine tropical cloth. I was very pleased with it - it was fine even during a spell of very sultry weather while I was in India. It was in a light check and obviously would have been inappropriate for a funeral, but a navy or charcoal would be very suitable. I had the trousers made about two inches loose about the waist, which also helped.


I'll admit that my aversion to worsted is odd; I've just never liked the hand of it. As for its application in Mississippi for a summer funeral suit, I'll offer a story. My wife is a doctoral candidate and her cohort is primarily composed of students from India. One of them recently remarked that the heat and humidity here were worse than at home; he made that comment in early June.

Wool will be reserved hereafter for wintertime tweeds.


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## Pappa (Dec 2, 2007)

Mud---
Wear the poplin if you feel you have to wear a suit. Hell, here in Arkansas jeans and shoes are preferred but ---- some of the uppity relations from the east coast might have suits on.

Wear what feels good on ya!


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

I contend that if you are opposed to suits, you haven't been wearing the right ones.


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## 12345Michael54321 (Mar 6, 2008)

Okay, I'd wear a traditional, dark wool suit. Simply because I figure it's a funeral, and it's a sign of respect, and I'm probably not going to be outdoors all that long, anyway. I mean, a short graveside bit, then it's back to the air conditioned car, you know?

But realistically, at most of the funerals I've attended over the past few years, even in navy poplin you'd be decidedly more conservatively dressed than the majority of attendees. Heck, I was at a funeral last fall where I could have shown up in chinos, a pink OCBD, and Sperry Top-Siders, and still have been more appropriately attired than the multiple people who were wearing jeans and sneakers.

Well, I suppose the dear departed doesn't much care how anyone dresses. I'd just feel weird dressing for a funeral the same way I'd dress for a pick-up basketball game. But to each his own, and all that. Besides, it's a funeral, not a job interview; it's not like if you're dressed too casually you'll fail to be invited back for a second funeral.
-- 
Michael


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

Count me in as someone who sees nothing wrong with navy poplin. Dressed up with black shoes, dark tie, and white shirt it would probably look just as appropriate as any wool suit.


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

I've resisted diving in to this point because I think we have been had here, but:

Funerals are not about you or your comfort. They're about paying respects to the dead. In this country we do that dressed as conservatively as possible. That does not include seersucker or poplin in any color.

Buy a dark suit. God willing you'll only be uncomfortable wearing it once a year or less.

JB


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

JakeLA said:


> Is it a tradition in your family that people only die during the summer?


I was wondering this as well. Perhaps this is a scheduled death, with double indemnity fully paid...


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## Kurt N (Feb 11, 2009)

Joe Tradly said:


> I've resisted diving in to this point because I think we have been had here, but:
> 
> Funerals are not about you or your comfort. They're about paying respects to the dead. In this country we do that dressed as conservatively as possible. That does not include seersucker or poplin in any color.
> 
> ...


Joe, I wouldn't presume to dissent if there were a general consensus on this, but apparently there's room to argue that wool is not de rigeur.

On the one hand, there's a certain logic to the idea that paying respect not only is compatible with discomfort but actually requires it. Willingness to endure a hot wool suit is proof of your esteem for the deceased.

On the other hand, is that what you're advocating? Because I don't think a lot of people actually buy into that model. For most people, paying respect has to do with following prevailing customs of dress and also with being sensitive to what the deceased would have appreciated. Given those two constraints, one is not required to be uncomfortable. Thus, while "conservative" is a good starting point, one can easily imagine funerals where "as conservatively as possible" just doesn't make sense. A family short on congressmen and long on ex-strippers and rich, unkempt drunks might be a case in point (taking the OP at his word).


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## Starch (Jun 28, 2010)

Kurt N said:


> A family short on congressmen and long on ex-strippers and rich, unkempt drunks might be a case in point (taking the OP at his word).


I got the impression his family is long on congressmen, as well as trust-fund drunks and ex-strippers - which, I think, is a Southern thing. I was formerly related (by marriage) to a Southern family that included senators, congressmen, trailer-dwelling drunks, ex-cons, mainstream ministers, new-agers and born-agains, some branches of which were related to one another in mutliple ways that might be considered inconsistent elsewhere.


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## Dragoon (Apr 1, 2010)

I think context is very important. I assume that at a family funeral most everybody knows everybody else. It would seem a little disrespectful to me if the cousin who was a bank president, and wore a suit to work every day, chose to wear jeans. On the other hand; what about the nephew who is a construction worker and does not own a suit? I can't imagine anyone being upset if he showed up wearing khakis and a decent shirt.

I wore khaki pants and a navy jacket to my mother's funeral, it was the nicest thing I owned at the time.


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## Kurt N (Feb 11, 2009)

Starch said:


> I got the impression his family is long on congressmen, as well as trust-fund drunks and ex-strippers.


You may be right. I was just taking my cue from the grammatical singulars and plurals in his description.


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## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

Kurt N said:


> You may be right. I was just taking my cue from the grammatical singulars and plurals in his description.


I love where this thread has meandered. Seriously. As far as context goes, my family is sadly long on jort-clad fundamentalists, a recent development many of us lament and an effect of many curious marital choices by several cousins. While we do have a congressman, a state rep, a state party chair, and a smattering of different education professionals, we also have two public house owners, one ex-con, a couple of trust-fund addicts, and our lovable, but batshit crazy, ex-stripper. I should probably place our lone farmer in the last group. I would rather have the latter in the family than the former for they add more flavor to the batch and, well, they make for better drinking partners. Yes, it is a true Southern family.

To condense, expectations are upon me to be one of the better dressed now that I have reached impending middle age with a stable job, even though I was one of the more eccentric youths years ago.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the thread. I've decided to go with a patch pocket navy poplin, if I can find one. While it's no black seersucker, the casual nature of the patch pockets will serve as sufficient rebellion for me now while still preserving the dominant impression of conservative attire.

Edited to add: First one to post such a rig in 41/42 with a 34/32 or close in the Thrift Exchange is the winner.


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## Jovan (Mar 7, 2006)

I think you may be better off getting a grey tropical worsted suit. Don't worry about if it's trad or not. If you only own one suit...



Joe Tradly said:


> I've resisted diving in to this point because I think we have been had here, but:
> 
> Funerals are not about you or your comfort. They're about paying respects to the dead. In this country we do that dressed as conservatively as possible. That does not include seersucker or poplin in any color.
> 
> ...


I kind of agree in the sense of wearing a dark suit, but honestly wearing ANY suit nowadays is commendable.



Dragoon said:


> I think context is very important. I assume that at a family funeral most everybody knows everybody else. It would seem a little disrespectful to me if the cousin who was a bank president, and wore a suit to work every day, chose to wear jeans. On the other hand; what about the nephew who is a construction worker and does not own a suit? I can't imagine anyone being upset if he showed up wearing khakis and a decent shirt.
> 
> I wore khaki pants and a navy jacket to my mother's funeral, it was the nicest thing I owned at the time.


 At least you made made an effort. That's saying a lot more than other people.


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## rl1856 (Jun 7, 2005)

I concur with your choice of a Navy Sack Poplin. Pair it with black shoes, white shirt and a dark tie.

For what it's worth, in my part of the south a navy poplin suit is perfectly acceptable for a summer funeral. I have also seen many attendees in tan poplin and seersucker. 

Your family sounds like my wife's....politicians, morticians, dowagers, homeless, drunks, wharf rats etc; and still considered pillars of the community. Only in the South. Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner reported what they saw, then changed the names to protect the guilty.

Best,

Ross


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## eyedoc2180 (Nov 19, 2006)

Mr. Mac said:


> ..............In a charcoal 100's suit it was absolute misery, pure hell. But I couldn't bring myself to wear anything but as dark a suit as possible.


Whew. You have encapsulated my worst anticipated fears in two sentences.


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## Larsd4 (Oct 14, 2005)

It's an hour. Suck it up. Charcoal Southwick Douglas suit, super 100's. White linen pocket square, TV fold barely peeking out. Black Allen Edmonds Park Avenues. White broadcloth forward point collared shirt, barrel cuffs. Solid black four-in-hand silk tie--BB makes a nice one. Be five minutes early. Turn off your phone. Say a prayer. Approach the bereaved and say "I'm so sorry." That's it.


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## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

Larsd4 said:


> It's an hour. Suck it up. Charcoal Southwick Douglas suit, super 100's. White linen pocket square, TV fold barely peeking out. Black Allen Edmonds Park Avenues. White broadcloth forward point collared shirt, barrel cuffs. Solid black four-in-hand silk tie--BB makes a nice one. Be five minutes early. Turn off your phone. Say a prayer. Approach the bereaved and say "I'm so sorry." That's it.


Yesterday the temperature reading at the bank was 107; add to that 100% humidity. It's been like this for over three weeks with another two weeks to go. Then we will have the precipitous drop to 95 degree highes--a veritable ice age. "Suck it up" won't work just like wearing a Barracuta in Edna, MN in January won't work.

Live by this dictum: "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing."


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## Larsd4 (Oct 14, 2005)

Maybe I was a bit blunt in my "suck it up" post, but on the way to the office I passed one of those drill sergeant fitness groups, so I guess I was in the mood.

Unless Oxford, MS doesn't have air conditioning, won't the vast majority of your funeral time be spent in relative comfort? Sure, walking from car to the church will be sweltering, but you take off your coat and carry it over your shoulder. 

I do see the value of summer suits, especially in the South, but I think weddings, job interviews, and funerals demand the formality that only wool can offer. That said, if the crowd has the same style as I see here at funerals, a tie with short sleeves and no jacket would put you in the top 25% best dressed.


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## patrickjc30 (Apr 28, 2009)

Larsd4 said:


> Maybe I was a bit blunt in my "suck it up" post, but on the way to the office I passed one of those drill sergeant fitness groups, so I guess I was in the mood.
> 
> Unless Oxford, MS doesn't have air conditioning, won't the vast majority of your funeral time be spent in relative comfort? Sure, walking from car to the church will be sweltering, but you take off your coat and carry it over your shoulder.
> 
> I do see the value of summer suits, especially in the South, but I think weddings, job interviews, and funerals demand the formality that only wool can offer. That said, if the crowd has the same style as I see here at funerals, a tie with short sleeves and no jacket would put you in the top 25% best dressed.


Lots of churches don't have air conditioning. I wore navy poplin to my son's christening a few weeks ago, it was 95 in the church and I would have been dying in wool.

IMO, navy poplin with a white shirt and dark, conservative tie is fine for a summer funeral in hot weather. Who will even notice it's poplin?


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## Quay (Mar 29, 2008)

Joe Tradly said:


> I've resisted diving in to this point because I think we have been had here, but:
> 
> Funerals are not about you or your comfort. They're about paying respects to the dead. In this country we do that dressed as conservatively as possible. That does not include seersucker or poplin in any color.
> 
> ...


"Spoken like a true Protestant." -- Dr. Hannibal Lecter


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