Easter Fashion

Like everything else in this world, fashion is changing. Nowhere can this fact be better illustrated than in the fallen status of the dress suit. When I entered the working world as a recently graduated college student back in 1981, a dress suit was my required uniform. Every day, Monday through Friday, I wore a suit and tie with brightly polished dress shoes. (Of course, I also shared a 10x10 office with a smoker...so there’s that.) Every once in a while when I was feeling frisky I would wear a sport coat and tie with khaki pants. But those were only allowed on the days when I wasn’t scheduled to be meeting with clients. On the weekends, the suits were given a rest. Most Sunday's, I would wear a dress shirt and tie, without the coat, except for the times whenever I was to play the guitar on the stage for someone to sing. Then, it was once again with the suit. My, how times have changed.

These days, I wear a dress shirt and tie maybe once or twice a week at the office, but never a suit. In fact, with the passage of time, there are now only three events where I still wear a suit:

1. Weddings. Yeah, I don’t feel right showing up at a wedding dressed like I just finished a round of golf. It’s hard to imagine a more transformative ritual in all of human life than the joining of a man and a woman in holy matrimony. It seems like one of the still solemn occasions left to modernity. I dress in a suit to communicate the importance of the moment.

2. Funerals.  At the other end of the solemn scale is the ritual that accompanies the passing of a human soul. To this event I never fail to not only wear a suit, but specifically a dark suit. It is a tradition probably as old as death itself, mourning being associated with black clothing. I wear a suit to funerals out of respect not only for the departed, but also for his or her family. Showing up in jeans and a t-shirt would be the very definition of disrespect.

3. Easter Sunday.  Which brings me to this morning. I showed up at Hope Church’s 8:00 am service in my blue seer sucker suit and bright orange tie. As far as I could tell I was the only man in the crowd so bedecked. It doesn’t bother me at all that I was alone in this decision. I am not nor do I ever wish to be in change of the dress code at my church. My feeling is that Easter is a celebratory occasion, the most joyous day on the entire Christian Calendar. If I can’t get dressed to the nines to commemorate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, when on Earth can I??

It always tickles me when I watch old movies and television shows from the 1950’s when every man, no matter his station in life could be seen wearing those thick wool suits with skinny ties. Old Ward Cleaver would come home from a hard day at the office in his three piece suit, then to unwind he would let his freak flag fly by peeling out of the coat and vest, replacing them with a sweater, tie still stubbornly in place. Ward would spend the entire evening this way. Heck, half the time, the dude would still be wearing the sweater and neck tie ensemble while raking the leaves!! One couldn’t help but wonder if he slept with that tie, old June in the twin bed across the way still in her ubiquitous pearls.

So, no, I have no desire to go back to those days. I generally like the less stuffy way we dress now. Far less pretentious fashion nonsense than there used to be. Still, there are some days, like Easter Sunday, when I miss the suits, and those outrageous hats the ladies used to wear back in the day. Easter was about celebrating the return of life and along with that new life, the vibrant colors of Spring plumage. It was a special day which called for special clothes. For me, It still does.

Happy Easter, everyone.