Blake Lively's Dress At State Dinner - Not Appropr... - Page 10

Pearlee · ‎06-11-2011

@scotnovel Given everything you wrote before it, your last sentenced surprised me (pleaseantly so, because I agree with your last sentence - her dress wasn't appropriate even though the "old rules" we used to dress by are gone now.

My father died in the late 1970s. To this day, I'll never forget my mom's best friend, who never liked my father much, wearing a very bright paisley print dress to his funeral - lots of bright colors in it such as orange, fuschia, turquoise, etc. That has stuck in my mind all these years as being so inappropriate. Everyone else was in black or at least something somber and dark, to indicate sadness and mourning. It was not a cheerful event. I was shocked when I saw what she was wearing and to this day - when most fashion rules are gone - still think that was very inappropriate and disrespectful to my dad and to us, his family, who was mourning him. I do appreciate her taking the time to attend his funeral, but I'm absolutely certain she had other things she could have worn. She was a very wealthy woman with a vast wardrobe.

scotnovel · ‎12-31-2013

@Pearlee wrote:
@scotnovel Given everything you wrote before it, your last sentenced surprised me (pleaseantly so, because I agree with your last sentence - her dress wasn't appropriate even though the "old rules" we used to dress by are gone now.

My father died in the late 1970s. To this day, I'll never forget my mom's best friend, who never liked my father much, wearing a very bright paisley print dress to his funeral - lots of bright colors in it such as orange, fuschia, turquoise, etc. That has stuck in my mind all these years as being so inappropriate. Everyone else was in black or at least something somber and dark, to indicate sadness and mourning. It was not a cheerful event. I was shocked when I saw what she was wearing and to this day - when most fashion rules are gone - still think that was very inappropriate and disrespectful to my dad and to us, his family, who was mourning him. I do appreciate her taking the time to attend his funeral, but I'm absolutely certain she had other things she could have worn. She was a very wealthy woman with a vast wardrobe.

You are right that what she wore, under those circumstances, was inappropriate. My point is more that we have to look at the circumstances not just go by some set of supposedly "infallible rules" that we learned 60 years ago. If I am going to a church service at a very formal church, I wouldn't go casual, but just because I wear casual to a different church doesn't mean I lack respect or that I'm lazy or being inappropriate. I wouldn't go casual to every memorial service either, but again, I would not be inappropriate by being casual at some. In my father's case, we were all casual, and not dressed in black, because that is what he requested when he outlined what he wanted for his memorial service. We have to use some judgment as to what makes sense considering the circumstances.