Putting On Your Sunday Best

[Annie12]

I wear dresses to Mass in the warmer days and I wear slacks and a nice sweater in the cooler days. It always looks classy!

But sometimes For daily mass I might wear jeans (when I have to do laundry and such). I Never wear Short shorts to Mass. When I see people wearing short shorts to Mass I'm like... . I'm the conservative type...

[MissyP89]

[quote name='Annie12' timestamp='1345404349' post='2470207']
But sometimes For daily mass I might wear jeans (when I have to do laundry and such). I Never wear Short shorts to Mass. When I see people wearing short shorts to Mass I'm like... . I'm the conservative type...
[/quote]

I had to do this once when we didn't have power for 8 days. Sometimes it happens ... try to remember that you never know [i]why [/i]they're wearing what they are. Thankfully no one is turned away! God bless you.

[jazzytakara]

I usually aim to wear nice clothing to church, but sometimes said nice clothing gets dirty and their is no time to wash them. In times such as the above, I aim to ensure I am dressed appropriately, nothing revealing or offensive so to speak.

[Slappo]

[quote name='MissyP89' timestamp='1345402766' post='2470191']
Afterthought:

It's also worth noting that I try to tailor my dress to what the cultural norm is at that parish.

For example, my friend lives in a very affluent area and attends a very conservative parish. Many of the women there wear dresses, and maybe six people in the whole church will have jeans on. In that situation, I go digging in the back of my closet for something super elegant. If I don't do that, then I'll stick out.

At my home parish, mostly everyone dresses nicely (blouses and polos), and there's an even mix of jeans and dress pantaloons. No one looks at me twice if I wear jeans. However, when I'm doing music ministry, I'll make sure to wear an outfit that's more formal.
[/quote]

This. When I was in the mid-west I almost always wore shirt and tie, now it's polo and nice jeans typically. I won't do ratty jeans or a t-shirt or sweatshirt..., but if I wore shirt and tie in my city I'd get looked at funny.

[carmenchristi]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1345397000' post='2470162']
In case anyone wants to know, this week I'm feeling rather whimsical, so to Mass today I am wearing the legendary Raritie!

[img]http://cache0.bigcartel.com/product_images/67294117/300.jpg[/img]

You wouldn't call it a great quality tie, but for a novelty tie it's entirely acceptable. A little bit thin for my tastes, but with my suit jacket buttoned that becomes less noticeable. It doesn't have quite as much body as my better ties, so a full Windsor looks a bit silly, but I've found that a half Windsor looks pretty much like a four-in-hand on a better quality tie. That reminds me that I need to learn the Shelby knot for comparison, because that could be interesting.
I've got an ivory tie clip too. It's rather small so I usually opt for my shiny chrome-ish one that's significantly longer, but on a small tie like this, and in these colours, this ivory clip is just perfect.
[/quote]

Wow! That was a really in-depth explanation! I like the tie though

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='carmenchristi' timestamp='1345497133' post='2470791']
Wow! That was a really in-depth explanation! I like the tie though
[/quote]

I like ties. ^_^

[Ice_nine]

look at my avatar.




But seriously, I don't dress up. I wore a dress yesterday because I was coming back from a baby shower and didn't have time to change because I wasn't in control of transportation, and that felt weird. I typically wear the best clothes I have, which I'm sure to other people looks like poo, but oh well. When going to Mass I don't choose my dress according to the capricious fashion dictates of the people there, although they might judge me idrc. In antiquity (and perhaps poorer places in the world today) I'm sure the dress was mostly homogenous and didn't have to deal with all the anxiety that comes with the myriad of choices and ever-changing social rules for what fashion is considered appropriate for the given time and occasion.

And I hate when people say "but you dress up for x, y, and z but not for mass?!?!" because I have an aversion to dressing up for anything, but acquiesce on account of people's hyper-sensitivity to appearances and such (weddings, funerals etc).

At my funeral, wear whatever the hell makes you feel dandy.

[add]

[quote name='Ice_nine' timestamp='1345499461' post='2470823']
At my funeral, wear whatever the hell makes you feel dandy.
[/quote]
I will wear something nice for you, if you will for me

[tinytherese]

What really needs to happen is dressing modestly (as in not wearing revealing clothing) at mass.

[Nihil Obstat]

My priest mentioned before his homily today the standards of modesty that he expects for Mass. I was very impressed; he's the only priest I've heard personally who's willing to address such subjects. He's a very good priest; I'm extremely lucky to have him available to me.

[Slappo]

If I attended an EF mass weekly, even in the same city I am in now, I'd wear at least button shirt and slacks. Something about the EF makes me feel under dressed in a polo. Maybe it's because the fiddleback vestments are shinier?

[Winchester]

I have hardly any slacks. I have two pair of blue jeans. Hardly any button up shirts. Don't own a suit, don't intend to buy one.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Winchester' timestamp='1345581277' post='2471395']
I have hardly any slacks. I have two pair of blue jeans. Hardly any button up shirts. Don't own a suit, don't intend to buy one.
[/quote]

It's ok. Firefighting gear is widely considered to be somewhere in between black tie and white tie.

[homeschoolmom]

My *nicest* outfit is my wedding dress, and it does not fit anymore (thanks, kids!). I often wear skirts in my everyday life, and I just wear one of those to Mass-- so basically, it's my everyday-out-of-the-house wear.

[add]

am i the only one who has sunday clothes?
it feels good to dress up for mass, as my everyday work clothes get perty grubby by the end of the day.

[emmaberry]

Yes, I have 'Sunday best' dresses for Mass. As I began discerning and attending daily Masses, I began to make my whole wardrobe into a 'ready to wear to Mass' wardrobe so that I did not have to go home and change because I was wearing something inappropriate right before Mass. Goodwill is a lifesaver for modest wardrobe changes!

I think a lot of people forget that blue jeans or pantaloons can be dressed up, especially if they are a dark wash or black. One very well dressed (often formal) woman at my parish attends Mass every day and often wears white trousers that she dresses up, and it comes off looking more formal than the day dresses that I wear!

A dress can be somewhat informal, while pantaloons can also be formal. It depends on the whole outfit-although this may just be a Texas thing?

Edited August 23, 2012 by emmaberry

[Papist]

I try to be as clean and neat as possible. I desire to dress as formal as possible... that my wardrobe allows. That means suit/jacket and tie. Sometimes I forget the tie. When attending mass when traveling, I try my best to pack such clothes for mass. I own suits, jackets and ties, and I can't come up with reason not to wear them to mass, when possible.

[NonNovi]

I go to Mass in my daily wear, i.e. shirt (with buttons), trousers and leather shoes. In the summer (on the rare moments it's really too hot to wear something else) I just make sure not to go in shorts and t-shirt and will change before Mass. For special occasions such as high feasts, weddings and funerals I wear a suit. But it doesn't really matter because in church I wear my cassock and surplice

[Adrestia]

I used to be concerned with my attire for mass. Many years ago, during a crazy hot summer, I was running errands in the middle of the day. One of my stops was at the parish Religious Ed office. I happened to arrive about 10 minutes before a daily mass. The secretary suggested that I attend mass, but I was hesitant because I had on a tank top and shorts. She made fun of me for being concerned with my clothing. Though I felt uncomfortable, I went to mass. The look on my pastor's face was all I needed to get over myself. He was so happy to see me.

[Socrates]

At the FSSP parish I attend, there is a dress code of slacks and a shirt with a collar, preferably with a jacket and tie, for men, and for women a modest dress or skirt/blouse. No jeans, sneakers, or t-shirts.

I think those are reasonable guidelines to follow for Sunday Mass attendance.
Back in our grandparents' day, wearing one's "Sunday best" to church was standard practice among both Catholics and protestants, even in the poorest communities.

I think the whole decline standards of dress for mass reflects how there's been a general loss of reverence and sense of "giving one's best for God," and is paralleled by a decline in standards of dignity in church music, architecture, etc.

I think people should try to "dress up" for Sunday mass as much as reasonably possible, but this need not mean dressing expensively or ostentatiously.
Wearing "nice" clothes, such as ties and such, is an outward sign of inward reverence and respect for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass one is attending, just as kneeling is an outward sign of reverence and respect, as opposed to lounging or slouching around.
If people are dressed excessively casually for mass, this does not send the message to our neighbor that we regard the Mass as being anything particularly important.

I think the common arguments about "humility" and cost of clothing are largely bogus. At the very least, you can get decent enough dress clothes for dirt cheap at a thrift store. And I'm sure people could buy decent dress clothes for less than they spend on the designer tees, jeans, and fancy sneakers they wear to mass. Where I used to live was near a black church, where all the men would wear suits and ties, and all the ladies would wear dresses, and I don't think many of those church-goers were members of the yacht club.

I actually think it might show a little more humility to take the trouble to dress up a little and wear clothes you might not feel as comfortable in, or think are as "razzle dazzle," than to take the attitude of "screw dress code, I'll wear whatever the heck I want to mass."
I somehow doubt that today's jeans-and-tees mass goers really have that much more true humility than their more well-dressed ancestors.

This post isn't intended to pass judgement on any person, but merely to point out I think a return to higher standards of dress for mass attendance would be a good thing.