Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/09/11/fashion-designer-makes-clothes.html
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I wouldn’t be caught dead in that…
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I cannot buy you happiness, I cannot by you years;
I cannot buy you happiness, in place of all the tears.
But I can buy for you a designer dress, to lay behind your head.
Designer clothes cheer the living, dear, they’re no use to the dead.
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Meh, Judaism’s been doing all natural burial garments for centuries. All deceased are dressed in a simple linen shroud[1] with the intent that it will decompose (and that all are equal in death; everyone gets the same outfit). The coffin is also to be made as simply as possible, using only wood, and with holes in the bottom, for the same reason.
[1]Some people choose to be buried with their tallit (prayer shawl) as well but it is not required. Historically, tallit were made of wool, so they would also decompose but today, there are many made of acrylic or have fancy synthetic threads, so oh well. Either way, a lot of people choose not to be buried with their talit because they want to hand it down as a family heirloom.
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I have always planned on claiming to be an observant Jew after my death, for just this reason!
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“Her work is based on the idea that clothing people wear while they’re alive shouldn’t be the same as when they’re dead.”
Or any clothes at all; practically speaking, the dead don’t even need clothes (especially if the aim is to minimize items that are non-biodegradable). For viewing, a single thin washable reusable sheet of any material could be used to cover the body from the neck down (if desired at all by the family of the deceased), then removed before the casket is closed. Then there’s the whole “green burial” thing that goes even further.
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I think the deceased are dressed mostly for the sake of others. In Judaism, there is no viewing but there is the tradition of having a consistent “watch” over the body until it is interred (historically, so nothing happened to the body, to keep away vermin, etc. Now it’s seen as a way to honor the deceased). So it could also be seen as a favor to the watch people: it’s tough enough to be in a room with a corpse, not to say a naked corpse.
For what it’s worth, my grandfather was a German Jew of the Reform movement (so very, very secular). He was buried in a suit.
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I wonder how nudists treat the corpses of their nudist relatives/friends.
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Burial… how so 20th century. Donating organs and body to science is the way to go for the ultra frugal demised.
Just want to point out the designer, Pia Interlandi, is not 17. She’s completed a PhD, so she’s a fair bit older.
The article states she was studying fashion design at 17, not that she’s 17 now.
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Off topic nit pick: I don’t see a topic photo credit. Looks like a scene from the Blair Witch Project to me.
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