Recommendations for an elegant black dress to wear to my partner's funeral

[Barney16]

I am very recently bereaved. To distract myself, and I know it's a distraction, I have started to plan my partner's funeral. I want it to be beautiful (I know I'm overthinking it because I'm so so sad) I want to buy a new dress that is both classical and beautiful. Black, elegant, dignified. I'm a UK 8, blonde hair, no discernable chest. There's no budget limit because we were going to get married next year and obviously that's not happening. I'm in my early sixties. And five foot six. I would be grateful for any suggestions.

https://knatchbull.com/collections/knatchbull-dresses/products/boat-neck-dress-in-boucle?variant=57519560425846

I love this
the club L is a bit extra, but kind of drawn to it

I am sorry for your loss. I think the Ralph Lauren dress is beautiful.

I am so terribly sorry for your loss.

https://www.roman.co.uk/chiffon-pleat-neck-midi-dress-14726408?gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=17428120031&gbraid=0AAAAACsLkkJhxrhENypj353JRNHpm3EDV&gclid=CjwKCAjwl97RBhBWEiwAa9rbXaw1i-B-_SowUKvNrqKZis3z3vovl2W2f-bjJnKsK7ubO4M5DP8jmxoC-WMQAvD_BwE

Sorry for your loss. Sending love 💐 I love the All Saints dress

Hey OP. I’m sorry for your loss.

For my husbands funeral I wore a floor length tulle black skirt (it was his favourite, and Very Fancy - Christian Dior), I wore a black high neck body suit and heeled (also Dior) black sling backs.
I wore my hair slicked back just how he liked it, with possibly every piece of jewellery he ever bought me 😅 and I can tell you I floated around his funeral. I felt beautiful and strong and I know it would’ve been exactly what he wanted.

My outfit was part of the reason I felt so strong that day laying my amazing husband to rest so please don’t think of it as just a distraction - it’s a tool you can use and you’re going to need a whole toolbox of them over the coming years.

Take care

I agree with sentimental jewellery and a simple dress.
For DM’s funeral I wore a cap-sleeved below the knee LBD with the necklace she gave me for my 13th birthday. Plus a diamanté brooch she regularly lent me. I asked DSis in advance if I could wear it on the day and she told me to keep it. A sweet moment between sisters.

I am very sorry for your loss. I wore a The Row fine wool crepe sheath dress for my parents’ funerals. It was perfect in its simplicity. It sounds like you are after something similar.

(Why has the link photo on my first post been replaced by one from Roman?? Somewhere I’ve never shopped in my life.)

Saw a couple on Boden the other day.

https://www.boden.com/products/women-puff-sleeve-ponte-shirt-dress-black-d1733blk?_pos=3&_fid=b4ccd167c&_ss=c
https://www.boden.com/products/women-bridget-ponte-short-dress-black-d1645blk?_pos=11&_fid=b4ccd167c&_ss=c

And this

https://www.boden.com/products/women-bridget-ponte-short-dress-black-d1645blk?_pos=11&_fid=b4ccd167c&_ss=c

I’m so sorry for your loss. The All Saints one looks gorgeous.

I’m sorry you have to go through this OP.
You've had some fabulous suggestions already. My tip is to consider getting your eyelashes tinted for the day so you don’t have to worry about smudging mascara. That’s what I did for my DHs funeral

Even for Style and Beauty this thread has taken me aback.

In what sense, @AnonymityAnonymity? (Presumably you’re keen to be asked that?)

I can remember when I lost my mum. My next door neighbour knocked with a tube of waterproof Lancôme mascara be said trust me, you will need it.
I have never forgotten it. I have since done the same and that person has - all fresh tubes by the way.
My mum did have some time when she was very poorly when she was very lucid and I can remember her ringing John Lewis as she had seen a dress for me in Grazia. I heard her on the phone explaining she had an account, she was on her deathbed, could you do an overnight delivery to the hospice as I want to see it before it goes on her?
I think what you wear can have huge significance and I still have that dress although it’s so tiny now.
Woken come together at times like this with all sorts of support which is so much needed.

It was a comment purely driven by incredulity and actual sadness.

I rarely wear dresses so I'd struggle to find you any links but I just wanted to say firstly that I'm so sorry for your loss op, and secondly that I totally get what you're doing.

For my mum's funeral I didn't buy anything new but I wore a (purple) dress she'd always liked. I assume you've already thought of that but, if you can't find a dress that's perfect enough (although there are some lovely suggestions here) then there's always that option.

My first instinct for the funeral earlier this year was to wear an outfit the deceased person had seen me in often, and liked. In the end the main reason I didn’t was that I’d put on too much weight! So I wore a dress I’d chosen and bought a few months earlier, just in case.

I've gone shopping with a friend for a funeral outfit for a close relative. It was partly a distraction and partly because she saw the funeral as the last thing she would do for him and she wanted everything to be perfect.

Sending you hugs Op.

For a dear colleagues' funeral, we sent a great many bunches of sweet peas to gently perfume the tiny church - are there favourite flowers you would have used at your wedding @Barney16, that you could have everywhere? Or maybe just one special bunch for you at home, if that feels more comforting?

I am so sorry for your loss, and I hope planning the funeral brings you comfort.

https://www.beulahlondon.com/products/yahvi-black-dress?_pos=4&_fid=f21cf4f68&_ss=c

I am really sorry for your loss OP and to the others here in the same place. Thank you for starting this thread. I am sitting by my husband’s bed in hospice and looking at the same thing, because it feels a distraction and I am not sure I could face it afterwards.

I am looking for something very similar but am in my 40s (not sure that matters) and uk size 4, which limits options. I was looking at this but it is v neck and definitely don’t want something that might gape. https://www.nobodyschild.com/products/lina-midi-dress-2614596003?cjdata=MXxZfDB8WXww&variant=55105316159873&cjevent=2d21be566e2711f1805204a00a18ba72&utm_source=CJ&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Genie+Shopping+CSS&loyaltysignal=0

the links on this thread are really helpful thanks everyone

Those can be lonely hours, so let us give you some style and beauty company. Sorry to hear about what is happening.