How To Dress For A Religious Occasion and Still Look Stylish

Searching for ideas on what to wear to a religious occasion or ceremony? Then you are in the right place as we will share excellent outfit ideas that would inspire you on how to dress decent and still look stylish!

As much as you love your sneakers, graphic print t-shirts and ripped jeans – when it’s time to attend to a religious ceremony, I’ll like to suggest you keep aside and reserve these outfit types for strictly casual occasions.  – unless your church is Rockstar Ministries Intl and the dress code is “come as you are”.

Contrary to popular opinion, there’s nothing wrong in trying to look exquisite or stylish when attending religious occasions.

For most religious institutions, the appropriate dressing style for the occasion is simple, decent, and modest fashion. This simply means – every worshipper would have to make sure that what they are wearing is not going to distract fellow worshippers. This also means avoiding any clothing style that exposes an unnecessary amount of skin.

While modesty is the motto of most religious institutions, there are ways in which modest fashion can be super stylish. Even though clothes like shorts and ripped jeans wouldn’t be making it to this list, there are still other stylish looks you could try out.

Here is our style guide on how to stylishly dress for a religious occasion and still look stylish!

Enjoy!

HOW TO DRESS FOR A RELIGIOUS OCCASION AND STILL LOOK STYLISH | 3 STYLE OPTIONS

1. Business Casual

You can never go wrong wearing a business casual outfit for a religious occasion especially a Christian religious institution for e.g. to a church service.

For a business casual look, you should opt for a Sportcoat or Blazer jacket, coupled with a light colored shirt and dress pants or chinos, khaki, and jeans.

Add a pair of Oxford, Derby or Chelsea boots, finish the look with a nice wristwatch or tie if you want.

2. Native Attire

Native attire is a very common outfit type perfect for a religious occasion, especially in Nigeria and other West African countries. For a native attire, whether it’s your Agbada, Dashiki, Senator Style, Niger-Delta traditional attire or a simple Ankara/African Print style, it should be sewn to fit you properly without being too tight or too loosely fitted.

A good stylist, tailor or an image consultant can help you with this. By the way, it’s one of the services we offer at KOBI KOACHMAN FASHION.

3. Business Wear

For some people, this could be a little bit too much for some place of worship as it is considered business formal and appropriate for a work place. However, you won’t be found guilty of any fashion sin if you decide to wear this, just follow our rule book below.

When going for this look stick to dark colors. Wear a dark, solid colored or pinstriped suit, pair it with a white dress shirt, a conservative tie, and black leather Oxfords. You can also mix and match a three-piece suit look and add accessories to elevate the look.

dress for a religious occasion

10 STYLE TIPS ON HOW TO DRESS FOR A RELIGIOUS OCCASION

1. It is advisable to choose your best clothes and make sure they are clean and neatly pressed. While standards on clothing for religious events have become more lax over time, it is still expected that you dress in your best Sunday wear.

2. Avoid drawing too much attention to yourself by wearing inappropriate clothes that would stand out in a bad way. Clothes such as deep V-neck T-shirts, Shirts With Hood Ripped Holes, Yeezy clothing etc.

3. Wear a neatly pressed suit and tie or a button-down shirt and dress pants that are free of stains or wrinkles and remember to tuck it into your pants.

4. Wear wrinkle-free slacks. Black dress pants are the best option if you’d like to keep it simple when attending a worship service. If you don’t have a pair, you can wear clean and wrinkle-free casual slacks or khakis as an alternative.

5. Shorts are a no, no for a religious worship service. Even if it is summer time, you should refrain from wearing shorts as they are really ultra casual wears which doesn’t match with the formality of the religious occasion.

Read: Men’s Short Style Inspiration

6. Jeans are too casual for Sunday morning service except you plan to dress up the look (by introducing a blazer, sports coat or an appropriate suit jacket and layering it with a classy Turtleneck top). And we must warn you – if you do wear jeans, do not wear the “crazy” ones.

7. Remember to wear a black or brown belt with your pants, at least when not pairing your pants with a sportscoat or blazer. Ensure they complement your outfit perfectly, we know you are fashion forward – but we don’t want you looking like a Clown wearing a green shoe and a red native attire!

8. Wear leather loafers, dress loafers, oxfords, or slip on dress shoes.  These are appropriate shoe style options for you.

Ensure they complement your outfit perfectly, we know you are fashion forward – but we don’t want you looking like a Clown wearing a green shoe and a red native attire!

9. Avoid wearing white socks because they don’t match with many outfits and can be tacky. Leave white socks for the gym.

10. Be aware of specific traditions and customs in certain faiths:

We know we’ve said that the hat is certainly a striking addition to every stylish gentleman’s gait –a statement piece which makes a great impression. However, wearing a wearing a hat in some place of worships is a sign of disrespect. So find out before you do. For Christians, they have a Bible verse that speaks against it, so if it doesn’t apply to your religion, by all means do wear it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There you have it, how to dress for a religious occasion and still look stylish.

Some may say religious ceremonies are as a modest occasion, that doesn’t necessitate dressing exceptionally well. But truth be told – I’m sure God wouldn’t mind if you dress to express or to impress (as the case may be), as long as you keep your dressing decent. So your watchword could be “keep it simple but sophisticated”.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Now you know what to wear for religious events.

Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Lastly, if you have any style questions ASK MRKOACHMAN!

Until next time gentlemen – Stay Stylish!

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KOBI KOACHMAN

My name is Kobi O. Mbagwu, a professional image consultant, menswear expert, and entrepreneur who uses fashion to change people’s lives. My personal goal is to help gentlemen dress better, live well, do well and develop a unique personal style that matches their lifestyle and goals. I believe that success can be built through style. I believe that fashion is a tool that can be used to change people’s lives positively. I strongly believe that if you dress well, you look good, and if you look good, you feel good and when you feel good, you worry less, and the less you worry the more you are able to stay motivated and focused on your goals pursuit and by so doing you are able to live a more fulfilling and successful life.

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