Elegant Garments for A Green Burial

Pia Interlandi is a fashion designer who has chosen to rethink the design of clothing for the dead. Her garments are specifically designed for green burial occasions. A new movement many are unaware of, green burial, also know as natural burial, is actually the ancient practice of placing a loved one in a grave without any grave lining or embalming, where the body is simply wrapped in a biodegradable shroud or natural funeral clothing. A green burial cemetery, at its purest, is one that has no grave stones or obvious plots. It remains in its beautiful naturalized landscape. A GPS chip is buried with the body, and the family becomes intimate with nature to visually learn the location of the completely naturalized grave.

Currently based in London, Ms. Interlandi studied both biology and design under Japanese instructor Yoshoki Hishinuma. She investigated the decomposition of clothing and textiles along with a forensics team as a project while at SymbioticA in Perth.  Pia Interlandi approaches her garment designs for green burials with the use of natural biodegradable materials that decompose along with the body.

Ms. Interlandi is available for commissions of her funeral clothing designs. Some of her designs hark back to the Victorian days in a very elegant, structured manner, while others have a contemporary minimalist approach.

For more information about green burial, here are some other posts that might be of interest:

• Visit our specially curated section on “Cremation and Burial Products” to see other beautiful burial clothing designs.
• To see more designs of Pia Interlandi’s funeral clothes, check out our former post here.
• To learn more about natural burial, visit our section “Choosing Green or Natural Burial.”
• You may also be interested in learning about home funeral, an age-old practice of having the body of your loved one at home for a funeral. Read our interview with Jerrigrace Lyons who helped bring the practice back into our modern day.