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White clothing in dreams: what it can mean

  • Change
  • New beginnings
  • Loss and grief

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The short answer

White clothing can suggest a wedding, a new start, purity, a hospital or a funeral, depending on the culture and the dreamer. Seeing someone dressed in white does not predict anything about them.

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Three ways to read it

Psychology and research

Research

On the continuity view, colours and clothing in dreams draw on the dreamer's own associations and culture. White means celebration in one family and mourning in another. Dreams of a person who has died are commonly reported by bereaved people, and many find them comforting. The feeling in the dream is the best guide.

Classic texts

History

Artemidorus read clothing by who wore it and when. White garments suited festivals and public occasions, but he noted that for someone who was ill they carried a darker meaning, because in his world the dead were laid out in white. It shows how the same colour could mean opposite things in one culture.

Questions to ask yourself

  1. What does white mean to you and your family: celebration, mourning, a fresh start?
  2. Who was wearing white, and how did you feel seeing them?
  3. Is there a new beginning or an ending you are standing close to?

Related symbols

Sources

Every reading on this page comes from these works. Page references have not all been checked yet; those still waiting are marked.

  1. G. William Domhoff (2001). A New Neurocognitive Theory of Dreams. Dreaming 11(1): 13-33.

    cited, not reproduced

    • Cited at: pp. 13-33 (dreams as simulations of personal concerns) (reference not yet checked)

    Dreams as embodied simulations of personal concerns (the continuity view). The backbone of our psychology lens.

  2. Scott T. Wright, Christopher W. Kerr, Nicole M. Doroszczuk, Sarah M. Kuszczak, Pei C. Hang, Debra L. Luczkiewicz (2014). The impact of dreams of the deceased on bereavement: A survey of hospice caregivers. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine 31(2): 132-138.

    cited, not reproduced

    • Cited at: pp. 132-138 (reference not yet checked)

    Bereaved caregivers describe dreams of the person who died; many found them comforting. Author list and pages to be checked.

  3. Artemidorus of Daldis (1644). The Interpretation of Dreams (Oneirocritica), in five books, translated by Robert Wood. London.

    first published 2nd century CE

    public domain

    • Cited at: Book II, on clothing and colours (reference not yet checked)

    Greek dream manual from the Roman era. We paraphrase the public-domain Wood translation (1644). Modern translations (White 1975, Harris-McCoy 2012, Hammond 2020) are copyrighted and only cited.