Is it OK to use the preposition "in" after "donned"

[Aamir Tariq]

It is already clear to me that saying
"He donned his leather jacket" means He wore/put on his weather jacket.

(My first question) Is it ok to say
"He was donning a long gown" to mean "He was wearing a long gown".

(My second question)
Is it fine to use the preposition "in" after the word "donned" the way I've used them in my examples below. Like we do use "clad in" to mean "wearing" or "dressed up in". Would "donned in" be fine in my following examples?


"He was donned in a long gown"?
"He was donned in his best clothes."

Would that be natural and grammatically ok?

Note: I do understand if somebody is dressed up, it doesn't simply mean wearing something but it means somebody is wearing formal clothes for a special occasion.

Regards
Aamir the Global Citizen

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: Is it ok to use the preposition "in" after "donned"

No, "to don" only means "to put on", not "to wear". It refers specifically to the action of placing the piece of clothing on your body. After you don something, you're wearing it.

He donned his shirt, then his jacket, then his trousers, then his tie. Once he had done that, he was wearing a suit.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

Re: Is it ok to use the preposition "in" after "donned"

No, "to don" only means "to put on", not "to wear". It refers specifically to the action of placing the piece of clothing on your body. After you don something, you're wearing it.

He donned his shirt, then his jacket, then his trousers, then his tie. Once he had done that, he was wearing a suit.

So it means both my examples in the first and second questions were wrong and made no sense.

"He was donning a long gown" and "He was donned in his best clothes."

Also let me know if "clad in" and "garbed in" means wearing unlike don.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: Is it ok to use the preposition "in" after "donned"

"He was donning a long gown" is OK because it uses "don" in the simple past continuous and indicates that he was in the process of adding the long gown to his body.
"He was donned in ..." is always wrong.

Both "clad in" and "garbed in" mean "wearing" but neither one is commonly used. You'll hear "clad" in things like "The black-clad woman walked ...". "Garbed in", to me, sounds like something from an ancient text.

 

[SoothingDave]

Re: Is it ok to use the preposition "in" after "donned"

Outside of one Christmas carol, "don" isn't commonly used at all.

I saw it once on a piece of safety gear, because the instructions needed to be brief and to the point. It was a 5-minute supply of breathable air, for escaping in the event of a gas leak.

"Lift flap. Don mask. Open valve."

Not a situation where you want wordy instructions.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Re: Is it ok to use the preposition "in" after "donned"

Try:

- That's a picture of her in the gown she donned in 1999, when she graduated.
- Spacesuits are donned in the space station because putting them on outside would be fatal.
- I've never seen cocktail dresses donned in the Manchester United locker room.