Hey Y'all,
I attended the Century of Mourning Attire exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum's Anna Wintour Costume Center. The pieces ranged between 1815-1915. It was interesting to see the progression of fabrics accepted by society as the years passed.
You were expected to follow the rules of etiquette when mourning for a loved one. They even provided catalogs on the subject; explaining what dress to buy, the length, how long to wear the garment for, how to conduct yourself in public (or I should say how long you should seclude yourself from public life, etc). This was especially true for women. When traveling you were expected to bring your mourning outfits with you in case someone passed away on the trip. Having such a tragedy occur and not having the right attire would be a huge sign of disrespect.
As we all know the color for mourning is black. Eventually the longer you mourned the lighter the color your ensembles would become.
This both encouraged sympathy from the public and allowed gentlemen to know when you were publicly available again. This was extremely important for everyone to know because a sexually experienced woman without marital constraints was considered a potential threat to society's order (
courtesy the MET).
Women were required to wear this crape (a hard scratchy material) veil over their faces. It was difficult to dye clothing to black and the material used for this crape would irritate the eyes and sometimes cause blindness. Gentlemen didn't have to suffer such risks; they just needed to wear a dark suit.
It must be noted that regardless of what purpose these pieces served, your wealth was still present in determining your social class (Funny, even in a death you are still labeled).
As years passed these outfits became more modern: laces were introduced, different color embroidery on dresses, silks and satin were added.
It's interesting how these dresses have changed and how society still makes me poor!
