Ensemble
Retailer
L. Monney
1907
Black silk crepe, silk chiffon, wood
Museum purchase
Object number2007.23.1
Victorian mourning dress was supposed to symbolize grief and respect for the dead. Mourning weighed most heavily on widows, who were supposed to wear deep mourning for at least a year. Mourning clothes were made from fabrics wtih a lustreless texture such as crepe, but were not only black. During the second year of mourning, gray and violet clothes could be gradually introduced. Although Victorian etiquette books stressed that mourning dress should be "plain" and "simple," this injunction was contradicted by the fact that mourning, since it was a category of fashionable dress, was often extremely elaborate.
DescriptionSummer afternoon ensemble made in dark black for deep mourning period; two-piece dress and parasol in black silk crepe-anglaise (particular crepe for mourning) with crinkle texture, chiffon veil with crepe border on three edges; parasol with long wood stick carved and painted to resemble fabricCollections
Exhibitions