Mourning Costumes In The 19Th Century Essays - Death Customs

Mourning Costumes In The 19Th Century Mourning Costume in the 19th Century The costume associated with mourning is vastly different in different cultures, but the meaning of mourning dress is relatively similar worldwide: to express respect for the dead, and to keep one's own appearance from distracting from the ceremonies surrounding death. In most of the western world, the color that dominates most mourners' wardrobes is black, while the style and cut of mourning clothes is relatively unaffected by their purpose. Especially in the 19th century, ceremonial dress retained its complexity and stylishness whether it was made of colorful prints or solids, for church wear, or the somber black of the grave-side. Women's mourning clothes in particular bore little dissimilarity to their other modest formalwear, apart from the required black hue and a predominance of veils. Among the lower classes, who could not afford to make an entirely new dress for use at only one occasion, it was customary to dye one's best dress or waistcoat black, particularly if the deceased was a close relative (Masson and Reveley, 1988). In large, well-to-do families, it was often the case that the servants were given mourning clothes, hats, and veils, which were used throughout the lengthy period of high mourning, lasting from one to twelve months. During that time, the widow was expected to adhere to a stringent set of rules governing what she could wear, and when she was permitted to gradually ease back into normal clothing. These rules were very specific concerning jewelry and cloth; the only things a widow in late 19th century Paris was supposed to wear for the first four and a half months after her husband's death were black wool dresses, a hood and veil, black linen gloves and a bronze belt-buckle, if necessary (Perrot, 1990). A wealthy widow was expected to purchase an entirely new wardrobe constructed mostly out of black wool and crepe, heavy fabrics that added their depressing weight to the effect of the already somber hue. Mourning fashions were chronicled in Harper's Bazaar, with the sense that the dictates of fashion should override one's true feelings about the deceased as well as concern for one's own health: A deep veil is worn at the back of the bonnet, but not over the head or face like the widow's veil, which covers the entire person when down. This fashion is very much objected to by doctors, who think many diseases of the eye come by this means, and advise for common use thin nuns' veiling instead of crape, which sheds its pernicious dye into the sensitive nostrils, producing catarrhal disease as well as blindness and cataract of the eye. It is a thousand pities that fashion dictates the crape veil, but so it is. It is the very banner of woe, and no one has the courage to go without it. We can only suggest to mourners wearing it that they should pin a small veil of black tulle over the eyes and nose, and throw back the heavy crape as often as possible, for health's sake. (Harper's Bazaar, 1886, emphasis added) The origin of the increase in the popularity of mourning in the 19th century stem from two sources: the romanticism surrounding death in the literature of the period, and Queen Victoria's forty-year mourning for her late husband, Prince Albert (Chicago Historical Society, 1998). Gothic novels like Wuthering Heights and the works of Edgar Allen Poe harped on death's sentimental aspect, and the importance of the status quo made the loss of a member of society much more shocking and traumatic than today. Queen Victoria's mourning, which began in 1861, set a precedent for British and American widows, and associated mourning with virtue and piety, which had again become popular under her reign. The American Civil War, which followed hard upon Prince Albert's death, was the occasion for many women to put these principles and trends into practice. The veil is, after the traditional black color, perhaps the most recognizable habit of mourning in the 19th century. The widow's veil was completely opaque to observers, and as in the above quote, covers the body from head to foot. As such, it is reminiscent of the traditional Muslim hijab, which