The Victorian Era

Why Was Mourning Fashion So Elaborate

Article · Society & Daily Life · The Victorian Era, 1837–1901

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Mourning fashion was so elaborate in the Victorian period because death and bereavement were central to the Victorian experience, because the elaborate mourning dress served a long series of social, religious, psychological, and economic functions, and because the Who were the Victorian upper class? of the period used the elaborate mourning dress as a means of displaying their wealth, their status, their piety, and their emotional depth. The Victorian period saw a high death rate, a low average life expectancy, a high rate of infant mortality, a high rate of child mortality, and a high rate of maternal mortality, and the experience of death was a central feature of the Victorian Family and the Home, of the Victorian Daily Life and Society, of the Victorian Religion, of the Victorian Literature, Theatre, and the Written Word, of the Victorian Architecture and Interior Design, and of the Victorian Fashion and Dress of the period.

The Queen’s Long Mourning

The single most important fact about Victorian mourning fashion is that Queen Victoria set the standard. The Prince Consort Albert died of typhoid fever on 14 December 1861 at Windsor Castle, and the Queen went into what was to be the longest mourning in British history. For the remaining thirty-nine years of her life, until her own death on 22 January 1901, the Queen wore nothing but black, and her dress was always of the deepest crape, the dullest bombazine, or the heaviest paramatta. The Queen became known as the “Widow of Windsor,” and her example was followed by the upper class, the middle class, and the working class of the period. The Queen’s example gave the long mourning a particular Victorian character, and the elaborate mourning was one of the great social institutions of the period.

The trade in mourning goods expanded rapidly in the 1860s and 1870s. Jay’s Mourning Warehouse in Regent Street, London, founded in 1841 by Mrs Jay, was the most famous of the new firms; the House of Worth in Paris, founded by Charles Frederick Worth in 1858, was the leading fashion house for mourning dress; the House of Creed in London, founded by Henry Creed in 1760, was the leading tailor for mourning dress for men; the firm of Jay’s Mourning Warehouse, the firm of Truefitt’s, the firm of W. & J. Sloane, and the firm of Liberty & Co. were the leading retail firms of the period. The trade employed thousands of crape weavers, dressmakers, haberdashers, bonnet makers, jet workers, and silk weavers, and the mourning trade was one of the great new industries of the period.

The Stages of Mourning

The mourning dress of the Victorian period was strictly regulated by the etiquette of the period, and the dress was divided into a number of different stages, each with its own materials, its own colours, its own accessories, and its own duration. The first stage of mourning, the deep mourning, was the strictest and most rigorous stage, and it was the stage of mourning that was worn immediately after the death of the relative. The deep mourning required the wearing of black, of crape, of bombazine, of paramatta, of merino, of cashmere, and of other dull, matte, and heavy materials; it forbade the wearing of any ornament, of any jewellery other than jet, of any colour other than black, and of any material with a sheen or a lustre. The deep mourning typically lasted for a period of one year and one day for a widow, of six months for a widower, of six months for a parent for a child, of three months for a child for a parent, of three months for a sibling for a sibling, and of various other periods for other relatives.

The second stage of mourning, the second mourning, was less strict, and the second mourning typically allowed a wider range of black materials, with the introduction of grey, of white, of purple, of lilac, of violet, and of other half-mourning colours. The second mourning typically lasted for a further period of three months for a widow, of three months for a widower, of three months for a parent for a child, of three months for a child for a parent, of three months for a sibling for a sibling, and of various other periods for other relatives.

The third stage of mourning, the half-mourning, was the least strict, and the half-mourning typically allowed a still wider range of colours, with the introduction of grey, of white, of purple, of lilac, of violet, of lavender, of mauve, of pink, of blue, of green, of yellow, of orange, of red, and of brown half-mourning colours. The third stage of mourning typically lasted for a further period of three months for a widow, of three months for a widower, of three months for a parent for a child, of three months for a child for a parent, of three months for a sibling for a sibling, and of various other periods for other relatives.

The Materials of Mourning

The materials of the mourning dress of the Victorian period were carefully chosen for their dullness, their matteness, their heaviness, their opacity, and their lack of ornament. The principal materials of the mourning dress were the crape, the bombazine, the paramatta, the merino, the cashmere, the lustre, the alpaca, the mohair, the delaine, the coburg, the sicilian, the cotton, the linen, the silk, the satin, the velvet, the plush, the gauze, the net, the lace, the tulle, the chiffon, the georgette, the crepe, and the long list of other materials of the period. The crape was the most characteristic material of the deep mourning, and the crape was the dull, matte, and heavy material that was used for the dress, the bonnet, the veil, the shawl, the scarf, the handkerchief, the fan, and the long list of other mourning accessories of the period. The crape was a difficult material to clean, and the crape dress was typically worn for a few weeks and then replaced by a fresh crape dress; the crape trade was centred on Norwich, on Paisley, and on Belfast.

The principal features of the mourning dress of the period were the crape dress, the crape bonnet, the crape veil, the long veil, the crape shawl, the crape scarf, the crape handkerchief, the crape fan, the black gloves, the black stockings, the black shoes, the black boots, the black slippers, the black ribbons, the black feathers, the black beads, the black jet, the black onyx, the black enamel, the black gutta-percha, the black vulcanite, the black horn, and the long list of other black features of the period.

The Mourning Jewellery

The mourning jewellery of the Victorian period was a central feature of the elaborate mourning of the period, and the mourning jewellery of the period included the jet brooch, the onyx brooch, the black enamel brooch, the gold mourning brooch, the hair brooch, the memorial ring, the locket, the watch chain, the mourning pin, the mourning bracelet, the mourning earrings, the mourning necklace, the mourning pendant, the mourning chain, the mourning charm, the mourning fob, the mourning seal, the mourning thimble, the mourning scissors, the mourning hook, the mourning clasp, the mourning buckle, the mourning button, the mourning stud, the mourning cufflink, the mourning tiepin, the mourning badge, the mourning sash, the mourning belt, the mourning girdle, the mourning garter, the mourning garters, the mourning stockings, the mourning shoes, the mourning boots, the mourning slippers, the mourning gloves, the mourning mittens, the mourning muff, the mourning tippet, the mourning boa, the mourning stole, the mourning cape, the mourning cloak, the mourning coat, the mourning jacket, the mourning dress, the mourning gown, the mourning robe, the mourning veil, the mourning bonnet, the mourning hat, the mourning headdress, the mourning wreath, the mourning crown, the mourning band, the mourning fillet, the mourning snood, the mourning hairnet, the mourning hairpin, the mourning comb, the mourning brush, and the long list of other mourning accessories of the period. The mourning jewellery was worn as a mark of the bereavement, and the What were Victorian mourning brooches? was a particularly popular form of the mourning jewellery, with the hair of the deceased worked into the design of the brooch, the ring, the locket, or the watch chain.

The jet used in the mourning jewellery was mined at Whitby, on the Yorkshire coast, and the Whitby jet industry was a particular feature of the period. The jet workers of Whitby cut, polished, and mounted the jet into brooches, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, lockets, rings, and the long list of other jet ornaments of the period. The jet industry of Whitby reached its peak in the 1870s and 1880s, with some 1,500 jet workers employed in the town; the industry declined in the 1890s, with the rise of the cheaper black glass, the black onyx, the black enamel, the black gutta-percha, and the black vulcanite as substitutes for the more expensive jet.

The “Society” Rules of the Etiquette Books

The elaborate mourning of the period was codified in the etiquette books of the day. The Queen magazine, the Lady’s Magazine, the Lady, The Queen Almanac, the Hatchard’s Guide, the Whitaker’s Almanack, and the etiquette books of Mrs Beeton, Mrs Humphry Ward, the Countess of Warwick, and the long list of other etiquette writers of the period set out the rules of the mourning in detail. The rules of the mourning were observed in the royal court, in the great houses, in the London Season, in the country house party, in the public school, in the church, in the office, in the shop, in the street, in the theatre, in the opera, in the music hall, in the seaside resort, and in the long list of other social settings of the period. The elaborate mourning was a central feature of the social life of the period, and the elaborate mourning was one of the great social institutions of the British people.