What Widows Wore: Victorian Mourning Dress
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- Опубликовано: 21 ноя 2024
- Hello everyone and welcome to a new video!
This is my first video in this style so please bear with me while I work it out! I don't think I'd ever spoken to the camera for longer than a minute before. I became interested in mourning dress in the Victorian and Edwardian period about two years ago and spent a lot of time doing research to write something about it. I mainly just found all the information very interesting, so I wanted to share it.
A slight disclaimer: this is only a summary/introduction level into Mourning dress! There is a lot more that we can talk about (particularly I would like to investigate more in the differences between men and women's dress, and also between social classes) but I could not fit it into this video!
If you would like to see more videos by all of the wonderful creators participating in CoCoVid, we have a downloadable, printable program just for you, with links directly to each person's channel! It also includes an explanation of the ribbon game and the link to the Discord server! It can be found here:
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Here are the two archives I mentioned:
Vogue Magazine about.proquest...
Harper's Bazaar about.proquest...
These may be available through your institution or local public library, however their content is copyrighted so I could not include the magazine pages in this video.
Here is the blog post with the full version of the research: happilyevertaf...
And here are my references! The text references all appear on the left hand side of the bottom screen, and the image references appear on the bottom right of the screen in brackets. The image references won't fit into the description box, so they will be in a pinned comment below.
Text References
1. Queen of Great Britain Victoria, ‘The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume III (of 3), 1854-1861’ p.473-4 www.gutenberg.o...
2. Taylor, Lou, Mourning Dress (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983), p.134
3. Buck, Anne, ‘The Trap Re-baited: Mourning Dress 1860-1890’ Costume 2 suppl. 1 (1968), p. 32
4. Harper's Bazaar, suppl. Supplement: Dress Patterns ; New York Vol. 31, Iss. 39, (Sep
24, 1898): 823.
5. Anon, ‘Answers to Correspondents’ Vogue Vol. 18, Iss. 3, (Jul 18, 1901), p. 47.
6. Taylor, p. 20.
7. Anon, ‘Fashion: Rules for Wearing of Mourning’ Vogue Vol. 15, Iss. 6, (Feb 8, 1900), p. vi.
8. Taylor, p. 136.
9. Taylor, p. 134.
10. Buck, p. 33.
11. Benesh, Carolyn L. E. ‘Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire’, Ornament, vol. 38. No. 1 (2015), p. 21.
12. Benesh, p. 22.
13. Abijes, Mme de. Deuil, Ceremonial, Usages, Toilettes (Paris: Grand Maison de Noir, 1885), pp. 27-29.
14. Taylor, p. 131.
15. Taylor. p. 150.
16. Anon, ‘Answers to Correspondents’, Vogue, Vol. 22, Iss. 4, (Jan 28, 1904), p. 131.
17. Lynn, Eleni, Underwear: fashion in detail (London: Victoria and Albert), p.44
18. Buck. p. 35.
19. Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping, 1800-1914 (London: Harper Collins, 1981) p. 67.
20. Anon, ‘New York Fashions’, Harper's Bazaar ; New York Vol. 28, Iss. 29, (Jul 20, 1895): 575.
21. Buck, p. 37.
22. Bedikian, Sonia. ‘The Death of Mourning: from Victorian crepe to the Little Black Dress’, Omega , Vol. 57. No. 1 (2008), p. 43.
23. Taylor, p. 267.
24. Weber, Parkes. Aspects of Death and Correlated Aspects of Life in Art (Fisher Unwin: London, 1918), p. 427.
25. Bedikian, p. 47.
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Fascinating. Thank you.
My mum was born in 1919. She told a story about attending a funeral as a child. It was the custom to hand out sponge finger biscuits to any children who might be paying their respects. It was an icy, cold day and mum and her twin sister were enjoying their biscuits when one of the horses slipped on the cobbles causing the hearse to jerk. The back doors shot open and the coffin clobbered off down the incline of the street! Apparently, tge undertaker threw his top hat (with yards of black crepe) at the girls who, amidst hysterical laughter, tried it on. The mourners saw the humerous side of the accident and said their relative would have been amused.
Thank you for sharing this story!
That’s an awesome story!!
Wow. How old are you? My grandparents were born in the late 1940s. I’m 21. I wish I had family stories told to me from way back.
What a laugh did me good.xxx
There were times when I was mourning the death of my husband that I would have wanted to wear a mourning wear. My clothing just felt too bright for how I felt for years.
Black stands for protection in many magical traditions, in that regard it realy makes sense that people who are especialy vunerable tend to seek it out.
When I experienced a personal loss, I wanted to adopt mourning dress as a way of expressing the emotional state I was in without having to speak of it.
This was such a good video! I'm a funerary archaeologist and my area is a little far from the Victorians (2600-2000BCE Iraq), but even back then there were rules about mourning clothes and how it was appropriate to appear while mourning. In Sumer and Akkad, it wasn't necessarily the types of clothes that should be worn, although simple was preferred, but during the funeral and the following funerary celebrations it was highly encouraged to tear the clothes and make as much noise as possible. The simple, torn clothes and demonstration of socially abnormal behaviour was a way of publicly showing your distress and how much you cared for the individual. (A lot of it was for show though, professional mourning was a very popular job).
Following the funeral they would have a series of rituals including a funerary feast and following the feast, public mourning was over and private mourning began. (Private mourning continued for the rest of your life and was characterised by regular offerings to the dead and other forms of ancestral piety otherwise the dead came back angry). The transition from mourning to socially standard dress and behavoiur served to symbolically and ritually (ugh, buzzwords, I know) mirror the righting of the upset caused to the community by the death of the deceased; it was a return to the natural order and the tears in the community had been resolved.
Porter, A. (2016) ‘The Materiality of Mourning’, in Candida Felli (ed.) How to Cope with Death: Mourning and Funerary Practices in the Ancient Near East. Piazza Carrara: Edizioni ETS. pp. 157-188.
This is so interesting, thank you for sharing!
Katie Shead thank you for also adding your expertise!
Interesting! Tearing one’s clothes is still done by Jews, whose mourning rituals are quite well spelled out. The color is not prescribed as rigidly as for Victorians, not wearing of bright colors (especially bright red) and a preference for black is still maintained in the Orthodox world for all clothing.
@Katie Shead - Thank you for taking the time to tell us this. I appreciate your efforts and the sharing of your knowledge. Hooray!
My great-grandmother Was a profesional griever in Herzegovina, it was called "narikača" and she and the other "narikače" whould be called on every funeral in her village and the other ones and as far as I know she was very well paid for her wailling and crying.
As a former part-time English-speaking guide at the Novosibirsk funeral culture museum I was surprised how much information you crammed in just 13 minutes. My usual tour lasted up to two hours 😅
Of course, half the fun of the topic is mourning jewelry (perhaps you might make a video on that later?). My favourite exhibit was a display of earrings, rings, bracelets and brooches made out of deceased person's hair. A very personal way of remembering your lost ones.
PS: that funeral museum has a website with lots of photos and info on extant and reproduction garments and accessories - musei-smerti.ru/novosibirsk-museum-of-world-funeral-culture/
Might not be all in English, but hey, google is there to help))
Fascinating! Thank you!
I had to cut out and leave out so much of what I read about (like jewellery!) I was worried about making it too long on something so specific, but I might make a follow up one then :) that museum website is amazing, thank you for linking!
They also have an Instagram account: instagram.com/musei_smerti
😉
I'm not one to cry in public, but one afternoon I burst into tears while in a down at heel antiques and junk market. I picked up a brass case - made like a watch - and on one side was the photograph of a WWI soldier. In the back was a woven piece of hair. I knew it would only have come there if everyone who had mourned his was also gone.
Fascinating site. Selecting the UK flag at the top of the site will provide very natural English translations, it just takes a moment to load the English block of text to replace the Russian.
I learned about Victorian mourning traditions as a teenager, and have always been fascinated by them. I did become a funeral director 😊 my personal favorite aspect of them is the hair jewelry. Some of the most delicate and beautiful jewelry I've ever seen is Victorian hairwork.
Also here is my badge for the ribbon game! The code is: v3vwnv . There is more info about the badge game in the programme, linked in the description!
Image references:
(1) Queen Victoria and her five daughters. Photograph dated 1862.
(2) Queen Victoria by Heinrich von Angeli, 1885. Held at the Royal Collection.
(3) Day dresses, The Season, Volume 10, September, 1891. Held at the MET.
(4) Mourning Costume, 1861. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Mourning Costume." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-02e8-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
(5) 1891 fashion plate. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Crêpe Hat ; Mourning Bonnet ; Mourning Wrap ; Mourning Cap For Elderly Lady ; Coat-Basque For Costume, Back And Front." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1891. digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-02ed-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
(6) Plate of image of Queen Victoria from 1867 included in magazine (magazine unknown), held at the MET. libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15324coll12/id/12774
(7) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Ladies' And Children'S Mourning Dresses." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1877. digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-02e0-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
(8) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Back Of Mourning Dress ; Mourning Dress ; Crape-Trimmed Costume And Cape ; Widow'S Cap For Elderly Lady ; Back Of Wrap." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1891. digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-02f0-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
(9) Mourning dress by Emile Pingat, ca. 1891-93, at the MET Museum.
(10) [Elderly Woman in Black Cape and Bonnet with Mourning Crape] ca. 1850, at the MET Museum.
(11) Mourning ensemble, ca. 1857-1860, at the MET Museum.
(12) Cape, ca. 1890s, held at the Goldsmiths Textile Collection.
(13) The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "A Young Girl'S Mourning Gown So Made That It May Be Satisfactorily Remodelled For Later Use ; A Mourning Bodice That Will Be Easily Renovated For Lighter Mourning By Substituting Silk For Crape." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1908. digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-02f4-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
(14) Two-piece mourning dress, ca. 1900-1910, Museum of Rotterdam, museumrotterdam.nl/collectie/item/20587-1-3
This is a wonderful source of information. Thank you so much for sharing. :)
Really interesting stuff, odd how Queen Victoria kind of caused the suffering of all those other women too? I thought she was just vicious to her daughters lol. It was obvious from the contents of their home that Victoria loved her Prince & the loss damaged her, but imho lifelong mourning wear was more about her getting coddled for eternity than any display of emotion on her part. The many abusive letters she wrote to her daughters (whom she'd married to European heads of state), demanding they immediately drop their country's State Affairs & return to England to mop her brow over every tiny ailment (or berating them for being 'selfish' & not returned to 'poor dear frail mummy'), all showed she was a self-centred woman without a thought about anyone else's suffering. Also truly bizarre how wartime always seems to advance women's independence - for a while anyway.
I have such a love/hate relationship with Queen Victoria, seriously. On some levels she is admirable, on others she is infuriating. Anyone of Irish decent should detest her, her policies towards Ireland and its' people caused immense human suffering.
@Joanne Carroll - "..all showed she was a self-centred woman..." Well, she WAS the Queen of England, the most powerful woman in the world who endured attempts on her life and constant derision for her stature. She then lost the man she most deeply loved who understood what she went through and supported her. It all must have been a heavy burden to bear whether you like what you read about her personality or not.
@@melaniew4354
I'm of Irish descent but I also love the fashion of the Victorian era. Her fashion was immaculate to me.
That was very interesting, well presented if a little rushed and I would gladly listen to a longer presentation. Thank you for having all the reference material posted prior to the video, it was great to be able to see some of your resource material. Good work, gurl. :)
as a widow this is an interest to me
Im sorry for your loss
I bow my head in honor to your spouse madam
It really makes perfect sense then, that post war the "little black dress" was invented. After all that dress, a chic black dress might as well just become a permanent part of the wardrobe, to be worn at any time.
If you are interested in more information Caitlin Doughty (Ask a Mortician) also did a couple of videos on Victorian mourning in collaboration with the Merchant House. They are great videos and I think others would enjoy them as well as this great video!
Absolutely love her channel! It helped me talk with my Mom about what her wishes were and how I could honor them for her!
As I know in France woman would be in full mourning up to 2 years (which mind wearing a veil head to toes) after that the widow would still wear black but with a short veil for a 6 month to a year then after that, she would be in half-mourning, and she would wear grey and violet. Also, the women could get married after a year and a day as men would be able to wed after 6 months.
If you look at the folklore costume of the woman living near the sea, they are black and it said the reason why it's because women would be always on the mourning of the men in their family lost in the sea.
Similar in Spain. In fact until up to my grandmother's generation most past a certain age dressed in black, in remembrance of a lifetime of loss.. Even now if you visit smaller villages that convention can still be seen. I assume it is a holdover of very strict Catholicism, but am not sure.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina women have a tradicion of wearing black scarfs on ther heads in honor of Queen Katarina Kosača Kotromanovič, the last queen of Bosnia and Herzegovina that gave the crown to the Vatican, the crow is still there.
Mourning wear has always fascinated me since I first read and watched Gone With The Wind in highschool. Thank you for this. It was so interesting
Its interesting to see how the Victorian era still affects modern day egypt! Literally all the rules you mentioned are a must here, from what material to wear to what events can she attend. Egypt was colonized during the reign of Queen Victoria and watching all these victorian cocovid video opened my eyes to how “our ancestral traditional” weren’t originated by us lol. Great video I absolutely loved it.
“...advertise their woe...”. Ladies, aren’t we glad that making a career out of grief is now a thing
Of the past? Thank goodness that we are no longer expected to wear our broken hearts on our sleeves. I thoroughly enjoyed this video and look forward to more videos on specialised times in life-the cunning little slits in a bodice for nursing, maternity wear... .
No; I think the prescriptive and arbitrary nature of the custom should be criticized, but a silent way to ask those around you for a little patience and understanding, a totally acceptable excuse to not have to socialize and 'act normal', and a possible defense against men who view emotional fragility as an invitation sounds pretty appealing.
Grief is hard, and it can be overwhelming and all-consuming. I think we've moved from making it a mandatory, sometimes empty, demonstration to making it a taboo, and neither extreme is particularly helpful or healthy.
@@SycoraxPraxidice Indeed, I think there was benefits for the longish periods of "official" mourning. As you said, nowadays grief seems to be taboo and society assumes one gets over it very fast, almost in weeks!
Just to add to this topic, I also saw in one of the descriptions of a mourning dress at the MET Museum this interesting quote from the diary of Catherine Ann Edmondston (1823-1875) in 1861 after the death of her father, "Have been all this week in a sad task making up my mourning for my dear Papa & today for the first time put it on. The sight of this black dress brings the cause why I wear it more fully to my mind, if possible brings him more vividly before me." (www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/108233?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&what=Dresses&ao=on&ft=mourning&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=2) There is a lot of evidence that some people did enjoy mourning dress as an expression of grief too.
Personal anecdote:
When my grandfather passed from a prolonged fight with cancer, I wore only black for the first six months, then added in charcoal grey for the next six. Blessedly, my coworkers at the time knew of his health, and not one person commented on my color choices, nor did they try ‘fix’ my sorrow through an over abundance of being ‘helpful.’
It was good for me to have that emotional leeway as granted by my clothing, especially as I lost another dear one to cancer shortly thereafter.
That being said, I would not wish to have a strict mourning period _imposed_ upon me. Apologies to Victoria.
You paid homage to your loved one by your own choice. Society didn’t dictate how you must dress or behave.
Gosh, imagine being a young woman who marries a vidow...
"Darling, I'm very glad you accept my proposal, but may you put on mourning dresses for my late wife that you don't even know? Just for... you know... six or seven months maybe."
(Irony aside, thank you for the video! I already know Victorian mourning was a complex matter, but I never realize how many different rules and times they had to follow)
This was very interesting. Thanks for "taking the plunge" and making this video for Cocovid!!
It is my understanding that a widow, with young children, in financial distress, could remarry after 6-months.... although this was much more common in the middle class than in Polite Society. However the bigger problem was after the first year with young wealthy land-owning or -controlling widows, in their 20a and 30s, who were refusing to remarry and lose control of their newly acquired assets.
So much information! I would love to watch more videos on this topic:)
When I was in college about 14 years ago I was dating a guy from Lebanon. His mother had an uncle back home who died and she had to wear mourning for a year. She was so sick of black by the end of it!
This was very interesting. I'm glad we don't have to do that now. I can see for a shorter length of time. But I can also understand that there is also a lot of therapy and release in an actual ritual connected to a feeling. The exhibits were beautiful. Amazing Beadwork.
Thank you for such an interesting video.
It amazes me that a woman from this era could have a husband that beat her everyday and twice on Sunday and everyone knew would still be expected to wear mourning for such a beast when for said wife it was likely a celebration
Although limited by copyrights, you did a splendid job of showing us mourning attire. I enjoyed this very much.
I remember a conversation between my grandmother and my greatgrandmother (Born 1902) back in the 90ies. My greatgrandmothers' sister had just died at a very high age and my greatgrandmother wondered how long it would be appropriate to wear black. A year as it should usually be seemed a bit 'old fashioned' and a think she decided to wear black 'only' for some months
I wish that mourning wear would come back in modern times. When my abuelita passed last October I didn't want to wear colors at all. Maybe just an armband would have worked
This was fascinating! I would imagine if they had kept up mourning periods post ww1 there wouldn't be black dye or fabric to be found for years to come.
Well researched and collated material presented succinctly and well. Thank you. I often only have 10-15 min at a time to watch a You Tube video, so sometimes have to watch longer ones in separate sessions, but to get to watch a complete video is a treat.
FYI, the flat French pancake is pronounced "crehp" (and is spelled crêpe). But the fabric (or the crinkly paper) is pronounced like it's original spelling, "crape" (to rhyme with ape).
oooh that is great to know, thank you! one day I'll get it right 😂
@@CatsCostumery No worries, it's one lots of people mix up. Especially in regions like American and the UK where we're not as good about adding diacritical marks in our writing, nor do we commonly see them used in writing as a means to distinguish pronunciations, because English doesn't have those types of accents. For example, even though most of us know that the word "saute" should have an acute accent over the final e (é), it's just as often as not written without it (although now that we all have advanced electronic devices, autocorrect will prod you to do so, as it is me).
I have a friend that says creepy for the pancake.
Bit like wipers for ypres.
I don't get the difference, in French it's written and spelled the same way...
@@bubupowa6205 It's likely down to a difference of pronunciation between the two languages, then. In English, the two pronunciations are distinctly different (and the circumflex accent, if anyone thinks to use it, is reserved for when referring to the pancake to differentiate it). In French, perhaps, not so much?
This was fascinating! I knew about mourning habits but never thought about how those habits would affect the entire fashion industry. Hearing about how it was such a part of it that it was regularly featured in magazines makes me wonder how much of the mourning dress culture was pushed by the fashion industry itself. Much like how many wedding traditions today are pushed by the wedding industrial complex.
Thank you for this video!
Great video! It really was difficult for widows, wasn't it? Being effectively forced into mourning for two years but having to remarry for financial security. So thankful we don't have such asinine rules today!
This is such a huge part of Victorian society, as you said, but is rarely expounded upon today, and I think especially by costumers. Great presentation! As a funeral director (some say mortician), this is particularly interesting to me, so thank you!
I had been wondering for ages what crape actually looked like! Thank you! If you ever revisit this topic in a later video, could you say more about the different stages of mourning dress?
I enjoyed this immensely. Great information. I appreciate the hard work that goes into a presentation like this.
This was morbidly fascinating! Honestly it sounds like a century long fever dream. I can't imagine marrying someone and then having to spend a year in half-mourning for the bloke's previous wife..!
I have been studying funeral practices due to the historical cemetary near my home town. Loved the video, touched on many point.
I have several sewing books from the early part of the last century and they have the full list of fabrics used, periods of mourning for different relatives, etc which is so interesting. Really enjoyed the video
As a fan of wearing all black, these dresses are just delicious.
As a goth beginning to get into historical fashion, these are bloody gorgeous
This has always been a fascinating subject for me, particularly since I am from The South and to discover that there was a whole other layer to the rituals of mourning surrounding The War Between the States has proven even more fascinating for me. The War created so many young widows and many families lost every husband, father, brother and son, so the women were left to deal with their grief on their own. In the South, the double standard of men not having to observe as strictly to the rituals wasn't really the issue for them, because there really weren't any men left in society after the war. The men that did manage to come through it even halfway whole left the Southeast US and went out West to seek fortunes rather than stay under the post-war martial law where they had been disenfranchised anyway. Women stayed behind and clung to their grief as an identity, as a coping mechanism to help them process their losses and trauma. The poverty and deprivations of Reconstruction meant crepe and/or black fabric was quite scarce, along with any and everything else (like food). It's amazing to me that so determined were they to adhere to the strict mourning protocols of the day that they dyed whatever dresses and other fabric they had on hand black, using whatever they could find. They cooked up a noxious brew...ink, ground up nut shells, coffee...and these "dyes" were not fast, so it rubbed off on their necks, faces, and hands making them look quite gruesome. Many went into deep mourning and never came out for the rest of their lives. Most of these women were quite skinny, some died of slow starvation, they must have been a pitiful sight. There is a letter from a Union soldier occupying Savannah, GA who wrote to his relatives at home in Ohio that he felt sorry for them when he saw them on the street looking like "scarecrows" and that his commander had given his company orders to "Leave the ladies alone, they have been through enough". It is so touching and sad to me how they were determined to stay with social protocols under those conditions. It was sort of a way to prove to themselves that their lost loved ones are gone but not forgotten. It makes all of this so much more than clothes.
I'm in awe of how much information you got into such a short video. So many resources! Its fabulous
Great video,very informative.In Britain crape is usually pronounced to rhyme with ape.One of my mourning dresses dates from c 1916, fashionably stylish so probably worn by one of the many young widows.Very different to my Victorian dresses.
What a great way to include references! I hope more RUclipsrs take up the practice. Thank you very much.
Thank you for so much information and research!! I've always been interested in the mourning wear of Edwardian and Victorian times, and this is a wonderful explanation!
:) A lot of information in a very short amount of time on a fascinating subject. I will rewatch this at a later time and probably take a lot of notes to dive into this topic a little myself (let's see if I can find information for my country).
Yes! I’m on a mourning kick.
This entire thing has been incredibly interesting. Thank you so much for this video!
I’m planning on making a few mourning dresses in black for the first year, black and white for the following year, dark purple for the first 6 months of half mourning and lavender and black for the ordinary mourning. Although I might just use black for the entire period and make multiple dresses in black to suit the entire mourning period.
Thank you for sharing this. Quite an interesting topic. It's strange to hear how rigid fashion rules were/can be.
On this side of the water we say "crape" like "grape." You all say it like the French, "crepe." Since American English is often an older version, this explains the "crap" "crape" problem. Fun! Love your grasp of history!
I know I’m kind of late to the CoCoVid party, but I wanted to share my experiences. I’m from the American Midwest and have unfortunately been to many funerals. Typically mourning wear is only donned during the viewing (if there is one) and the funeral itself. Black isn’t necessary but muted tones and less flashy designs are favored by the family. However, when my brother passed three years ago he had specifically told his wife that he didn’t want anyone to wear black and he didn’t want a traditional funeral. My parents and I felt odd dressing nicely in more vibrant colors but we wanted to respect his wishes. On the anniversary of his passing I make it a point to wear something that ties to him, like one of his hockey jerseys or one of his old hats, etc. For almost every other day my parents and I show our mourning by wearing necklaces that contain his ashes.
That was wonderfully interesting and informative! Thanks for sharing.
This was fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing it
Well done! Very informative. I just purchased a large quantity of silk crepe not realizing it was a mourning cloth. Thanks for this info! 🏵🏆🎗
The mourning kind had a slight crinkle and can be seen in the close ups of some of the items (particularly the MET items have high res photos!) - I'd be very curious to know if your silk crepe is similar! :)
This is the Crepe I bought, see what you think: www.dharmatrading.com/fabric/silk/heavy-crepe-de-chine-30mm.html?lnav=fabric_silk.html. It is super smooth and ready to dye, the hand and drape is gorgeous on this stuff.
I've experienced so much loss since last July ( a death a month until January 2020), I felt like black was the only thing that could show how much I was hurting. A lovely tradition, but also I didn't know how involved it was. Five stages?! That's crazy!
* standing ovation *
This was quite interesting and thanks for sharing. I found the info about the hubby could remarry when he wanted not a surprise, but his new wife had to mourn his other wife, how ridiculous was that. Now I know why my mum and nana made comments about how soon someone was dating after the passing of a partner.
Hi cat, new to your channel and I had forgotten about what happened to the mourning dresses. Thank you for sharing this.
Gem -x-x-
Black symbolises protection in many magical practises so in a sense it makes a lot of sense, that people who are especialy vunerable lime those in morning, depressed or insecure teenagers are beeing drawen to it.
Wonderful presentation! I was wondering if you've studied White Mourning as well? From the Medieval period?
I have only investigated Victorian and Edwardian specifically, but that sounds super interesting, so I will be having a look! :)
I believe that in the far east, Japan and China for example, white was used as a mourning colour. At least before heavy westernization (is that even a word?).
@@innahaapa1314 I did research on this - yes. White was affiliated with the dead and a traditional mourning colour, but black was also a traditional mourning colour in those countries. Typically, it was white for objects like flowers and momentous and clothing accent colours, and black for main clothing colours and religious tokens. I find this fascinating.
So nice to know not everyone gets their knowledge of the appropriate amount of time for mourning from Scarlet O'Hara and Gone With the Wind lol
I got mine from a Mercedes Lackey book. We all learn from different sources.
Really enjoyed this it's always interested me since seeing an exhibition at the local stately home xx
Great job! I would be down for learning more on the other stages of mourning such as the rules for introducing gray and shades of purple. BTW your 1840s gown is beautiful. You really looked like you stepped right out of the fashion plate that was your inspiration.
Utterly fascinating.
Hi, I'm quite a recent follower and have bonged your videos in just the past couple of weeks! I love your work, love the work you put into this and would love more informational from you. Would love a presentation on natural dyeing and process
Thank you for a fabulous presentation. Really interesting topic, which makes me so glad to not live with such strict rules over such a personal issue.
Thank you for sharing this!
I could dress like this everyday
It was very interesting! Well done! 👏👏👏
I found this fascinating. I always wondered what the "rules" for mourning were...
Great information & a subject I'm very interested in as well. I just wish you would have spoken a little slower as I had trouble keeping up.
I have just purchased a black cape of around 1900. It would be interesting to find out if it's a mourning one.
Thank you for all your research, very interesting presentation 💌
.......ESPETACULAR.....MARAVILHOSA....INCRÍVEL.........
Oh, I hear you on the magazine archive copyright pain
I loved this! Really interesting, thank you
... for the upper-class lady.
You slay me, Madame.
That was so interesting! Thank you so much!
Good and informative video. Crape is pronounced (at least here in the US) is with a long "a" as in Ape. If you drop the final "e" it would then be crap a short "a" like rat.
Hiya, great video. Can I ask that you post the badge code please 😳
Badge code is in the pinned comment :)
At WWI, women often had jobs. Therefore they were not entirely dependent upon the men who had controlled them. Therefore they could make a few decisions themselves. It is also worthy of note that the huge number of casualties made finding a man/husband more difficult if one was needed or wanted for physical of fiscal convenience. Mourning dress, and isolation can cause the difficulty to be even more daunting. There was some good in a formal mourning as it gave women a social reason to retreat until they could go on. The expansion of mourning ritual to include every possible relation, however distant, was the beginning of the end.
In ancient Rome high born widows (matriarchs) wore black, i'm sure even the middle classes women wore it too but i don't know about that, but basically it denotes your status as a mother of Rome
I wonder how much of mourning wear came from genuine popular demand, and how much of it was marketing from the fashion industry (i.e. create a problem so that you can sell a solution) that caused popular demand.
Very interesting, Cat, thank you.
Very nice presentation Miss Cat - would love for additional video's on this subject from your perspective, should you care to do so.. "}
in america we pronounce "crêpe" with a long a; like "drape", "shape", "cape", etc..
Goodness, I had no idea this was such a complex process to follow! #broke.
Thank you so much, fascinating.
It's pronounced crape as in grape with a C the fabric could be deadly to the person wearing it due to the chemical process it took to make it especially with the veils widows wore in England widows mourning is referred to as widows weeds
Thank you so much!
This is so interesting because traditions similar to this are very much still alive in the middle east (with less fabulous dresses unfortunately). I wonder if it originated with British occupation.
Very interesting!
Thank you
And of course before Q.Vic came along, as I understand it, mourning was not always black... good work 👍
Really informative video thank you :)
For me it is just a bit distracting that you seem to read most of the text. I would find it more pleasant to watch if you would look into the camera (please don't get this wrong I can fully understand that it is hard to speak free especially when you want to get all the facts right, I just meant it as an advice)
I appreciate your insights and I hope you will not be offended by giving mine.
I have heard this podcast by American Duchess and one thing that they brought up is that the attitude to mourning is different in the different parts or decades of the Victorian era. As well as our own perception of mourning.
I hope you might listen to the podcast and I want to hear you or anyone else's thoughts on this.
link to podcast:soundcloud.com/americanduchess/episode-2-civil-war-mourning-with-samantha-mccarty
How does a thing have copyrights after 100 years?
it is beyond me!
@@CatsCostumery The magazines are no longer in copyright, but the Proquest's collection of these magazine images are protected by a separate copyright. If you scanned the pages directly from the original magazine, you would not be violating copyright.
Seems many are looking at this through modern eyes and not eyes of the period. In a hundred years others will be looking at this era the same way - through their eyes only.
Really interesting Jason, England 🤓
Victorian mourning seems to have been an industry in its own right. It must have been a very profitable time for dressmakers. I probably would have rebelled at the notion of others interfering with my own mourning which had nothing to do with them. I'd wear a simple silk black dress for a week, or a month, and that would be it. If I had a bright gown, I'd go out in this, at the risk of soliciting comment from the rest of society. I'd be bound to lose some of my acquaintances, but then they were never true friends were they. True friends would stick by you. I could just see the newspapers the next day -- "Dowager Lady **** reduces her mourning period to 1 week -- Latest society gossip!"
CrApe...is how we used to pronounce it in the 1950's when I wore it.