English And French Style Mourning Costumes - 1889

The regulation of mourning for a widow remains steadfast, a testament to society's respect and understanding of this period of grief. The dress for mid-summer or mid-winter is Henrietta cloth or bombazine, adorned with deep folds of crape or made with an entire skirt of crape, a symbol of the widow's profound and enduring mourning.

The simple bonnet of crape is covered with a three-yard veil before it is hemmed. It is finished with a quarter-yard hem in front and a half-yard hem at the back. This veil is draped over the bonnet to fall two-thirds at the back and one-third over the face.

Many consider crape unwholesome to wear over the face due to its potential to cause respiratory issues. Therefore, the crape veil is often discarded even before the first six months have passed. Instead, a black veil of a fine-meshed net is worn over the face, providing a more comfortable and practical alternative. The crape veil, however, holds a significant symbolic value. Its black color represents the widow's grief, while its thin, sheer fabric symbolizes the widow's transition from the darkness of mourning to the light of acceptance and moving on.

The widow’s cap, a traditional part of mourning attire, is worn for one year when worn at all. It is often omitted from the mourning dress of refined women because it is strikingly conspicuous and seems to call special attention to the wearer. The cap symbolizes a widow's status and grief with its unique design and usually elaborate embellishments. It was traditionally made of black silk or velvet, often adorned with lace or ribbons, and worn to cover the widow's hair, which was typically cut short as a sign of mourning.

All neckwear should be black crepe lisse as a collar or ruches for one year. No jewelry is allowable in the deepest mourning, as it disrespects the deceased. The color black is a universal symbol of mourning, representing the darkness of grief and loss. During this period, the wearer does not accept any invitation or appear at any place of public resort, as engaging in social activities while in mourning is considered inappropriate. English fashions prevail in deep mourning in this country, reflecting the influence of British mourning customs.

Thus, a widow embarks on a gradual transition from deep mourning to lighter attire over time. She may start by wearing a crape (for one year or often longer, as suits her feelings). She then lightens her somber black first with white collars and cuffs, symbolizing the gradual return to everyday life. She may then transition to black and white gowns or wear dull silk or silk and wool, introducing more color and variety into her wardrobe, reflecting her journey towards healing and acceptance.

It is becoming customary to adopt French fashions to lighten the mourning. In marked contrast to severe English styles, these styles offer a modern twist to the traditional mourning attire, keeping the widows informed and up-to-date. The influence of French fashions on mourning attire reflects the cultural exchange and the changing societal norms around mourning and grief.

The French milliners’ bonnets are decked in jet, and even ostrich tips are used. While these fashions seem to have the worst taste for regular mourning dresses, they may be introduced to lighten mourning with excellent effect.

There is no fixed fashion for making a mourning dress; any severe, simple style of the prevailing fashion may be chosen. All elaboration in cut and drapery must be avoided.

The most appropriate map is a long coat of lusterless cloth or camel’s hair made perfectly plain and fastened with crape-covered buttons. These materials are chosen for their practicality and symbolism. Lusterless cloth and camel's hair are both durable and suitable for mourning attire, while the crape-covered buttons add a touch of mourning symbolism to the coat.

Short jackets, made of bombazine or Henrietta cloth, are also worn. They are heavily trimmed or, in some cases, entirely covered with crape.

In the deepest mourning, it is considered perfectly acceptable to wear mourning house dresses of white nainsook or linen cambric, finished with ruffles of hemstitching and simple drawn work. These house dresses are typically loose-fitting and comfortable, allowing the widow to move freely while still adhering to the mourning customs. Elaborate needlework would be in bad taste, as it would be seen as a sign of disrespect to the deceased.

Simple Mourning Gowns

While Henrietta cloth remains the regulation dress for streetwear, many beautiful and suitable dull black woolen fabrics are made up for deep mourning.

The deepest mourning is necessarily a widow’s (The deepest mourning is worn by a widow for her husband), and all reference to the deepest mourning refers to a widow’s dress.

It is in poor taste to wear such mourning on any other occasion. Thus, a daughter wears much simpler mourning, and it would be ostentatious to adopt the dress suitable for her mother.

Her gown may be of dull black cashmere, camel’s hair, Melrose cloth, Henrietta, or any soft silk-warped or pure wool cloth, and unless she is advanced in years, very slight trimmings of crape are considered in the best taste.

Her bonnet is simple, and her veil of crape or nuns’ veiling merely reaches her waist and is worn over the face for a few weeks. A widow usually wears a long veil of nuns’ veiling for ordinary occasions to save her crape veil.

Nuns’ veiling with a broad, plain hem, which is exquisitely delicate and so sheer it must be made of Indian silk, creates a cool, pleasant material for summer afternoon gowns.

Black-lawn sewing-silk grenadines and Tamise cloths are also used in a daughter's or mother’s mourning. It is in bad taste to continue wearing diamonds or any gems while the crape is worn.

This seems self-evident to any person of taste. Still, this rule about wearing diamonds or gems is continually violated in this country, and it is necessary to repeat this. Well-meaning women who do not intend to break the canon of refined taste sometimes wear solitaire diamonds with a widow’s cap.

A widow may wear a simple bar pin of black enameled gold or onyx, but these are so plain as hardly to be classed as jewelry. Simple kerchiefs and fichus of white crepe or India mull hemstitched on the border or embroidered in clots, or some such simple pattern, are worn by young ladies.

Linen collars and cuffs are suitable to wear in any mourning where crape is not, but black ruches of crépe-lisse or some sheer material are only appropriate with crape. Plain black foulard silk makes a simple, light afternoon dress for a lady who has taken off the crape.

Moreover, there are many fine-striped black-and-white foulards and delicately figured foulards suitable for this purpose and for mourning gowns or white foulards dotted with black.

Children seldom wear mourning clothes in this country, although servants are expected to wear black dresses in some families while the family is in crape.

While many people now do not wear mourning clothes, and the custom is by no means increasing, it is best that all who prefer to adopt the dress during their period of grief be guided by the simple rules of etiquette that prevail for such occasions.

There is nothing more objectionable than ill-chosen or ostentatious mourning when the dress, which protects the wearer from all claims of society and indicates her seclusion, becomes the means of making her vulgarly conspicuous.

Mourning Etiquette

The London code prevails in New York in all these matters. The time when crape is worn varies with individual feelings, and no rules can be laid down.

It is not, however, considered in good taste for a widow adopting mourning to lay aside her crape and enter society in less time than a year. At the same time, it is allowable for a daughter to appear at social gatherings for two or three months.

The stationery used in mourning is finished with a black band, which varies from a quarter of an inch to a mere line on the edge. The extremely wide band, half an inch in depth, is seldom or never used by refined persons.

The quarter-inch band is used only for a few months while the mourner is in crape. Cards are not necessary while in the deepest mourning. A very slight band of black is sometimes used on the visiting card after the crape is taken off and the lady enters society for the first time since her seclusion.

It has been an open question about how ladies should suggest to their friends that they are willing to receive and pay visits and ready to enter society.

It is customary to send cards of thanks for kind inquiries to those who have called or sent inquiries. When these cards are sent out, it is a sufficient intimation that the lady will receive calls, or the lady entering society may leave her ordinary visiting card.

In this country, it is also an open question whether a widow may retain her husband’s name. In London, a widow uses her name only, but customs have sanctioned the husband’s name in this country, should she prefer it, and the tradition of refined people creates etiquette.

Based on an Article by Rowe, Helena, “Family Fashions and Fancies: Mourning Costumes—English and French Styles,” in Good Housekeeping: A Fortnightly Journal, Springfield, MA: Clark W. Bryan & Co., Publishers, Vol. 9, No. 5, Whole No. 109, 6 July 1889, p. 113.

The illustration is from "Fashions for October: Figure No. 383 G - Ladies' Mourning Costume," in The Delineator: A Journal of Fashion, Culture and Fine Arts, London-New York: Butterick Publishing Co., Limited, Vol. XXXIV, No. 4, October 1889, p. 219.