Facets of Victorian Fashion

The Victorian era was one of the most innovative times in world history. Ruled by Queen Victoria from 1837 till she died in 1901, it was a long period of peace, prosperity and refined sensibility. Queen Victoria is remembered for her prosperous reign, but she also had a reputation for having a strange fascination with death. She influenced the society of that time greatly and thus for the Victorians death rituals held great importance. The queen’s husband Prince Albert died suddenly in 1861 from typhoid leading her way into deep mourning for the rest of her life.

Queen Victoria in mourning clothes 

Having an influential effect on the society, it became customary for families to go through elaborate rituals to honor their dead. 

Queen Victoria's entire mourning clothes

The rituals included wearing mourning clothes, having a lavish funeral, curtailing social behavior for a set a period of time and erecting an ornate monument on the grave.  

Queen Victoria's family in mourning clothes 

Mourning clothes became a family’s outward display of their inner feelings. There were complicated rules depending on the relationship with the deceased and the amount of time required to mourn. There were journals or household manuals which had copious instructions about appropriate mourning etiquette.

A Woman in full mourning attire 

Widows were expected to wear full mourning attire for two years. The deepest mourning clothes were to be black, symbolic of spiritual darkness. 

A Woman mourning for her child

For ‘deepest mourning’ widows wore plain black dresses made of crepe, crinkled black silk or bombazine and when they went out, they hid their faces beneath a black veil.

A woman in the initial stage of mourning  

Then after a year and a day came the ‘second mourning’ where the crepe on their dresses was limited to decorative trimmings and they could wear the black veil back revealing their faces.   

Queen Victoria in ordinary mourning 

Another nine months later they reached ‘ordinary mourning’ where the crepe was replaced with shiny black silk trimmed with ribbons and jet. 

                                                                                                            

The last stage of ‘half mourning’ lasted for six months, and the widows could wear soft colors like lilac and grey. The fans carried by the women also carried the solemnity of the mourning and handkerchiefs were black bordered, the width of the borders varied depending on the time of mourning. 

Mourning Fan

The mourning dress soon became high fashion that the wealthy and royalty could afford. Commoners managed by dyeing their regular garments.

During the mourning period the jewelry that was allowed lacked any kind of showmanship. Deep black colors were preferred. The brooch and earrings were made with designs that held special meaning for the mourners, often a photo or a lock of hair belonging to the deceased were woven into the jewelry used. 

brooches with a lock of the deceased