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ourning attire has evolved throughout the Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Women and widows wore distinctive black caps
centuries but one thing that has remained and veils, and all mourning dress was heavily regulated and monitored to fit a
Mconstant, at least in western civilizations, is the strict dress code.
wearing of the color black. For the next 500 years, mourning conventions and fashions in Western
Originally reserved for royalty and aristocracy who were Europe were dictated by royal protocol, and the wearing of black as a symbol of
experiencing grief, black mourning dress eventually became mourning remained the purview of royalty and the aristocracy. That changed
a fashion statement worn by people of all classes who wished during the 18th century with a shift in wealth across Western Europe that rewarded
to emulate the ways and dress of the elite. Over the entrepreneurship over inheritance. As
last 150 years, mourning rituals and attire have wealthy European merchant families and a
taken on many influential shades of centuries-old growing middle class rose in the ranks
observances but have evolved to meet the needs of during the Georgian era (1714-c. 1830-37),
modern-day mourners, whose loss is no less they looked to mimic the royal family
profound than the generations before them but whose in their mourning, and display their new-
conventions today are more practical and less severe. found wealth, by wearing black and
adopting the fashion of mourning dress.
The Evolution of Mourning in Black On March 1, 1738, the Virginia
The custom of wearing unadorned black clothing Gazette printed the news of the death of
for mourning dates back at least to the Roman “Her Majesty Wilhelmina Dorothea
Empire, when the toga “pulla,” made of dark-colored Carolina, Queen Consort of Great
wool, was worn during mourning; however, black Britain.” Instructions were given as to
wasn’t always the color of mourning in the west. For mourning attire, as well as decoration, for
centuries, white was worn in mourning by most. This “Peers, Peerettes, Privy-Counsellors, and
is because white was the most affordable fabric color Foreign Ministers” mourning the Queen.
and one most people already had. Even after black This included the particulars of what
became the color of mourning in the west, children Illustration of a Roman family in mourning constituted “Full Dress” for men and
still wore white to funerals as a sign of innocence women. For women, “full dress” was:
and purity. “Black Bombazeen, broad hemm’d Cambrick Linen, Crape Hoods, Shammy
During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, black mourning Shoes and Gloves, and Crape Fans.” The article specified their “undress” as:
attire was worn by aristocrats and royals for both personal “Dark Norwich Crape, and glaz’d Gloves.” Gentlemen, on the other hand, were
loss as well as general loss, such as after the St. instructed to wear “Black Cloth, without Buttons on the Sleeves or Pockets,

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Images photographed by Susan Muncey at Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire exhibition at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York that took place from October 21, 2014, to February 1, 2015:
1. 1830s American gentlemen’s mourning tailcoat ensemble and girl’s mourning dress 2. American mourning dress with bonnets circa 1845
3. American half-mourning dress with white stripes circa 1848 4. American mourning ensemble in moire silk circa 1857-60
5. 1868 half-mourning wedding dress chosen to honor those lost in the American Civil War
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