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Ready-to-Wear Mourning
By 1900, the growing demand among all social classes for mourning
wear, and the lack of black dye needed to custom create every single
piece for any woman needing it, created an opportunity for industrial
clothing manufacturers, who began mass-producing affordable “ready-
to-wear” mourning attire, including mourning dresses, jewelry, hats,
veils, handkerchiefs, and gloves.
These ready-to-wear pieces were then advertised to women, many
of whom did not live in a city center, through catalogs such as
Montgomery Ward, Bloomingdale Brothers, and Sears. Soon, depart-
ment stores and mourning specialty stores began marketing the sale of
socially prescribed mourning attire.
“Advances in textile manufacturing combined with a new consumer
appetite for mourning apparel also led to the establishment of stores—
like Besson & Son in Philadelphia and Jackson’s Mourning Warehouse
in Manhattan—that sold ready-made mourning clothes and fabric, as
well as ribbons, hats, rings, gloves, handbags, shoes, flowers, and even
black drapery for the house, while department stores like Lord &
Taylor added mourning departments,” writes Author Jocelyn Sears.
As defined by the British, a “costume” is “the prevailing fashion in The department store Jordan Marsh in Boston advertised that
coiffure, jewelry, and apparel of a period, country, or class,” mourning clothes were always stocked for immediate delivery. Their
as illustrated in this “Mourning Costume” print.
mourning dress “number 7” was described as being a “very pretty wool
French cashmere costume, waste trimmed with handsome lace effect
was colloquially known as “widow’s weeds” (from the Old English bolero, crushed collar, and belt, finished with mourning silk ribbon,
word, meaning “garment”). Mourning jewelry, often made of jet, was skirt cut in Parisian style.” They guaranteed “Dresses can be made to
also worn and became highly popular in the Victorian era. Jewelry was order from any measurement in two days.”
also occasionally made from the hair of the deceased. The wealthy also To help educate and assimilate a new class of mourners, fashion
wore cameos or lockets designed to hold a lock of the deceased’s hair or magazines published illustrations of the latest mourning fashion, and
some similar relic. etiquette books were published instructing people how to dress to
Given the cost of mourning dress, an extravagance for all but the properly grieve for different family members.
wealthy, most women overdyed clothing they already owned. The Over the next century, mourning became more practical and
protocol did not require that their dress be constructed entirely or abbreviated. Widow’s weeds were replaced by black armbands, simple
exclusively of crape, rather, “covered” with crape as part of its dark-colored clothing, and the pinning of mourner ribbons. The only
construction, which made altering and dying an existing costume for constant? The heartbreak of loss and the color black.
mourning more affordable and
accessible. To complete a
mourning ensemble, they could
purchase special caps, bonnets,
veils, and fans, usually in black
or other dark colors.
As one’s time advanced to
the next stage of mourning, dress
became less restrictive. During
second mourning, which lasted
six to nine months, women
could abandon the veil and crape
and introduce ornate jewelry,
but were expected to continue
to wear crape tucks, that
consisted of crape material
gathered into bunches at inter-
vals, on their dresses. Half
mourning was the final state and
lasted three to six months during
which time the widow wore
muted colors such as violet, navy,
and dark green.
Men, on the other hand,
were not expected to adhere to
rigid mourning rules. Following
the burial, they were expected
to return to work in order to his satirical drawing of a Victorian woman in mourning by Charles Dana Gibson cleverly
support the family. Men could exposes the faults and foibles of late Victorian/early Edwardian American high society.
wear a long crape band on their TFollowing the adventures of his idealized feminine character, the “Gibson Girl,” Gibson’s
hat called a “weeper.” The width exploration of the behaviors, attitudes, and mores of the early twentieth century still delight and
of the weeper around his hat amuse us today. In this image, he takes on the topic of “Half Mourning.”
represented his relationship with Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) Charles Dana Gibson was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts
the deceased. Other optional and was one of the best known of the turn-of-the-century illustrators. His pen and ink drawings of
men’s fashions included black the “Gibson Girl” are perhaps the most recognizable images of the time. Gibson did much of his
armbands or a black ribbon on work for Life and Collier’s magazines.
the lapel.

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