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I was Able to Attend a Great Lecture Today! Victorian Mourning Fashion.

I think some of the most valuable time an art student can spend is at lectures and listening to other artists! Not only can you learn new things, but you are making connections with many different types of people. And it always serves as a great break from the studio (because you have to take those or you will go insane).

Today, at Kendall College of Art and Design, a lecture, given by Dr. Suzanne Eberle (one of my great art history instructors), titled "The Fashion of Public Grief: Victorian Mourning Practices" completely fascinated me! I knew I was excited to go see a lecture specifically about victorian funerary customs but I was absolutely blown away at how marvelous the art of death was at that time. Being a horror illustrator, I felt it kind of necessary to be educated about these things. I will share some of the highlights of the lecture with you guys because they are too cool not to know!

To start off, there were required mourning times for all types of deaths,

  • If your PARENTS died: mourning was required for ONE YEAR

  • If your HUSBAND died: mourning was required for TWO-THREE YEARS

  • And if your WIFE died?: mourning was required for SIX MONTHS

I know, how lovely, only six months? Dr. Eberle explained that even though this is unfair, you have to think that more than likely there were children in the picture and children needed a mother while father worked.

Queen Victoria remained the rest of her life in mourning after her husband died.

For women, there were three stages of mourning.

  • Full Mourning- This first stage lasted 1-1 1/2 years and involved a veil and a completely matte black wardrobe.

  • Second Stage Mourning- The second stage lasted about 9 months and now the women could show a little more skin and they can add some texture to their dress.

  • Half Mourning- The remaining 6 months were spent half mourning, the women can now wear grey, purple, mauve and stripes!

When looking at victorian pictures, it is not too hard to discern the stages the women were mourning in. The shinier, more colorful or fancier trims show the progression of mourning.

The jewelry was pretty spectacular because it involved the deceased hair! The hair could be curled and fixed in a pendant or ground up into a powder and made into paint. And most spectacular of all, it could be weaved into thread and made into a rosary, earrings, a broach, you name it!

Jewelry made from human hair.

These are some of my favorite parts from the lecture but there is so much more. These customs are such beautiful dedications to the lives of your loved ones and is such a beautiful expression!

Thank you guys for reading along! I am almost done with the challenge! Post SIX out of SEVEN is DONE!!! This is continuing to be such a great experience for me and I would love it if you guys wanted to join the band wagon! Just make sure to send me the posts, I want to read them!

Until tomorrow...

*Photos of Queen Victoria and Jewelry taken from here.


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