Mourning Dress in the West, 1800 until Today

Abstract

The codification of mourning practices has loosened dramatically in the West since the 1800s. Gone are the rigid codes of nineteenth-century mourning, with specific fabrics, colors, and lusters corresponding to each progressive stage. Today, mourning dress is largely informal, although wearing black has remained an outward signifier of individual and social mourning in most Western countries. This article investigates the practice of mourning dress in the West since 1800 through three historical narratives: First, the increasingly rigid codification of mourning dress from 1800 until the turn of the century, followed by a simplification and then disappearance of regimented mourning dress in the twentieth century. Second, the complex negotiation of gender and sexuality that was made visible in the black mourning clothes worn by women, who, in many cultures, wore the most visually distinctive mourning garments. Third, a shift in mourning practices in non-Western cultures following exposure to Western mourning practices due to imperialism, colonization, or globalization.

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