common ground

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Vintage Black Friday, Mourning Attire

Vintage Black Friday is here.

What will I do when this party is over?

I have enjoyed it so much.

Thank you Jill, at Gypsy Brocante,

for hostessing this wonderful opportunity

to fulfill all my "vintage black" desires.

When Queen Victoria of England lost her precious husband Albert, in December of 1861 she went into deep mourning. She took the custom of wearing "mourning black" to a new level. All the Victorian ladies of that time followed her in the custom. It became an outward showing of grief when a loved one passed. Many women created a whole new wardrobe for the now fashionable black attire.

Queen Victoria and daughter

with bust of Albert

another image (unknown) from late 1800's

Two current replicas of mourning attire

Mary Todd Lincoln

Two mourning blouses found at a local flea market

When I was in High School, Gone With the Wind

was re-released in theatres.

I had read the book twice by then

and fell in love with the movie.

These two images are from the movie scene where Scarlett is attending a ball shortly after the death of her husband. For you not familiar with the story, Scarlett married a man she did not love, trying to invoke jealousy from her beloved Ashley Wilkes. When her husband died in the Civil War, she found herself in a strict code of mourning, but her heart was not in it.