Mourning ensemble, ca. 1870. American. Silk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Martha Woodward Weber, 1930 (2009.300.633a–c)
On Tuesday, October 21, 2014 the Metropolitan Museum of Art will unveil a new exhibit which highlights women’s mourning fashion. The show will feature thirty ensembles which the museum says will be shown for the very first time.
The exhibit spans the 100 year period from 1815 to 1915 and includes gowns worn by Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra. The show will be open through February 1, 2015.
The thematic exhibition will be organized chronologically and feature mourning dress from 1815 to 1915, primarily from The Costume Institute’s collection, including mourning gowns worn by Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra. The calendar of bereavement’s evolution and cultural implications will be illuminated through women’s clothing and accessories, showing the progression of appropriate fabrics from mourning crape to corded silks, and the later introduction of color with shades of gray and mauve.
Visit the museum site: Death Becomes Her
