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Without and Within: Victorian Mourning and Treatment of the Dead

Mourning Dresses

Showcasing the collection housed at the Met Museum, this entry presents the mourning attire worn by women throughout the Victorian era. Here we can see Victoria's influence on the mourning-fashion of the period. While viewers may see a variety in dresses, my attention is in the uniformity of the style--black crape dresses. What is striking here, though there may be slight alterations (the inlay of gold-colored thread, or ruffled cuffs), are the distinctions between classes that are underplayed under a popular base design. Victoria's model for public grief (read: state-sanctioned) is pervasive.

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5. Marche Funèbre Frederic Chopin's March popularly played at funerals (even at his own). I've included Chopin's popular funeral march not just because of its iconic status within our own cultural moment, but because we can see the influence of popular entertainment, like musical compositions, being employed by mourners. I argue that the repurposing of Chopin's funeral march signals another moment where the cultural norms surrounding death are taken to display fashionable cultural materials. I've included Chopin's popular funeral march not just because of its iconic status within our own cultural moment, but because we can see the influence of popular entertainment, like musical compositions, being employed by mourners. I argue that the repurposing of Chopin's funeral march signals another moment where the cultural norms surrounding death are taken to display fashionable cultural materials.

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