Mourning bonnet

Facts

• In Victorian times, there were degrees of mourning. Full mourning for a husband by a widow was the strictest. For a year and a day she wore a black dress and mantle of bombazine, a mixture of silk and wool. The dress had to be almost completely covered with crape (aka crepe). Crape was a silk fabric that had been treated so that it was totally without lustre. There could be no hint of shine in anything worn by the widow. There were no trimmings allowed at all. No shiny buttons, no buckles on her shoes, no jewellery except her wedding ring and mourning jewellery made of jet. The widow had to wear a mourning bonnet with a widow's cap and a crape veil. She wrote all her letters on black bordered paper.
• After 12 months and one day, the widow could replace her crape covered dress with a black silk one, trimmed with crape. After about another half year of mourning, the crape could be left off and plain black worn. Two years after her husband's death, the widow could go into half‐mourning. The colours allowed were grey, lavender, mauve, violet or black, grey and white stripes. She could wear half‐mourning jewellery ‐ pearls and amethysts.
• Some widows never went into half mourning and wore black for the rest of their lives.
• During the first year of mourning, the widow had no social life. She could not go to parties, dinners or the theatre and it was considered bad taste to even be seen in public.
• After one year, the widow could resume her social life, but she had to do so very gradually. The power of public opinion was strong and a widow who was thought to not show proper respect to the memory of her dead husband faced being socially ostracized.