18th and 19th century funeral attire?

topic posted Fri, February 23, 2007 - 9:15 AM by  Gothalot
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Does anyone have links or good pics of this era of attire. We are planning on outfitting our female crew (The Blood Vessel) in bustles etc and Id like something to gauge this on. Thanks so much.
posted by:
Gothalot
SF Bay Area
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  • Re: 18th and 19th century funeral attire?

    Fri, February 23, 2007 - 10:03 AM
    The 18th-century folk did not bustle -- they wore some panniers (side hoops), but that was mainly a European and more courtly attire. Here they wore what they had and I've never heard of specific mourning or funeral attire ( I used to be a reenactor of this era). The 19th-century folk loved mourning attire, but it was very strongly associated with the Victorians. A good source would be Godey's Ladies Book. I have no idea if their images are online, but a good university library should have some in their stacks. A WONDERFUL source of fashion plates. I've also often seen some plates (the fashion pictures) in antique stores in the photo/drawings areas. There is also an online emporium which focuses largely on the Victorian area called Amazon Drygoods. They have patterns and items for sale including, hats, shoes, gloves, etc. Hoops and corsets, too. By and large though, the mourning clothes were just the same as the ordinary clothes in style at the time, just black. And don't forget mourning jewelry made of the deceased's hair....
    • Re: 18th and 19th century funeral attire?

      Fri, February 23, 2007 - 10:15 AM
      it really depends on the era and the class and how long ago the person has died. The rules were quite strict during the Victorian era, although many American women couldn't afford mourning gowns during the 1860's due to money and cloth shortages.

      There are many Godey images available at these websites:

      www.uvm.edu/~hag/godey/i...icsgodey.html

      www.nypl.org/digital/ <- amazing costuming resource of primary drawings. type mourning into the search box and a ton of stuff comes up

      I've not heard of any rules of mourning or specific gowns during the 18th century, either
  • Re: 18th and 19th century funeral attire?

    Fri, February 23, 2007 - 7:28 PM
    check out the costumer's manifesto web site. they have links to serious costuming and to aluminum hats to keep the aliens out, and the ever popular hats of meat. The Victorians in England were the trend setters about mourning attire. It went, black for the first year, black and deep colors like deep blue or purple, accessorized with black shawls, bonnets and armbands, third year was regular clothes with black armbands, and after that you were on your own, with your hair jewelrey, of course. anything about mourning attire in Victorian England will give you the shapes you want.