Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Last updated
A widow and her daughter in traditional mourning attire. Crown Princess Stephanie of Belgium and her daughter Elisabeth.jpg
A widow and her daughter in traditional mourning attire.

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire was an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that ran from October 21, 2014, to February 1, 2015. [1] [2] [3] The exhibition featured mourning attire from 1815 to 1915, primarily from the collection of the Met's Anna Wintour Costume Center [4] and organized by curator Harold Koda with assistance from Jessica Regan.

During this time, it was uncommon to live past the age of fifty and childhood or deaths during childbirth were frequent, so there were often instances for grieving. People were also dying younger because of diseases. Examples of diseases that affected people during this time include smallpox, cholera, typhus, dysentery, yellow fever, scarlet fever, syphilis, measles, malaria, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and influenza. The exhibition depicted a timeline of clothing worn during funerals. Through the different attire depicted, we are able to identify individual stages of mourning and who was lost and their importance or relation to each separate figure. Black remains to be the traditional color worn but grey and navy are also used to represent other circumstances and relationships. This Economic situations of any being did not hold them back from participating in the lamentation of a loved one. The bereavement attires were displayed to demonstrate the evolution in fashion culture through clothing styles and accessories. This can be observed from the relevant changes in fabrics, from mourning crape to corded silks, and the utilization of color with shades of gray and mauve. [5]

The color black was associated with the period of mourning for a widow. In Victorian times, widows were believed to be a threat to the social order because as widowed women with unrestrained sexual prowess, they would allegedly tempt men. If a widow were to wear a different color, it would be considered an inappropriate gesture. Although widows could gradually relax their dress code, if a widow were to stop dressing in black too early, she would be assumed to be sexually active. After a few years, a widow would be able to costume more muted colors such as grey or lavender. Following the Civil War and countless deaths, the abundance of widows wearing black came to be viewed as bad morale. Therefore, the dress code for widows was relaxed. [6]

The majority of this exhibit was devoted to the mourning attire worn by ladies rather than by men. It does, however, portray the plain black suit that men typically wore, complete with a hat with a wide black band, but this was not always worn as the suit was. Even so, the clothing of the women during this time period was emphasized more. They were described as having worn a “mourning crape,” or a light crinkled gauze material, processed to get this texture and lusterless appearance, as an attempt to make the outfit consciously bleak. It was also said that women believed that the indulgence of personal grief was incompatible with their duties to themselves.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black</span> Darkest color due to absence or absorption of light

Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have often been used to describe opposites such as good and evil, the Dark Ages versus Age of Enlightenment, and night versus day. Since the Middle Ages, black has been the symbolic color of solemnity and authority, and for this reason it is still commonly worn by judges and magistrates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Museum of Art</span> Art museum in New York City

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victorian fashion</span> Fashions and trends in British culture during the Victorian era

Victorian fashion consists of the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and developed in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly from the 1830s through the 1890s. The period saw many changes in fashion, including changes in styles, fashion technology and the methods of distribution. Various movement in architecture, literature, and the decorative and visual arts as well as a changing perception of gender roles also influenced fashion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mourning</span> Sorrow (and its conventional manifestation) for someones death

Mourning is the expression of an experience that is the consequence of an event in life involving loss, causing grief, occurring as a result of someone's death, specifically someone who was loved although loss from death is not exclusively the cause of all experience of grief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedding dress</span> Dress worn by a bride during the wedding ceremony

A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. In Western cultures and Anglo-Saxon cultural spheres, the wedding dress is most commonly white, a fashion made popular by Queen Victoria when she married in 1840. In Eastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolize auspiciousness.

<i>Hanbok</i> Traditional Korean clothing

The hanbok is a traditional clothing of the Korean people. The term hanbok is primarily used by South Koreans; North Koreans refer to the clothes as chosŏn-ot (조선옷). The clothes are also worn in the Korean diaspora, especially by Koreans in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mantua (clothing)</span> Draped and pleated womans dress

A mantua is an article of women's clothing worn in the late 17th century and 18th century. Initially a loose gown, the later mantua was an overgown or robe typically worn over stays, stomacher and either a co-ordinating or contrasting petticoat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serbian traditional clothing</span>

Serbian traditional clothing, also called as Serbian national costume or Serbian dress, refers to the traditional clothing worn by Serbs living in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and the extended Serbian diaspora communities in Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, United States, etc. Like any traditional dress of a nation or culture, it has been lost to the advent of urbanization, industrialization, and the growing market of international clothing trends. The wide range of regional folk costumes show influence from historical Austrian, Hungarian, German, Italian, and Ottoman Turkish presence. Nonetheless, the costumes are still a pinnacle part of Serbian folk culture. From the 19th century and onwards, Serbs have adopted western-styled clothing. This change has started in larger settlements such as cities and towns, although it was not uncommon to see rural women in traditional working costumes all the way until the end of President Josip Broz Tito's term. Today, these national costumes are only worn by some elderly in rural areas but are most often worn with connection to special events and celebrations, mostly at ethnic festivals, religious and national holidays, weddings, tourist attractions, and by dancing groups who dance the traditional Serbian kolo, or circle dance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chokha</span> High-necked wool coat worn by men in the Caucasus

A chokha also known as a cherkeska is a woolen coat with a high neck that is part of the traditional male dress of peoples of the Caucasus. It was in wide use among Avars, Abazins, Abkhazians, Eastern Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Balkars, Chechens, Circassians, Georgians, Ingush, Karachays, Nogais, Ossetians, Tats, the peoples of Dagestan, as well as Terek and Kuban Cossacks who adopted it from the aforementioned peoples.

Thomas Patrick Campbell is the director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, overseeing the de Young and Legion of Honor museums. He served as the director and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art between 2009 and 2017. On 30 June 2017, Campbell stepped down as director and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art under pressure and accepted the Getty Foundation's Rothschild Fellowship for research and study at both the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and at Waddesdon Manor, in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwanbok</span>

Gwanbok is a Korean term which was borrowed from the Chinese terms guanfu and guanfu. The term gwanbok is a collective term which refers to historical official attire, which was bestowed by the government court, including Chinese courts of various dynasties. The guanfu (冠服) system was a court attire system in China which also formed part of the Hanfu system. This system was them spread to neighbouring countries and was adopted in Korea since ancient times in different periods through the ritual practice of bestowal of clothing. Acknowledgement through bestowed robes and crowns (冠服) from the Emperor of China, who held hegemony over East Asia, would give support to Korean Kings and successors, as being the authentic rulers of their country as well as confirmed the political status of the Korean kingdom in the rest of the Sinosphere. The gwanbok system in Korea was different for each kingdom and changed throughout different periods. For example, initially given by the Chinese court in ritual practice, successive gwanbok were more often than not locally manufactured in Korea with different colours and adopted into hanbok. The gwanbok, which was used as the uniform of court officials, formed part of the gwanbok system and was used like the suit is nowadays.

<i>Self-Portrait</i> (Rembrandt, Vienna)

Self Portrait is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt. Painted in 1652, it is one of more than 40 painted self-portraits by Rembrandt, and was the first he had painted since 1645. In composition it is different from his previous self-portraits, depicting the painter in a direct frontal pose, hands on his hips, and with an air of self-confidence. It was painted the year that his financial difficulties began, and breaks with the sumptuous finery he had worn in previous self-portraits. Art historian Christopher White has called it "one of the most magisterial and sombre of these (late) pictures". It is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Met Gala</span> Annual fundraising gala for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute

The Met Gala or Met Ball, formally called the Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. The Met Gala is popularly regarded as the world's most prestigious and glamorous fashion event and social gathering and is known as "fashion's biggest night"; an invitation is highly sought after. Personalities who are perceived to be culturally relevant to contemporary society amongst various professional spheres, including fashion, film, television, music, theater, business, sports, social media, and politics, are invited to attend the Met Gala, organized by the fashion magazine Vogue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditional clothing of Kosovo</span>

Traditional clothing is one of the factors that has differentiated this nation from neighboring countries, dating back as far as the Illyrian era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greek dress</span> Clothing of the Greek people

Greek dress refers to the clothing of the Greek people and citizens of Greece from the antiquity to the modern times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Wintour Costume Center</span> Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, housing The Costume Institute

The Anna Wintour Costume Center is a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's main building in Manhattan that houses the collection of the Costume Institute, a branch of the museum focused on fashion and costume design. The center is named after Anna Wintour, the longtime and current editor-in-chief of Vogue, Chief Content Officer of Condé Nast, and chair of the museum's annual Met Gala since 1995. It was endowed by Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch. As of August 2017, the chief curator is Andrew Bolton.

Andrew John Bolton is a British museum curator and current head curator of the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years was a 2001 exhibition that was presented by the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The event was timed to mark the 40th anniversary of her "emergence as America’s first lady." Organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, the exhibition was devoted to exploring the former First Lady's iconic style and impact on the fashion world.

American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity was an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York that ran from May 5 to August 15, 2010. This exhibition explored the evolution of the modern woman's image from the 1890s to the 1940s in the United States. Taking approximately nine months to complete, the goal of the exhibition was to create a "time machine" of women's clothing from the past to present. The exhibit was the first from the Costume Institute to incorporate pieces from the Brooklyn Museum Costume collection which had recently been transferred to the Met's holdings. The exhibition, consisting of a range of women's clothing from ball gowns to cycling suits, displayed the impact of "Gibson Girls", "Screen Sirens", and "Bohemians" on American women.

Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination was the 2018 high fashion art exhibition of the Anna Wintour Costume Center, a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) which houses the collection of the Costume Institute.

References

  1. Givhan, Robin (November 12, 2014). "Grief as a fashion statement in 'Death Becomes Her' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art". The Washington Post . Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  2. Jacobs, Laura (October 29, 2014). "The Dying of the Light: review of 'Death Becomes Her' at the Met". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  3. "New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art showcases 'Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire'". WHNT News. November 2, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  4. "Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire". www.metmuseum.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  5. "Death Becomes Her". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  6. "New Met Museum Exhibit "Death Becomes Her" Looks at a Century of Mourning Attire". 6 November 2014.