HISTORY


Widow’s by Wies Mauduit


The History of Mourning Headwear


Weeds


Though it is hard to imagine today, there was a time when “the design and construction of correct mourning apparel” was one of the most important branches of the millinery business. At least according to a publication dating from around 1900, which provides a detailed description of the techniques and materials used in mourning millinery1.


1 Millinery Hat Making and Design – Mourning Millinery, by various authors


50 | the hat magazine #110


One soon understands what is meant by ‘correct’ mourning apparel. There are rules that must be adhered to and “no compromise can be made”! Milliners were advised to study the conventions of mourning wear carefully. Both men and women wore mourning following the death of a relative, but the rules for women were much stricter and the period of mourning much longer than for men. As one author put it: “Women have a much wider latitude in the selection of appropriate mourning dress”.


Mourning hat with long face veil of black crepe Georgette


Which meant, of course, that for a milliner, there was much more money to be made in ladies’ mourning headwear than in gentlemen’s.


Widow’s weeds


The history of mourning headwear is too vast a subject to cover fully in this article, so I have chosen to focus on headdresses worn by British women from the 19th century onwards. Women were subjected to far greater pressure than men to conform to society’s almost


Photos: Alamy


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