Displaying items by tag: death becomes her: a century of mourning attire

“Widows are all much in demand,” sings the titular character in an English-language translation of The Merry Widow. “And if the poor things should be rich / Then there’s no end to the suitors at hand!”

And with so many gawkers gawking, a widow ought to be well dressed.

Mourning attire from 1815 to 1915 is the subject of a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire,” which opened on Tuesday in New York. And though Harper’s Bazaar urged “nun-like simplicity” of widow’s weeds in 1868, many of the frocks on display are very grand, embellished with lace, fringe and beads.

This morning the Met announced that its fall Costume Institute show will showcase 30 outfits worn by women in mourning (including dresses worn by Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra) between 1815 and 1915. Scheduled to open in the Anna Wintour Costume Center on October 21 and run through February 1, the show is titled “Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire.” The exhibition is the first time the Met has planned a fashion show in the fall since 2007. We are dying to see the show, which will showcase many garments for the first time and “reveal the impact of high-fashion standards on the sartorial dictates of bereavement rituals as they evolved over a century,” according to the press release.