Saw the Victorian Mourning Exhibit at the Met last week. The exhibit was great, but smaller than past fashion exhibits. Really great selection of artifacts though, including a dress worn by Queen Victoria. Stark white walls and curtains showed off the dresses nicely. Sad period-appropriate music also played. I took photos of some of the captions. In this post, the captions are below the thing they are describing.
The above was probably my favorite. I love the black stone jewelry and the corset top that is fitted and loose at the same time. As you can read in the description, decorative tucks everywhere as mourning attire becomes fashionable.
I was excited to see some jet (a soft coal rock) jewelry...having done
a post on this pretty recently.
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| British necklace 1860. Jet, metal |
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| British necklace 1860. Jet, metal |
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| late 19th century mourning necklace and locket. Onyx, gold, seed pearl, hair |
No Victorian mourning exhibit would be complete without hair brooches. There were a few lovely examples. I love the way the hairs were woven. I've seen Victorian mourning jewelry where the hair is just a lock...nothing decorative at all. It's much more morbid than these beautiful weaves. I especially like the Tiffany's one.
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| Brooch, 1850, hair, jet, pearl, gold, crystal. Engraved on underside: Chas T. Evans/Obt. at sea, /Sept, 20, 1852,/AE 29 yrs. |
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| Tiffany & Co. Brooch 1868: gold, black enamel, pearls, hair. Also engraved with person's name on underside, but didn't catch it on the description. |
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left: mourning locket 1859: glass, gold, hair engraved on back: In memory of 17 May 1859.
Right: Mourning brooch, 1874: diamond, agate, hair (could not see the hair...stared at this forever) |
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| Brooch with portrait of girl, 1860, watercolor on ivory, gold, mother of pearl, glass |
Here's Queen Victoria in an evening dress worn by her in 1894-5. I was surprised at how short she was. She had to have been about my height. 5 feet tall. I'm standing next to her in the second picture. I was also surprised at how--no offense implied, Your Majesty--big she was. Two of me would fit in her dress.
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| the gold fringe was similar to the doily fringe patterns of the time. |
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| (omg the ligatures in the captions drove me nuts.) |
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| "mourning attire could disguise a lack of genuine grief"--probably why we don't wear everyday mourning attire today. |
The Moire fabric dresses were interesting. I didn't realize this fabric was around so long.
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| love the collar and the moire fabric. |
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| armwarmers? |
Here is a brief note about men's mourning fashion:
The exhibit had a gift shop that was kind of lacking. They had lovely jewelry that was crazy expensive (shown below) but no exhibition book. I was really disappointed, since I was hoping to get a catalog or book. Lately the exhibitions have had books...
Outfit shot in the Met bathroom:
What was your favorite?
