Half-mourning
Also: light mourning
Half-mourning was the last stage of Victorian mourning dress: crape dropped, black joined by gray, white, lilac and violet.
Half-mourning was the lightest stage of mourning dress, the one that led back to ordinary colors. In S. Annie Frost's 1870 description, crape was dropped, and a woman could wear light grays, white with black trimming, lilac, and black lace bonnets with white or violet flowers, with lace collars and jet jewelry set in gold.
How long did half-mourning last?
It depended on the relationship and on the source. In the Paris rules Frost reprints, a widow could wear gray, violet and white in the last six months of two years. An 1878 compilation gives French widows six weeks of half-mourning after a year of deep and ordinary mourning, and French mourners for a wife, father or mother three months of half-mourning after three months of deep.
Which colors counted?
The sources differ. The 1878 compilation says half-mourning is “black and white,” and that in the French scheme it is “black and white, gray and violet.” Frost's chapter on color says that lavender takes black for half-mourning, while mauve takes white or black for slight mourning. See Black, and Not Just Black for the stages that came before, and crape for the fabric that was dropped.
Sources
- The Art of Dressing Well (1870), S. Annie Frost. Library of Congress (digitized book)
- Sensible Etiquette of the Best Society (1878). Library of Congress (digitized book)
See also
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