Fashion to Die For: Mourning Dress & Jewellery

Join Kate Cadman, our Collections Curator, as she unravels the etiquette of mourning attire alongside original garments and jewellery from IGMT’s Collections.

One of the most enduring symbols of the Victorian era is that of Queen Victoria, dressed in the black mourning attire she wore for her beloved husband, Prince Albert, for forty years.

With such a high-profile example — and high mortality rates throughout the period — a whole fashion industry grew around the appropriate manifestations of grief. Strict conventions, especially for women, dictated everything from the fabrics and colours worn, to the jewellery that completed the ensemble.

This talk is part of IGMT’s ‘Twilight Tales’ series of talks, exploring the darker, stranger, and more unusual stories from history and our Collections.