Was the black dress mourning wear?

[soulsister]

 Just wondering whether the black dress worn in this picture was mourning wear and how long a woman would be expected to be in mouring??

Emma

[jim1]

Why do you think it's black?

[jim1]

The mourning period was 1 year at this time.

[soulsister]

Why do you think it's black?

Good point! Suppose it is easy to assume as the photo shows it black, but always thought the dress itself looked slightly  like that worn during mourning.

Emma

[Suttonrog]

Look at the pendant round her neck.

It would change during the period of mourning, but this jewelry looks too gay for any any mourning period.

Rog

[soulsister]

Is it not spectacles?  The lady in the picture lost a granddaughter in the winter of 1908 and this photo looks to be taken around that time which is why I thought possibly a mourning period.

Emma

[chinakay]

Do you have any idea how unusual it is to have a subject smiling in an old photo from this era! Victorians never ever smiled for the camera...a public display of emotion was considered very bad form...Edwardians weren't much better. So, if your lady is actually in a mourning period, the length of which varied according to relationship to the deceased (for a child, nine months I think), showing her smiling in a portrait would be unlikely...

Just some thoughts...

Cheers,
China

[soulsister]

Thanks China

I honestly hadn't even thought about the smile, but as you say it was very unusual.  The 2 girls in the photo were born 1903 and 1906, their sister died 1908 and another sister was born 1910. As the sister 1910 isnt photographed Id presumed it was prior to her birth which woul place it closer to the death in 1908. But odd to be smiling at such time..

Emma

[yattonharry]

My grandmother and her sisters and cousins all wore black ankle length dresses in 1930s  - they were more serviceable but they weren't in mourning.

They didn't smile because of the state of their teeth in most cases, and also because they had to pose so long.

Harry