Mourning Dress – Winter 1811

A woman wears a floor-length black dress with long sleeves and a high waist. The dress has white lace cuffs and a high, standing collar of white lace. The neck is trimmed with black fur which continues in two vertical lines down the skirt to the hem. Black, diamond-shaped decorations are interspersed between the two lines of fur. A black ribbon fastens under the bust with two black squares. She wears a black, fur-edged cape loosely wrapped around her shoulders. Two black tassels on a loop of black cord or beads hang from her right shoulder. The woman wears a necklace and earrings of black, diamond-shaped beads. Her bonnet is soft, black and trimmed with both black and white feathers. She wears a black glove on her right hand, while her left hand is bare. She holds a white handkerchief with both hands and looks down.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges