A daughter or sister wears a long veil over her face at the funeral. The
length of the veil may be to her waist or to the hem of her skirt, and it
is worn for from three months to a year, according to her age and
feelings. An older woman wears deep black for her parents, sisters and
brothers for a year, and then lightens her mourning during the second
year. A young girl, if she is out in society or in college, may wear a
long veil for her parents or her betrothed, if she wants to, or she wears
a thin net veil edged with crepe and the corners falling a short way down
her back--or none at all.
Very young girls of from fourteen to eighteen wear black for three months
and then six months of black and white. They never wear veils of any sort,
nor are their clothes trimmed in crepe. Children from eight to fourteen
wear black and white and gray for six months for a parent, brother, sister
or grandparent. Young children are rarely put into mourning, though their
clothes are often selected to avoid vivid color. They usually wear white
with no black except a hair ribbon for the girls and a necktie for the
boys. Very little children in black are too pitiful.
=EXTREME FASHION INAPPROPRIATE=
Fancy clothes in mourning are always offenses against good taste, because
as the word implies, a person is in _mourning_. To have the impression
of "fashion" dominant is contrary to the purpose of somber dress; it is a
costume for the spirit, a covering for the visible body of one whose soul
seeks the background. Nothing can be in worse taste than crepe which is
gathered and ruched and puffed and pleated and made into waterfalls, and
imitation ostrich feathers as a garnishing for a hat. The more absolutely
plain, the more appropriate and dignified is the mourning dress. A "long
veil" is a shade pulled down--a protection--it should never be a flaunting
arrangement to arrest the amazed attention of the passerby.
The necessity for dignity can not be overemphasized.
=BAD TASTE IN MOURNING=
Mourning observances are all matters of fixed form, and any deviation from
precise convention is interpreted by the world at large as signifying want
of proper feeling.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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