Queen Victoria

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

I would have preferred to see Charlotte in a navy coat with a navy headband instead of mini-adult mourning attire, especially since George was (appropriately, in my opinion) in navy.

I know that sometimes people went way overboard in their ostentatious mourning costumes, and I think the rules about half-mourning were a bit silly.  But I always like the idea that one of the reasons people wore mourning was so others would know to treat them gently because they are still fragile. 

I also found it interesting that - and correct me if this is just an urban legend that has been debunked - the reason Coco Chanel introduced black as a predominant color in her fashion collections was because she was mourning the death of her lover and she wanted to see the whole world mourn with her.  Also, I believe that lover was a Nazi.

[CyrilSebastian]

Did not some gentlemen wear grey trousers?

[fairy]

I would have preferred to see Charlotte in a navy coat with a navy headband instead of mini-adult mourning attire, especially since George was (appropriately, in my opinion) in navy.

I know that sometimes people went way overboard in their ostentatious mourning costumes, and I think the rules about half-mourning were a bit silly.  But I always like the idea that one of the reasons people wore mourning was so others would know to treat them gently because they are still fragile. 

I also found it interesting that - and correct me if this is just an urban legend that has been debunked - the reason Coco Chanel introduced black as a predominant color in her fashion collections was because she was mourning the death of her lover and she wanted to see the whole world mourn with her.  Also, I believe that lover was a Nazi.

Well she might have been mourning some lover, but certainly not the Nazi, who lived HEA on Mallorca till his death at 8o+. She had been together with him until well into the 50s and at that time the LBD was already a phenomenon.
In fact the LBD was est. around the same time as the famous Chanel 5: in the mid 20s.

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

I would have preferred to see Charlotte in a navy coat with a navy headband instead of mini-adult mourning attire, especially since George was (appropriately, in my opinion) in navy.

I know that sometimes people went way overboard in their ostentatious mourning costumes, and I think the rules about half-mourning were a bit silly.  But I always like the idea that one of the reasons people wore mourning was so others would know to treat them gently because they are still fragile. 

I also found it interesting that - and correct me if this is just an urban legend that has been debunked - the reason Coco Chanel introduced black as a predominant color in her fashion collections was because she was mourning the death of her lover and she wanted to see the whole world mourn with her.  Also, I believe that lover was a Nazi.

Well she might have been mourning some lover, but certainly not the Nazi, who lived HEA on Mallorca till his death at 8o+. She had been together with him until well into the 50s and at that time the LBD was already a phenomenon.
In fact the LBD was est. around the same time as the famous Chanel 5: in the mid 20s.

So nothing of the story of the origin of black fashion/Chanel is what I had heard!   

Thanks for the good and accurate info! 

[erinoco]

There was a lot of controversy about it at first, starting with the Queen herself who jealously guarded the perqs of her office. But I think for the most part there was an eventual acceptance that Albert kept her on a steadier course, and therefore the affairs of the nation were less erratic as well.

Of course, much of this wasn’t known to the public as a whole, who thought of the Queen as a figurehead.

[Gemsheal]

I would have preferred to see Charlotte in a navy coat with a navy headband instead of mini-adult mourning attire, especially since George was (appropriately, in my opinion) in navy.

I know that sometimes people went way overboard in their ostentatious mourning costumes, and I think the rules about half-mourning were a bit silly.  But I always like the idea that one of the reasons people wore mourning was so others would know to treat them gently because they are still fragile. 

I also found it interesting that - and correct me if this is just an urban legend that has been debunked - the reason Coco Chanel introduced black as a predominant color in her fashion collections was because she was mourning the death of her lover and she wanted to see the whole world mourn with her.  Also, I believe that lover was a Nazi.

Well she might have been mourning some lover, but certainly not the Nazi, who lived HEA on Mallorca till his death at 8o+. She had been together with him until well into the 50s and at that time the LBD was already a phenomenon.
In fact the LBD was est. around the same time as the famous Chanel 5: in the mid 20s.

So nothing of the story of the origin of black fashion/Chanel is what I had heard!   

Thanks for the good and accurate info! 

If she did invent the little black dress as a mourning dress and in the early 1920's it could have been for her lover, Arthur "Boy" Capel who was killed in a car crash. 

[fairy]

Well, Capel died in 1919. Vogue hailed the LBD a staple of a woman's wardrobe in 1926.... And applauded the fashion house for disassociating the colour black from mourning.
So if Coco had intended the LBD as a mourning piece, it failed spectacularly and it became really famous a good time later...
Alas, she might not have grieved the death of a lover, but perhaps experienced a rather unlucky and unhappy love affair? Break-ups and unrequited love hurts just as bad as the final loss of a person, you simply don't get much sympathy from your surroundings.