After her husband died Queen Victoria went into mourning for forty years...her love was gone and could not be replaced. Depending on how you look at it this is either wildly romantic or depressing as hell. What can be agreed upon however is that it kicked-off a trend for elaborate rituals related to mourning...where to go, how to act, what to wear...

"A widow's bonnet should be of heavy crape, with white crape or tarletan border, and the veil must be worn over the face. At the end of three months she may wear the veil depending from the back of her bonnet. This deep veil must be worn a year, and mourning must be worn two years. Many widows never return to gay colors, and some wear mourning the rest of their lives.

Though the subject is a little morbid, a lot of the clothing and jewelry from that period is beautiful. Dark, structured...embellished with jet, beading and lace...and, in a lot of cases, of a very high level of quality and craftsmanship.

The reason for my funereal fascination this morning is that TopShop has added some pieces of Victorian mourning wear to its Archive section. My personal favorite is the mourning jacket, dating from the 1860's and satisfyingly sequined and pin-tucked (a pair of jeans and I would be good to go)...but the puff-sleeved mourning jacket and lace-trimmed and beaded mourning blouse are also very appealing. As Queen Victoria probably wouldn't have said, "We are most amused."