History Main / WidowsWeeds

* Victorian tradition gives copious details for how a widow is expected to dress after her husband's death, and for how long. To cease wearing mourning too soon was a sign of promiscuity. And it's not just one set of clothes either, middle-class etiquette dictated a set of 3 to 7 dresses, from full black crepe to shades of gray to finally blue (just because her husband is dead does not excuse his wife from flaunting his wealth). It got to the point where the largest clothing store in London was solely devoted to selling mourning clothes. If you were poor, you could make do with dying your regular clothes black (that's how dyers in Victorian England made most of their money) or you could borrow mourning weeds from family (it's the Victorian Era, someone's always dying somewhere).

* Jackie Kennedy Onassis at JFK's funeral, where she wore a black veil per Catholic tradtion. Her widowhood lasted until her marriage to tycoon Aristotle Onassis 5 years later, and she wore a black leather jacket and sunglasses at Aristotle's funeral.

* In the "Where Were You on the Night Batman was Killed?" arc in ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'', ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} wears widows weeds to the JokerJury trial being held to determine who deserves credit for killing Batman. She dramatically whips the weeds off to reveal her costume when she takes the stand. Several villains object to her making a show of mourning the Caped Crusader.

* In ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery'', Miriam wears this as a part of the robbers' scheme to persuade the conductor that her supposedly deceased husband's coffin may travel inside the train's secure vault.

* ''Series/TheCrown2016''. Elizabeth's father George VI dies while she is away on a tour of the Commonwealth, and her maid didn't back a black dress, so when her aircraft flies into London Airport (as Heathrow was called then) a black dress is brought on board so she can change into it and be appropriately dressed when she disembarks. She later meets Queen Mary who has the most awe-inspiring veil.

** Queen Victoria herself wore mourning for the rest of her life after the death of her husband Prince Albert. This is part of the reason it went out of fashion in the 20th century, notwithstanding [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI major]] [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu world events]] that killed a huge number of people have shortened the mourning period, and led to the LittleBlackDress.

* Updated at the Music/MichaelJackson funeral with the women wearing dark glasses instead of a veil. The purpose is the same, to obscure the face and hide teary eyes.