Mary''s other clothes ?

[L Verge]

If Donna Mc or Betty O don't jump in also, I will try to expand on this answer later. I believe that Mary Lincoln spent a good deal of her time on earth in black, mourning garb. If you want to start with the death of her mother when Mary was very young and carry through her loss of Eddie and then Willie, you can account for quite a few years.

I know that she went into mourning over Willie in February of 1862 and did not shed her widow's weeds until January of 1865, in time for the Second Inauguration. I don't remember reading whether she stayed in full mourning (all black) for the full three years, but she was following the acceptable standard of a 2-3 year period. If she emerged from all black near the end, it would have been into shades of lavender or gray or by adding little touches of white, such as the collar. Remember also, that mourning included proper mourning jewelry composed of onyx or black jet or (for the more modest income), gutta percha. We won't go into handkerchiefs, shawls, bonnets and veils, and even stationery.

She came out of mourning at the first of 1865, and went right back into it 3-1/2 months later with the assassination of her husband, and I believe that she - like Queen Victoria - stayed in mourning until her own death in 1882. Of course, Tad's death came in the intervening years also.

Getting briefly off the subject of clothing, I have always thought how awful it must have been for her to be pretty much in seclusion from 1865 on with little that she could do to take her mind off of her troubles. A lady of her stature wouldn't seek a job to earn income or relieve monotony; how many social clubs were there for her to join? Tad went to boarding school, so that left her more alone. I would think that even trips abroad might be meaningless without her husband.

Back to clothing: Ladies of her period and stature actually had clothes designed for the period of day, the purpose for which they were worn, etc. The day might begin with essential underpinnings topped by a proper morning robe - not to be confused with a bathrobe (don't descend the stairs to breakfast in your bathrobe - it was only for the bedroom and toilette). There were work dresses, even for women of better means who might still want to dust the furniture or cook a meal (sans hoop). There were simple day dresses and fancier afternoon dresses for paying calls or entertaining visitors, appropriate garb for church, certainly off-the-shoulder ball gowns, and even what most termed walking dresses, which had slightly elevated hemlines so that the dress did not drag across the grass or the mud.

Mary also went through a few cycles of style during her time. By the time of the assassination, hoops were going out of style, skirts were growing slimmer with more "back interest," which led to the famous bustle (which enjoyed two cycles of popularity in the late-1800s). By maintaining heavy mourning for the remaining 17 years of her life after 1865, she was also required to keep up with fashion. Another cross to have to bear.

BTW: Mourning customs for widowers were quite different.