Fashion is daring, and every now and then announces some startling innovation in the way of gay street-dress. But the public sentiment of refined people is so definitely fixed in favor of quiet dress for public thoroughfares that these "daring" fashions soon become the sole property of the ignorant class.
Dress for church, or for business, should be plain in design, and subdued in color; and for most occasions when a lady walks to pay visits or calls, a plain tailor-made costume is most suitable. Carriage dress may be gayer in colors, and more dressy in style of cut and trimmings.
When a party of ladies attend the theatre, unaccompanied by a male escort, or with no conveyance but the street-car, ordinary walking costume, with quiet bonnets or hats, is correct style. Box parties, presumably arriving in carriages, may dress as prettily as they choose, subject to the general laws of taste.
A woman should not mix up her wardrobe, and wear a theatre bonnet to church, or carry a coaching parasol to a funeral.
Black, or very subdued colors, should be worn to a funeral.
Any color, except black, may be worn by a guest at a wedding. Black lace may be used in the trimmings of rich-colored gowns (though white lace is preferable); but solid black is not allowable. Women who are wearing mourning sometimes lay it aside to attend a wedding, substituting a lavender or violet gown, or, in some places, a deep red, usually in some rich fabric, as velvet or plush.
The etiquette of wearing mourning is less rigorous than formerly. The tendency is more and more to leave the matter to individual feeling. When the mourning garb is adopted, the periods of wearing are shorter, and the phases of change from heaviest to lightest are fewer and less punctilious.
Whether a full mourning dress of crêpe be worn, or not, it is generally conceded that it is more respectful to wear plain black than to appear in colors during the months immediately following the death of a near relative. The length of time that mourning dress should be worn is a matter of taste; but it should not be laid aside too soon, as though the wearing were an unpleasant duty; nor should it be worn too long, for the sombre robe has a depressing effect on others, especially invalids and children.
Those who prefer to follow a strict law of etiquette in mourning will observe the following rules:
A widow wears deep mourning of woolen stuffs and crêpe for two years.