Similar mourning is worn one year for a parent, or a brother or sister.
For other near relatives, from three to six months, according to degrees of relationship, is considered a respectful period for mourning.
A man's wife wears the same degrees of mourning for his near relatives that she would wear for members of her own family.
In all cases, the mourning should be "lightened" by degrees. Plain black silk, without crêpe, and trimmed with jet, belongs to a secondary period. Changes are made gradually through black and white combinations, before colors are again worn.
During the period of heavy mourning, it is not proper to attend the theatre or opera, or other gay place of amusement; nor to pay formal visits, or attend receptions, except it may be the marriage of a near friend, for which occasion the mourning dress is temporarily laid aside.
As a matter of respect, no invitations of a gay social character are sent to the recently afflicted. After three months, such invitations may be sent; of course, not with any expectation that they will be accepted, but merely to show that, though temporarily in seclusion, the bereaved ones are kindly remembered.
For men the etiquette of mourning is less conspicuous but equally formal as far as it goes. The periods of wearing mourning are usually shorter than those observed by women in similar cases, probably because the life of business men is not confined to the social world, and its restrictions are less binding upon them in details.
At the funeral of a near relative, a man wears black, including gloves, and a mourning band around his hat. Subsequently he may continue to wear black for several months, or, if this is not feasible, the hat-band of bombazine is accounted a sufficient mark of respect. The width of the band may be graduated, sometimes covering the surface to within an inch of the top, sometimes being only two or three inches wide.
As to the etiquette of men's dress in general, the tale is soon told. The "dress-suit" is worn only at dinner and in the evening. At any hour after six o'clock, a man may with propriety appear anywhere in a dress suit, though it is required only on formal occasions. Before dinner, morning dress is worn—the frock coat, or a business suit with its four-buttoned cut-away. As to the minute details of cut and dimensions, the prevailing style of linen and ties, etc.—very appropriately called "notions"—these things vary from season to season. The well-dressed man will consult his tailor and furnisher. Hats, boots, and gloves, the extremes of every perfect costume, are important exponents of good style; and careful attention to their choice and wearing is essential to complete and effective dressing.