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The Bridge - 1861 - Erasmus+
FASHION DURING JANUARY UPRISING
As you know, on 22.01.1863 January Uprising occurred in Poland against the Russians. However I want to present you how our outfit looked like at that time - Women of XIX century.
January Uprising is commonly linked with the term of national mourning ,however mourning was announced two years before uprising. "Żałoba Narodowa" which means National Mourning, was announced on 3.03.1861. The reason for that was the death of five participants of manifestation dealt by Tsar authorities. Then in the times of fabulously colorful dresses, Warsaw faded into black and gray colors.
Colorful and white outfits were allowed only for brides and at patriotic feasts. Anyway mourning didn't only applied to the outfit, but also affected the moods and atmosphere. Balls, social gatherings, or any other kind of party, were considered inappropriate and participation in one brought the danger of going into disrepute. We wore black dresses with covered breasts, often decorated with white collars and cuffs (white was the color of freedom).
Fashion Magazine instructed that not only outfit color must be black , it also shouldn't contain any unnecessary decorations, it should be humble.
Young girls tied hair into traditional curls, people turned back to the more traditional outfits .Even children and their dolls were dressed black ,which was shown even on shops' exhibitions. Black shawls and covering veils were also important part of the whole outfit .Poles gave away gold jewelry for the sake of National Government, and were wearing iron ones .They often wore crosses, thorn crowns , chains and other patriotic and religious symbols .As you can imagine tsar authorities tried to forbid the mourning , they set the fines for using it. Everyone who wore black was obliged to have a death certificate, proofing the lost of father ,mother of husband, otherwise they might not be allowed to departments ,bureaus, or they could be punished with more serious penalties.
The Poles hold on in their resolutions, they didn’t fear. And the mourning continued not only in outfit, but in their hearts.
They began to lose husbands, brothers, sons in the fights against the enemy.
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