Basic Trope: A person (usually a woman) wears specific clothing to show mourning.
- Straight: Alice attends her late husband Bob's funeral or visits his grave while wearing a black dress and veil.
- Exaggerated: Forever in mourning, every article of clothing Alice wears from then on is solid black. So is all of the decor in her home—furniture, curtains, carpets, etc.
- Downplayed: Alice wears a basic black dress to the funeral, but no veil, and returns to her regular wardrobe when the funeral is over.
- Justified:
- The show is a Period Piece placed in Victorian society where it would be required to wear a mourning dress.
- Alice is recently widowed and doesn't want to appear "available" to new suitors.
- Inverted: Special clothes for happy events. For example, Alice wears a white dress at the christening of Bob Jr.
- Gender Inverted: Alice is the deceased. Bob wears a black suit or armband to mourn her.
- Subverted: Alice states that she will not wear black.
- Double Subverted: ...but she does, anyway.
- Parodied:
- Alice is the deceased. Bob wears a black dress and veil to mourn her.
- Someone protesting the election of a high official they don't approve of wears mourning for the death of the nation.
- Zig Zagged: Multiple funerals take place. Traditional mourning is worn to some but not all of them.
- Averted: The society has no particular color or style that indicates mourning.
- Enforced: Victorian England is the setting of the story, where mourning would be required.
- Lampshaded: Alice is shopping for the funeral clothes and tells the sales clerk it should be black for mourning.
- Invoked: Bob is leaving on a dangerous mission. To lighten the mood, he jokingly assures Alice he'll be careful, because she doesn't look good in black.
- Exploited: A funeral director designs a line of mourning clothes and profits from selling it.
- Defied: Bob has left a last request that people are to wear bright, cheery clothes to his funeral.
- Discussed:
- Alice wears a blue dress to Bob's funeral, and her sisters wonder why she didn't wear black.
- Alice wears a black dress to school or work. She is not mourning anyone, but her friends teasingly ask, "Who died?"
- Conversed: Alice and Bob wonder how black became the traditional color of mourning, research the question, and compare notes.
- Played For Laughs: Bob is leaving on a dangerous mission. After he assures Alice he will be careful, there is a Gilligan Cut to her in a black dress and veil. It becomes a Running Gag with Charlie, David, Edward, Frank....
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