All in black but not a funeral in sight: the black suit and the 19th century man

This chapter gives both an overview of the reasons behind the adoption of the black suit by men in the 19th century (considering social, political and economic factors) and aims to move away from accepted 'histories' and to put forward a more balanced account of the era by challenging the convenience of some of the more established and over-generalised 'conclusions' often put forward in historic overviews of this period.