Remember me this way: the role of clothing in contemporary British death practice Judith Mary Simpson Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Design July 2019 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. The candidate further confirms that while drafting this thesis, she has authored the following papers, which are either published or in the public domain. While there is no intentional re-use of material, similarities are possible. 2014. Materials for mourning: Bereavement literature and the afterlife of clothes. Critical Studies in Fashion & Beauty, 5(2), pp.253-270. 2014. What to wear for the afterlife in Religion and Belief: A Moral Landscape, Heath et al, Cambridge Scholars. 2015. “Upstairs Now with Billy and Don”: Spontaneous Memorials in the Footballing Community. Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network, 8(1). 2015. “Behind the bearers, the black mourning wearers…” The funeral parade as a symbol of regeneration. (Conference Paper, Symbols and Metaphors, 03 Jun 2015, University of Leeds. White Rose e-prints) 2017. The Haunted Wardrobe: Reflections on Clothing and Loss. (Conference Paper, Death, Dying and Disposal, 06-09 Sep 2017, University of Central Lancashire. White Rose e-prints) This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Ethical approval reference PVAR 13-073 © 2018 The University of Leeds and Judith Mary Simpson i Acknowledgements This thesis is dedicated to the memory of Jack Saunders (1919-2011), Rea Saunders (1919-2017), Jennifer Anne Cruse (1946-2001) and Mavis Evelyn Simpson (1927-2017). I would like to thank the following people: My supervisors, Dr Judith Tucker and Professor Efrat Tseëlon who have provided guidance and encouragement throughout. My husband Ian and my children Emily, Lewis and William for their patience and their company on museum and cemetery visits School of Design staff who have encouraged me, or gone out of their way to create time and space for me to write; Azim Abadi, Peter Rhodes, Tom Cassidy, Bruce Carnie, Jane Rushton, Amanda Hutt and Caitlin Branagan. Steve Westland for proofreading Katy Parry from the School of Communication and Media for providing encouragement and source material The staff of Coffinworks (Birmingham) for their kind interest. Patrick Bourne from Leeds Galleries and Museums for information on Victorian mourning in Leeds. Jack Mord of the Thanatos Archive for allowing me to use his images. Liverpool AFC for images of the Hillsborough memorial Alessio Prunnedu of York University for assistance with Q-sorting. Helen Frisby of the University of Bristol for conversations about folklore. Judith Roberts, Helga Mitterbacher and Jim Walker for their unfailing interest and support. ii Abstract This study examines the role of clothing in contemporary British death practice. It explores the way in which clothing supports the negotiation of loss and curation of memory in present-day Britain; considering both the historical origins of clothing practices and the reasons for their persistence. Having considered the clothes placed upon the dead body, the disposition of the clothes the dead leave behind, the clothes worn by mourners and the use of clothing as, or in memorials, the study argues that these contribute to a small number of critical objectives. They idealise the dead, refining their memory until they can be considered exemplary ancestors; they provide points of imaginal contact with these ancestral figures and they connect both the living and the dead to imagined communities which provide spaces within which the bereaved are permitted to mourn, and the dead are afforded a rudimentary kind of immortality. Despite the critical role played by clothing in personal and communal recovery from loss, this thesis also argues that clothing has affective power which, if not carefully controlled, may be experienced as a haunting. iii -- Table of Contents List of Tables .............................................................................................. vi List of Figures ........................................................................................... vii Preface ....................................................................................................... xii Literature review, part 1 ............................................................. 1 The literature considered .............................................................. 1 Academic perspectives on death .................................................. 1 Traditional approaches to death and grief ..................................... 2 Modern approaches to death and grief ......................................... 3 Postmodern approaches to death and grief .................................. 5 Death and material culture ............................................................ 7 Theoretical approaches to clothing ........................................ 11 Clothing and the experience of the group ................................... 12 Clothing and the construction of personhood .............................. 16 Clothing in the death context .................................................. 19 The dressing of the dead body .................................................... 19 Mourning clothing ........................................................................ 28 The clothing the dead leave behind ............................................ 31 Aims and Methods.................................................................... 45 Implications of the literature review ............................................. 45 Aims and research questions ...................................................... 45 Scope of the study ...................................................................... 46 Research Methods ...................................................................... 47 Analysing the data using Grounded Theory ................................ 58 Project structure .......................................................................... 62 Validity ........................................................................................ 62 Dressing the Dead Body .......................................................... 65 Historical material ....................................................................... 65 Contemporary material ................................................................ 91 Identifying key categories .......................................................... 107 Chapter summary ..................................................................... 110 : The clothing the dead leave behind .................................... 115 Historical material ..................................................................... 115 Contemporary material .............................................................. 118 iv -- Identifying key categories .......................................................... 153 Chapter summary ...................................................................... 156 The Clothing worn by mourners ............................................ 163 Historical material ...................................................................... 163 Contemporary material .............................................................. 193 Identifying key categories .......................................................... 217 Chapter Summary ...................................................................... 220 Clothing In Memorials ............................................................. 225 Background literature ................................................................. 226 Empty clothing in art .................................................................. 229 Historical material ...................................................................... 241 Contemporary material .............................................................. 251 Identifying key categories .......................................................... 285 Chapter summary ...................................................................... 288 A theory of clothing in death response ................................. 295 Identifying Key Strategies .......................................................... 297 The strategies defined ............................................................... 301 Mapping the strategies ............................................................... 306 Generating Theory ..................................................................... 310 Critiquing the theory ................................................................... 313 Refining theory ........................................................................... 319 Validity ....................................................................................... 321 Relationship to prior research .................................................... 322 Contribution to knowledge ......................................................... 323 Implications for further study ...................................................... 325 Implications for practice ............................................................. 328 Appendices..............................................................................................