Queen Victoria was arguably the first emo – pasty-faced, reluctant to go outside and dressed exclusively in funereal weeds. Partly inspired by her 40-years of performative widowhood, Victorian society devised an elaborate set of grieving rituals. Widows were expected to spend at least a year dressed completely in black, overlaid with stiff, scratchy crepe. After a year they could switch to “half-mourning” – still black, offset with touches of white and purple – and minimal jewellery, though with