Is Death Having a Fashion Moment?

As goes the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so goes fashion — lest you need proof, see punk's resurgence following the 2013 Met Gala. And with an eerie new Costume Institute exhibition set to open this Autumn, we have to wonder: will mourning dresses be Fall's hottest trend?

Hot on the heels of reopening The Costume Institute in May as the Anna Wintour Costume Center and christening the space with one of the prettiest exhibitions to date, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is going in a slightly, er, darker direction.

For the center's first Fall exhibition in seven years — a return to mounting two special exhibitions annually — Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire will be open to the public from Oct. 21 to Feb. 1, 2015. And what can we expect? In true NYC style, the ladies (make that mannequins) will be wearing black, black, and more black. Read on to get a preview . . . if you dare! Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

The 30 looks that will examine mourning fashions of the 19th and early 20th centuries will touch on themes like why widows wore veils. "As a woman of sexual experience without marital constraints, she was often imagined as a potential threat to the social order," explained Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Costume Institute. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire