Both of these come from the same page in a Ladies Home Journal from July of 1898.
An advertisement for summer shoes from the Pingree Company, 1898. This for Pingree Composite Shoes. “Composite” doesn’t give what the composite is, but it likely is something that is a mixture of different things- like wood pulp. Interestingly, Pingree still exists today, as a resurrection of the original company.
Length of Mourning, 1898.
This advice comes from Ladies Home Journal, July 1898 article “Side-Talks with Girls” by Ruth Ashmore.
Period of Mourning, So many inquiries have come to me as to the regulation period when the sombre dress is to be worn for different relatives that I have obtained the following information from one of the highest authorities. The regulation period for a widow’s mourning is two years; crape should be worn one year and nine months; the first twelve months a great quantity of it appears on the dress of Eudora cloth, and the veil is long and heavy. Then it is lightened, and for the last three months black without crape is proper. The widow’s cap may be worn as long as the cape is, or only for a year. Lawn collars and cuffs are also used while crape is worn. For a father or mother, black with crape; four months, black with a nun’s veiling veil, and two months all black with neither crape nor veil. The same style of dress is worn for a son or daughter. Complimentary mourning, which is simply all black, may be worn for a week or for a month according to the intimacy that exists.
Of course “crape” means “crepe”, a particular fabric made for mourning. If you’ve never seen it, here’s a good image from the Victoria and Albert Museum. You would have crepe veils, but also dresses made of crepe. I’ve had a few items in my collection come and go (I don’t have any currently), but it’s like a very highly twisted fibre, and it has a sort of rigidity to it, but also it can flow. It’s transparent, but has body at the same time, and the texture has peaks and valleys that give it a very high texture.
I always believe mourning was starting to phase out in the late 19th century, but this has suggestions that prove it was still “a thing”. In fact, it continued into WWI. I have not read it myself, but I found this article written by Lucie Whitmore that looks into WWI mourning more in depth. You can also find a page with mourning fashions from 1915 on my blog.