“Black became the image of the mercantile classes in the Dutch Republic, the financial centre of Europe in the first half of the seventeenth century, a fact that may have influenced Puritan sympathizers and the English middle classes to follow suit. . . . In fact, black dye was very expensive (it was difficult to achieve a durable colour). . . . Black was also essential for mourning wear in all classes, and because it was often the most expensive costume in a non-elite wardrobe, it doubled as “best” or Sunday wear as well. According to Marshall Smith’s The Art of Painting (1692), in art black was ‘the symbol of Grief, sorrow and Damnation. Yet denoteth Constancy, being the most durable Colour‘; the equivalent in precious stones was the diamond, which enabled such jewellery to be worn for mourning.”

—Aileen Ribeiro, Fashion and Fiction: Dress in Art and Literature in Stuart England, 2005.