A Chocolate Wrapped In Black Crape

My first thought when I examined this old Carte de Visite from the Wolverhampton studios of Carl Holt was, who was the real woman under all these clothes?  She has the look of a bleached milk chocolate wrapped in too many layers of coloured cellophane – or rather mourning-black crape. It is high summer outside, and I am forced to wonder how people managed when the sun came out? The clue, perhaps, is in the address of Carl Holt’s studio – Winter Hill, Wolverhampton!