Category: Fashion & Beauty

Ep102: The Thing About Lady Bertram's Shawl with guest Laboni Islam

3/6/2025

Fanny's brother is headed back to sea, and Lady Bertram has a request (or two) for him. Poet and arts educator Laboni Islam joins us for this episode as we discuss Lady Bertram and her requested shawl(s). In addition to delving into the history and context surrounding these shawls, Laboni also shares details of her related project from her time as a Reimagine Resident at Jane Austen's House.

Thank you so much to Laboni for joining us for this episode! You can find Laboni's poetry project here and learn more about her other work here.

Ep88: The Thing About the Bennet Sisters' Shoe-Roses

4/24/2024

Grab your dancing slippers and your shoe-roses because the Netherfield Ball is right around the corner, and the Bennet sisters are ready to party. This episode we take a look at the fancy footwear frills of the 17th and 18th centuries and the ways in which those trends transitioned into the Regency era.

Selected Sources

Cunnington, Cecil Willett, and Phillis Emily Cunnington. Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century. Boston, Plays, 1972. http://archive.org/details/handbookofenglis00cunn.
———. Handbook of English Costume in the Nineteenth Century. Boston: Plays, inc, 1971. http://archive.org/details/handbookofenglis0000cunn.
Davidson, Hilary. Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.
Earnshaw, Pat. “Lace for Your Shoes: The Impractical Vanity.” The Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club 70 (1987): 22.
Fairholt, Frederick William. Costume in England: Glossary. G. Bell and sons, 1896.
Lester, Katherine, and Bess Viola Oerke. Accessories of Dress: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Courier Corporation, 2013.
Pendergast, S., T. Pendergast, and S. Hermsen. Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear Through the Ages. Vol. 3. UXL, 2003. https://books.google.com/books?id=-tIZAQAAIAAJ.
Poppy, Pat. “The Clothing Accessory Choices of Rachel, Countess of Bath, and Other Mid-Seventeenth-Century Women.” Costume 54, no. 1 (March 2020): 3–29. https://doi.org/10.3366/cost.2020.0141.
Severn, Bill. If the Shoe Fits. New York: McKay, 1964.
Wallace, Beth Kowaleski. “Traveling Shoe Roses: The Geography of Things in Austen’s Works.” In Jane Austen’s Geographies, edited by Robert Clark, 115–27. Routledge, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351235341.
Webster, John. “The White Devil.” In The Dramatic Works: The White Devil, The Duchess of Malfi., London: Reeves & Turner, 1612.
Wilcox, R. Turner. The Mode in Footwear: A Historical Survey with 53 Plates. Courier Corporation, 2008.

EP85: The Thing About Henry's Great Coat

3/13/2024

Transcript

If Catherine is now riding with Henry after stopping at Petty-France for two hours and there are X number of capes on Henry's great coat and Y number of inches separating Catherine from Henry in the curricle (and WOW does Henry's hat sit so well), exactly how blissfully happy is Catherine in this moment?
The answer is innumerable, friends.

Selected Sources

Cunnington, C. Willett, and Philis Cunnington. Handbook of English Costume in the Nineteenth Century. 3rd ed. Boston: Plays, Inc, 1971. http://archive.org/details/handbookofenglis0000cunn.
Davidson, Hilary. Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion. New Haven ; London: Yale University Press, 2019.
Derry, Stephen. “Freud, The Gothic, and Coat Symbolism in Northanger Abbey.” Persuasions 18 (1996): 48–53.
Henderson, Robert. “‘Not Merely an Article of Comfort’: British Infantry Greatcoats During the War of 1812.” Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 75, no. 301 (1997): 23–36.
Le Bourhis, Katell , ed. The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789-1815. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989.
Somerset, Henry Charles FitzRoy. Driving. London: Longmans, Green, 1889.
Waugh, Norah. The Cut of Men’s Clothes: 1600-1900. Reissued. New York: Routledge, 1987.

Ep75: The Thing About Sir Walter's Looking-Glasses

9/15/2023

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest baronet of all? Sir Walter is busy gazing at his own image, so we're here to chat 18th-century mirrors. Join us this episode as we reflect upon the significance of Sir Walter's many looking-glasses and have ourselves a glasswork gabfest.

Selected Sources

Auerbach, Nina. “O Brave New World: Evolution and Revolution in Persuasion.” ELH39, no. 1 (1972): 112–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/2872293.
Brodey, Inger Sigrun. “Persuasion and Persuadability: When Vanity Is a Virtue.” Persuasions 15 (1993): 235–44.
Hadsund, Per. “The Tin-Mercury Mirror: Its Manufacturing Technique and Deterioration Processes.” Studies in Conservation38, no. 1 (1993): 3–16. https://doi.org/10.2307/1506387.
Kaplan, Laurie. “Sir Walter Elliot’s Looking-Glass, Mary Musgrove’s Sofa, and Anne Elliot’s Chair: Exteriority/Interiority, Intimacy/Society.” Persuasions On-Line25, no. 1 (2004). https://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol25no1/kaplan.html.
Maxwell, Christopher. “People in Glass Houses: The Polished and Polite in Georgian Britain.” In In Sparkling Company: Reflections on Glass in the 18th-Century British World, 39–68. Corning, NY: The Corning Museum of Glass, 2020.

Ep74: The Thing About Marianne's Washing

9/7/2023

Miss Steele has questions about Marianne's washing, and we are here to answer them. This episode we air some dirty laundry and get into the sudsy specifics of how Jane Austen and her contemporaries went about obtaining clean clothes in an era before washers and dryers.

Selected Sources

Austen, Jane. “Autograph Memorandum of Personal Accounts, [1807 Dec.],” December 1807. The Morgan Library and Museum. https://www.themorgan.org/literary-historical/81561.
Blank, Antje. “Dress.” In Jane Austen in Context, edited by Janet Todd, 234–51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316036525.020.
Collier, Mary. “From The Woman’s Labor. An Epistle to Mr Stephen Duck.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52290/the-womans-labor-an-epistle-to-mr-stephen-duck.
Davidson, Hilary. Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.
Dyer, Jenny. “Georgian Washerwomen: Tales of the Tub from the Long Eighteenth Century.” Continuity and Change 36, no. 1 (May 2021): 89–110. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416021000072.
Styles, John. The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

Ep69: The Thing About Lizzy's Needlework with guest Dr. Jennie Batchelor

6/16/2023

Needlework in Jane Austen's novels is commonly referred to as simply "work." But what exactly does this work entail, and why is it important to characters like Elizabeth Bennet? Guest Dr. Jennie Batchelor is here to answer these questions and more. We discuss the difference between plain and fancy needlework, the significance of needlework in the pantheon of ladylike accomplishments, and the ways in which needlework functioned as a Regency woman's CV.

Thank you so much to Jennie for joining us for this episode! You can learn more about her and her work at www.jenniebatchelor.net. Jennie's digital catalogue of embroidery patterns from the Lady's Magazine can be found at ladysmagazine.omeka.net. You can find Jennie on Twitter @JennieBatchelor and on Instagram @BatchelorJennie.

Ep66: The Thing About Anne's Bloom

4/27/2023

What is bloom? And can you purchase it at Sephora? This week we're taking a look at the broader historical and cultural context surrounding Anne's bloom in Persuasion. If you have ever had your bloom restored by a brisk walk on the Cobb, this episode is for you.

Selected Sources

Charmantier, Isabelle. “Linnaeus and Race.” The Linnean Society, September 3, 2020. https://www.linnean.org/learning/who-was-linnaeus/linnaeus-and-race.
Eddleman, Stephanie M. “Past the Bloom: Aging and Beauty in the Novels of Jane Austen.” Persuasions 37 (2015).
King, Amy M. Bloom: The Botanical Vernacular in the English Novel. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Lynch, Deidre. “Introduction.” In Persuasion, by Jane Austen, edited by James Kinsley. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Müller-Wille, Staffan. “The Love of Plants.” Nature 446, no. 7133 (March 2007): 268–268. https://doi.org/10.1038/446268a.
Sturrock, June. “Dandies, Beauties, and the Issue of Good Looks in Persuasion.” Persuasions 26 (2004).

Ep65: The Thing About Mrs. Allen's Muslin with guest Dr. Hilary Davidson

4/12/2023

Henry Tilney is discussing muslin with Mrs. Allen and Catherine Morland, and the ladies are impressed. This episode we're joined by fashion historian Dr. Hilary Davidson for an examination of muslin as both a textile and a fashion statement in Austen's time. There's also some busting of popular Regency fashion myths. If you have ever lost sleep worrying over your sartorial choices, this episode is for you.

Thank you so much to Hilary for joining us for this episode! You can learn more about Hilary and her work at http://www.hilarydavidson.net and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @FourRedShoes.

Ep60: The Thing About Frank's Haircut

1/29/2023

Our scissors are sharpened, and we're ready for a stylish new 'do. Lucky for us, Frank has just returned from London and can fill us in on all the latest trends. This episode we take a look at popular hairstyles for Regency gentlemen and delve into some of the reasons why these looks became fashionable.

Selected Sources

Burns, Robert. “On Mr Pit’s Hair-Powder Tax,” 1795. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertburns/works/on_mr_pits_hair_powder_tax/.
Evans, Chris, and Alun Withey. “At the Edge of Reason: Shaving and Razors in 18th-Century Britain.” HistoryExtra. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/at-the-edge-of-reason-shaving-and-razors-in-18th-century-britain/.
Higginbotham, Adam. “Scot Free.” The Observer, September 7, 2003, sec. Film. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/sep/07/features.magazine.
Issawi, Danya. “Thinking Hard About Their Hair.” The New York Times, November 11, 2021, sec. Style. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/style/tiktok-hair-boys-men.html.
Markiewicz, Emma. “Hair, Wigs and Wig Wearing in Eighteenth-Century England.” Doctoral Thesis, University of Warwick, 2014. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/66909/1/WRAP_THESIS_Markiewicz_2014.pdf.
Philips, R. The Book of Trades, or Library of the Useful Arts. London: R. Phillips, 1815. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_book_of_trades_or_Library_of_the_use/dfPNhd6vIRgC?hl=en&gbpv=0.
Rifelj, Carol de Dobay. Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture. University of Delaware Press, 2010.
Samuel Marknäs. “‘Casting Off Powder:’ The Death of the Powdered Wig and Birth of British Sartorial Modernity, 1795–1812.” Master’s Thesis, Uppsala University, 2021. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1560395/ATTACHMENT01.pdf.
Stewart, Alexander. The Art of Hair Dressing, Or, the Gentleman’s Director, Etc. London, 1788. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Hair_Dressing_Or_the_Gentlema/4KA4YmUgpi4C?hl=en&gbpv=0.
Xin, Wendy Veronica. “The Importance of Being Frank.” Novel 52, no. 1 (May 1, 2019): 23–43. https://doi.org/10.1215/00295132-7330074.

Ep56: The Thing About Robert Ferrars' Toothpick-case

12/10/2022

We're out running errands with Elinor Dashwood, which means we are headed to Gray’s in Sackville Street. There's a gentleman there inspecting all the toothpick-cases, and Elinor is not impressed. This episode we are taking a closer look at Robert Ferrars, Elinor's future brother-in-law and a man with exacting taste in dental hygiene accessories.

Selected Sources:

Adkins, Roy, and Lesley Adkins. Jane Austen’s England. New York: Viking, 2013.
Comyn, Sarah. “‘Bringing Her Business Forward’: Jane Austen and Political Economy.” In The Routledge Companion to Jane Austen, by Edited by Cheryl A. Wilson and Maria H. Frawley, 193–204, 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429398155-15-18.
Dadlez, E. M. “Form Affects Content: Reading Jane Austen.” Philosophy and Literature 32, no. 2 (2008): 315–29. https://doi.org/10.1353/phl.0.0024.
Graber, Maura J. What Have We Here?: The Etiquette and Essentials of Lives Onced Lived, from the Georgian Era through the Gilded Age and Beyond…, 2021.
Miller, D. A. Jane Austen, or, The Secret of Style. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2003.
White, Laura M. “From Jewelled Toothpick-Cases to Blue Nankin Boots: Austen, Consumerist Culture, and Narrative.” In The Routledge Companion to Jane Austen, edited by Cheryl A. Wilson and Maria H. Frawley, 180–92. New York, NY: Routledge, 2021.

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