How did Jane Austen describe clothing? How did that relate to how her contemporaries described clothing? How did those descriptions map onto the garments and accessories people were actually wearing? And how, now, can we understand relationships between the written word and worn dress in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?

Drawing on research for her new book A Guide To Regency Dress: From Corsets and Breeches to Bonnets and Muslin, fashion historian Hilary Davidson looks at the words of fashion in use during Jane Austen’s adult life and their slippery associations with actual garments. Words commonly used now to describe Regency dress such as ‘bonnet’, ‘Spencer’, ‘chemisette’, or ‘shirt’ had multiple meanings and interpretations for their original wearers. Looking at the complexities of fashion through words – the medium in which Austen excelled – helps close the gaps between what we can now read about fashion, and how those words connected with historical clothes.

Hilary Davidson is a dress, textiles and fashion historian and curator. Her work encompasses making and knowing, things and theory, with an extraordinary understanding of how historic clothing objects come to be and how they function in culture.

Hilary has worked, lectured, broadcast and taught internationally across a huge range of expertise, and is currently Chair of the MA Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory Museum Practice at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

Her publications include Dress in the Age of Jane Austen (2019) and Jane Austen’s Wardrobe (2023). Her new book,  A Guide to Regency Dress, will be published in October!

Details:
Date: Sunday 14 December
Time: 8pm – 9pm (GMT)
Location: This event will take place online. Join in from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7

✉️ This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address as you will be emailed a link to join the party in the run up to the event. 

💵 Please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

📹 This event will be recorded for ticket holders to watch again later. The recording will be available for up to three months.

🎉 This event is part of our Jane Austen Birthday Celebration, running from 12 – 16 December 2025