The Regency Wardrobe
A beautiful and intricate collection of fine art wardrobe pieces created from paper and thread by artist Stephanie Smart, on display throughout the House from September to November.9 Sep â 16 Nov 2025
The Regency Wardrobe is an extraordinary collection of Regency garments, accessories and footwear created by fine artist  Stephanie Smart. Each piece is handmade from paper and thread, exquisitely constructed and decorated.
From September to November 2025, elements of the collection will be displayed throughout Jane Austenâs House, with stunning fashion pieces displayed in every room, creating a new dialogue with the House and collection and bringing it to life in a new way.
In 2017 Stephanie Smart established The House of Embroidered Paper; a unique fashion house and fine art studio. Each garment produced is a work of paper textiles, created using only paper and thread; inspired by period and place, history and story. At the end of 2019 Stephanie began a 15 month period as Artist-in-residence at The Regency Town House, Brighton & Hove. There, with the help of town house volunteers, she began to develop The Regency Wardrobe collection.
The Regency Wardrobe is centred around 11 life-sized outfits, complemented by 12 accessories, four wall-hangings and a jewellery box. Each piece is accompanied by related research text and imagery but, in accordance with her practice, it also stands alone as a piece of intricate and intriguing decorative fine art. Developing her use of paper as a medium for garment construction, with embroidered and applied decoration, she has created a collection thatâs broader in scope in terms of its relationship to local social history and a particular historical era than any sheâs worked on previously.
In order to inform her understanding of Regency fashion Stephanie has made a series of visits to see garments from the Regency period currently held in private collections and museum stores; which she has documented on her website, under the title The Hidden Wardrobe.
The Regency Wardrobe residency was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, by a professional Development Award from The Textiles Society and material sponsorship from Great Art