Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion

Yale University Press

This lively book brings to life the clothing and fashion of the world depicted in Jane Austen’s beloved books, focusing on the long Regency between the years 1795 and 1825.  During this period, accelerated change saw Britain’s turbulent entry into the modern age, and clothing reflected these transformations.  Starting with the intimate perspective of clothing the self, Dress in the Age of Jane Austen moves outwards through the social and cultural spheres of home, village, countryside and cities, and into the wider national and global realms, exploring the varied ways people dressed to inhabit these environments.  Jane Austen’s famously observant fictional writing, as well as her letters, provide the entry point for examining the Regency age’s rich complexity of fashion, dress, and textiles for men and women in their contemporary contexts. Lavishly illustrated with paintings, drawings, historic garments, and fashion plates – including many previously unpublished images – this authoritative yet accessible book will help readers visualize the external selves of Austen’s immortal characters as clearly as she wrote of their internal ones. The result is an enhanced understanding of Austen’s work and time, and also of the history of one of Britain’s most distinctive fashion eras.

REVIEWS

‘With this debut, Davidson… has done a superb job…This extensively researched and beautifully illustrated book is fascinating to read, fills a gap in Austen scholarship, and makes an impressive contribution to Austen studies.’ Publishers Weekly

‘This book is a very good example of history lightly worn but also a serious work of scholarship. The concept of taking one notable writer whose novels capture a period and to use her and her pin-sharp observation to illuminate a historic period is a clever one and Hilary Davidson makes it work perfectly.’ Colin McDowell

‘The best book on Regency dress ever written’ Paula Byrne, Times Literary Supplement

‘Combining meticulous scholarship and intellectual heft with an engaging, approachable style is one of the most difficult writing tasks there is, but Davidson makes it seem effortless’ Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald

‘A sumptuous book, its 180 beautifully reproduced colour plates complemented by Yale’s high-quality design features, and Davidson draws her details from a vast range of sources… thoroughly informative’. Times Literary Supplement

‘One of those books that you wish could just go on and on. At 300 plus pages, one would think I’d be satisfied, but the topic is so interesting, and Hilary’s approach is so novel that I could do with a few more chapters.’ The Vintage Traveler

‘The study ranges widely and with alert curiosity, shedding light on both the literature and the social history of Regency Britain…Dress in the Age of Jane Austen does far more than it appears to promise; it is a pleasure to look through and a book to come back to time and time again.’ Rory Muir