Jane Austen's 250th: Jane Austen's Wardrobe with Hilary Davidson

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, we are hosting a week of literary events for books on and about the great author!

Hilary Davidson is associate professor and chair of MA Fashion and Textile Studies at the Fashion Institute of
Technology, New York. She has curated, lectured, broadcast, and published extensively in her field and is author of Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion and Jane Austen's Wardrobe.

Hilary joins us to delve into the clothing of one of the world's greatest authors, providing unique and intimate insight into her everyday life and material world.

What did Jane Austen wear?

Acclaimed dress historian and Austen expert Hilary reveals, for the first time, the wardrobe of one of the world's most celebrated authors.

Despite her acknowledged brilliance on the page, Jane Austen has all too often been accused of dowdiness in her appearance. Drawing on Austen's 161 known letters, as well as her own surviving garments and accessories, this book assembles examples of the variety of clothes she would have possessed-from gowns and coats to shoes and undergarments-to tell a very different story.

The Jane Austen that Hilary Davidson discovers is alert to fashion trends but thrifty and eager to reuse and repurpose clothing. Her renowned irony and wit pepper her letters, which describe clothes, shopping, and taste. Jane Austen's Wardrobe offers the rare pleasure of a glimpse inside the closet of a stylish dresser and perpetually fascinating writer.

"An intriguing and wholly original approach to Jane Austen... A most delightful book and a must for every Austen reader." ~ Claire Tomalin, author of Jane Austen: A Life