Jane Austen's Wardrobe

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By Hilary Davidson, Yale University Press

This glorious book takes the delightfully novel approach of placing all of Jane Austen’s known clothing together within a virtual wardrobe to allow the reader to rummage through and select an article on a whim. It can also be viewed chronologically to gain an insight into the development of Austen’s style and taste within the context of her daily life and more significant events. Contextualising the details of Austen’s expenditure for 1807 within that of other contemporary accounts, Hilary Davidson is able to reveal that Austen spent nearly half her annual income on clothes and their upkeep, with 27.4% spent on garments themselves and 18.3% on sending them to be professionally laundered.

Davidson has meticulously scoured all of Austen’s 161 surviving letters for their references to fashion and items of dress and brought to life 32 gowns, 11 coats and wraps, 13 pieces of headwear, 15 accessories and trinkets, four pairs of shoes and a plethora of undergarments. Using contemporary fashion plates and examples from museum collections where Austen’s items are not available, everything is represented in clear, precise detail. Each reference is also wonderfully complete, with Jane Austen buying sufficient Irish linen to make six shifts which would take years of wearing and boil-washings before finally being donated to a widowed neighbour so the worn but soft linen could be reworked for her children or used to make nappies for her baby.

Davidson has achieved an incredible feat of research; when I was writing my Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen in 2010, I attempted to include every known item of Jane’s, but a few things remained. Those that do were scattered far and wide with little conclusive evidence of their provenance. I included her oak leaf pelisse, her muslin shawl and topaz cross from Jane Austen’s House, Chawton, and the blue silk embroidered shoes and reticule from her brother’s, Edward Austen Knight’s estate. Davidson is able to include far more, with some beautiful close-up photographs that show details such as the incredibly fine stitches with which Austen has mended her muslin shawl.

She also includes a beautiful delicate linen pocket handkerchief that Jane embroidered for her sister Cassandra with her initials encircled by a wreath of flowers. Davidson identifies this as the only verified example of Austen’s needlework. It displays conclusively that her satin stitch is impeccable, and the praise given to her needlework was not exaggerated.

••• Sarah Jane Downing