Can we talk fashion here for a minute? To wit, the deadly-serious debate over Bella Swan’s wedding dress in the last Twilight movie? Because I have a bone to pick with styleite.com.
The book describes the dress as something that “stepped out of an [Jane] Austen movie,” meaning very Victorian; lots of lace, mounds of tulle and slightly overworked.
NO, IT BLOODY WELL DOES NOT MEAN THAT! Could you go learn some effing history, already? Jane Austen was NOT NOT NOT a Victorian! How many times do I have to tell you?! I may be slightly overworked at this time, but Austen’s clothes were not.
Whew. OK, calming down now. But clothes are important, my friends, really they are. Jane Austen and her beautifully warm and rational heroines wore simple, rational clothes. Victorian thought and Victorian clothes were lots more about emotion and repressions. It’s just a totally different world. Maybe we don’t think Regency clothes were simple and rational, but they did. We think a) They look good wet; and/or b) Boobs! but then so did they. No really. At least these days filmmakers can get the look of the clothes right, even if they miss on when those clothes would come off. (The pond scene . . . not so much. Sorry, everyone!)
Jane Austen said a lot about her characters through their clothes. Think of Lady Catherine, who “will not think less of you for being simply dressed. She likes to see the distinction of rank preserved.” Or think of Mrs. Elton, going on about her fancy new gown, but, oh, she has such a horror of being “fine!” (OK, maybe Bella will wear Mrs. Elton’s wedding dress. Poor girl.) We don’t think Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney are silly for talking about muslin, though maybe Henry talking about it is meant to show that Catherine and Mrs. Allen are silly. And I entirely sympathize with Catherine for thinking Henry looks so handsome in his greatcoat! But Isabella Thorpe reveals her scheming mind by plotting what she and Catherine will wear, and dear Mrs. Bennet shows her silliness when she’s crying to Mrs. Gardiner about all their troubles one minute and being cheered up by the news of “long sleeves” the next. And let’s not even get started about Miss Bingley’s rants about certain people’s muddy petticoats!
The moral of all these stories seems to be: you should look good, but not look like you thought about it much. Not like you tried too hard. And is that not the very essence of cool?
austenacious 
Wow, way to trigger a long morning’s dive into historic-costume-images-on-the-internet! Nice post. I will mention that I’ve been noticing a hint of Regency flair to some of the babydoll-style dresses on the racks of late: super-snug on the boobs, then a free cascade below. (They stop shamelessly at the knee nowadays, tho.) In fact, the actress on the far left of this Twilight promo image could possibly be dubbed neo-Regency with a twist of hippy, I suppose: http://languageisavirus.com/twilight/layouts/twilight/twilight-10.jpg
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Katura: I have also noticed a resurgence of some Regency styles – actually have a post in mind sometime about that! Glad you liked it.
Miss O: No, alas my cable is still broken! Silly, I’ve known this rule all my life! Not that I wouldn’t LIKE to watch WNTW again…
Steph: “Jane Austen bodice ripper” – ew! Blech! I sense a new rant coming on!
Alexa: Yes, Northanger Abbey really is full of good clothes/fashion wisdom. I love costume history, so MOAR clothes posts are quite likely!
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“The moral of all these stories seems to be: you should look good, but not look like you thought about it much. Not like you tried too hard.”
Have you been watching What Not to Wear again? 🙂
I’m so glad that films are getting better about authentic costumes and music. Sometimes it’s jarring to see an old movie (think the Laurence Olivier P&P) and wonder about the dresses or an 80s movie (think Ladyhawke) and laugh at the synthesizer music.
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Sigh…This ranks right up there with some journalist’s (I think this was back in the late 90s/early oughts) made reference in an article about a book being akin to a “Jane Austen bodice-ripper”. Seriously? I know of no bodice ripping that occurred in any of Jane’s books. Although I would on occasion like to see some of the polite cat-fights that went on devolving into a full-on hair-pulling, clothes-ripping fight, that just wasn’t Jane’s style. Nor was bodice ripping for more lustful purposes EVER her style.
But if someone is going to refer to ANY historical period’s mode of dress, they really should DO THEIR RESEARCH. This is just as bad as combining the Medieval period with the Renaissance. SHEESH!
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A quote from Northanger Abbey springs to mind: “Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.” A lesson for the styles that both proceeding and followed the Regency – such a shame that we American’s seem to have no notion such an era existed.
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