Dress in the Age of Jane Austen

“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, using the life, the letters and the novels of Austen as an entry point into her exploration of clothing, its modes of production, its aesthetics, and its social meaning.”—Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald

“Dress in the Age of Jane Austen is an exemplary model of how to read historical dress—the objects themselves and their presentation in text and images—that was well worth the wait.”—Michele Majer, Costume

“[The author] gives fascinating insights into Austen’s appearance and also her attitudes to fashion.”—Matthew Westwood, The Australian

“What Davidson generously presents her reader with . . . is a systemic primer of Regency fashion, using Austen’s works and her context as a starting-off point and as the object that the analysis explicates.”—Denise Baxter, Journal of Modern History

“With this debut, Davidson . . . has done a superb job of placing clothing in Jane Austen’s fiction and in her journals and letters within the larger context of Regency fashion and its reflection of a rapidly changing, and globalizing, society. . . . 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 (starred review)

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2020