Research conducted by the University has called into question a centuries-old story behind a dress that once belonged to one of the nation’s most beloved novelists – Charlotte Brontë.
Colloquially coined the ‘Thackeray Dress’, this blue and white printed garment was always thought to have been worn by Brontë to a dinner, held in her honour at the home of her literary hero William Makepeace Thackeray on 12 June, 1850. However, a new study suggests this wasn’t the case.
By delving deeper into surviving archival material and other resources, historian and lead researcher at Southampton, Eleanor Houghton, has been able to question the presence of the dress at the 1850 dinner held in Kensington, London.
“It was a highly important social occasion for Charlotte – a public marker of her arrival on the literary scene, coming soon after the release of her best-selling novel, Jane Eyre. It’s generally accepted that Brontë wore the iconic ‘Thackeray Dress’ on this august occasion, but my research suggests this may be more rooted in myth, than in truth,” Eleanor explained.
In the paper, Unravelling the Mystery: Charlotte Brontë ’s 1850 ‘Thackeray Dress’, published in the journal Costume, Eleanor examines the style, fabric, context and history of the dress, which is normally housed at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, UK, but will shortly be at the Morgan Library, New York.
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