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Guest Review: JANE AUSTEN'S FASHION BIBLE by Ros Ballaster
- Sophia Rose
- 12 minutes ago
- 3 min read
ABOUT THE BOOK
Two beautifully crafted worlds are brought together in this celebration of Regency fashion and the writing of Jane Austen. Exquisite color drawings from Regency magazine La Belle Assemblée and their entertaining descriptions are matched with much-loved passages from Jane Austen’s published novels, letters, and manuscript fiction. Professor Ros Ballaster’s lively commentary guides the reader through this fascinating book. From elaborate evening gowns and elegant walking dresses to charming seaside outfits, Jane Austen's Fashion Bible brings to life the world of Jane Austen.
OPENING LINES
“This book pays due homage to the aesthetic achievement of both the fashion journal, the makers whose skills it showcased and the fiction Austen spun about women’s lives.”
GUEST REVIEW by Sophia Rose
John Bell, Sr., owner of the journal La Belle Assemblée, stated the elegant woman espoused not just an elegance of fashion but also mind and manners. Sound familiar from a certain exchange at Netherfield Park? Dr. Ros Ballaster, Oxford professor and Jane Austen expert, marries period fashion to Austen’s works, creating an elegant, artistic literary piece in her recent release, Jane Austen's Fashion Bible.
Beginning with an introduction from the author and then flowing into Austen’s Juvenilia, gleaning examples of Austen's earliest writing style but also her earliest sense of fashion, the Jane Austen’s Fashion Bible progresses through the novels and Regency-era fashions until finishing at the unfinished point of Sanditon.
Using fashion plates and offering detailed descriptions, Ballaster presents styles suited to the occasion, such as court dress, riding habits appropriate to the location, pelisses matching the season, and day dresses for any time of day. She mingles mode with excerpts from Austen’s letters and works.
Personally, I’m a fan of the ‘undress’ description of a lady not at home to visitors in her simple, comfortable, working attire. However, I think I could be persuaded (ha, this is a pun paired with the excerpt in Persuasion for the party to Lyme) to appreciate the seaside promenade gown with a yellow satin leopard spotted hat, zephyr lace cloak, and a straw-colored, yellow crepe robe gown and yellow Morocco slippers.
The fashion descriptions were detailed enough for the reader's imagination to picture the weight, sound, and feel of the fabrics, as well as to see in one’s mind's eye the scene in which such apparel would be worn, thanks to the author’s curated excerpts from Austen's works and letters.
Thus, Jane Austen’s Fashion Bible is a lush resource for those looking to understand and describe a Regency lady’s attire from sunup to beyond sundown and for any occasion or an Austen-loving reader who has a hankering for fashion descriptions not unlike Jane herself.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ros Ballaster is a writer and professor at Oxford University who specializes in eighteenth-century literature and is an expert on Jane Austen.
ABOUT GUEST REVIEWER Sophia Rose
Sophia is a quiet, curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants, and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and a loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, baseball, cats, Scooby Doo, and chocolate. As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. In 2012, she submitted her first book review and is currently an associate reviewer.
Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener, which allows her to experience many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction, particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Sorry, no horror...or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby. Connect with Sophia via FACEBOOK GOODREADS TWITTER
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