Heather Uhlman

Austen Material Culture Project

4/29/2015

For this material culture project I made a inspired Regency Era bonnet.

My research consisted of film, photographic, and journal references to familiarize myself with both modern adaptations of Regency Era costume as well as direct references to historical apparel. I also consulted my grandmother who was, for over 20 years, the director of historical costumes collection and a docent at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC. I didn’t make a direct reproduction of any particular bonnet I saw; I wanted to make a piece that represented my own personality while also heavily relying on Regency style.

Bonnets in the Regency period were such a large part of personal fashion, as well as an indication of marital status, not to mention sun protection. Women’s fashion in the

Regency Era and in Austen’s works is indicative of the sort of women wearing it, thus the extensive variety and prevalence of headwear in film adaptations and historical references. I viewed many Jane Austen film adaptations to gather inspiration for this project. The Joe

Wright’s , as well as Ang Lee’s provided many quite beautiful examples of fancy bonnets, as well as some plain ones. The wedding scene at the end of Sense and Sensibility was of great use and reference for this project. I particularly loved Anne Elliot’s purple bonnet that appears in many scenes in Adrian Shergold’s 2007 adaptation of Persuasion .

I found this amazing straw base to start with. Then I sourced the materials from a variety of fabric and hobby stores, as well as my personal costume creating stash. I worked with a sewing machine and quite a lot of hot glue, even though these construction methods are not historically relevant. I hope that I created something that is both relevant to Austen’s works with a touch of modern flair.

The Jane Austen Center website was also a quite helpful style reference for me while gathering ideas about how I wanted this bonnet to materialize. I’ve attached some of the pictures that I referenced from a Google search that I used for picking my materials.

Works Cited

"Jane Austen Centre." Jane Austen Centre . Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

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Persuasion. Dir. Adrian Shergold. Perf. Sally Hawkins, Alice Krige, Rupert Perry-Jones.

PBS, 2007. DVD.

Pride and Prejudice . Dir. Joe Wright. Pref. Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth, Susana Harker,

Crispin Bonham-Carter. British Broadcasting Company. 1995. DVD.

Sense and Sensibility . Dir. Ang Lee. Perf. Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, James Fleet.

Columbia Pirctures Corporation. 1995. DVD