The Austen Touch
Fashion has been known to draw inspiration from fiction. What impact did Jane Austen's fictional works have on fashion through the years?
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Seemingly far on the spectrum of art, fashion and literature often hold a great deal of influence on our lives. Many argue that while literature shapes ideas and beliefs, fashion may be trivial and superficial. This ideology highly underestimates the role fashion and costumes play in storytelling. Fashion and literature both dwell in a place of fantasy, allowing the consumers to escape. They have a constant exchange of influence that we don't stop to examine a lot. Iconic pieces of literature have given us characters that continue to inspire designers through the decades; from Anna Karenina to Miss Havisham. These icons were first styled with a pen, yet they continue to invoke inspiration in designers as well as readers.
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Fashion and literature have countless intersections throughout history. Both art forms that feel inherently personal, they continue to guide each other. Coco Chanel rightly said "fashion is not something that exists in dresses only." A melange of these two radically different mediums aids each one to flourish and grow.
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Many iconic pieces of fashion are owed to the literary world. For instance, Holly Golightly's Little Black Dress which has become a fashion staple in every wardrobe. Many believe she was a product of Hubert de Givenchy; however one read of Truman Capote's original novel reveals Givenchy's work was aided greatly by the highly fleshed out character on the pages.
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“It was a warm evening, nearly summer, and she wore a slim cool black dress, black sandals, a pearl choker. For all her chic thinness, she had an almost breakfast-cereal air of health, a soap and lemon cleanness, a rough pink darkening in the cheeks.”
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Virginia Woolf's Orlando, a tale of an androgynous nobleman dressed in feminine furs and laces continues to be relevant in the new wave of gender fluid couture. Orlando was the base inspiration for a Burberry menswear show in 2016 which featured androgynous clothing inspired by the book featuring everything from Elizabethan ruffles to delicate chemises.
Picture credit: Wikipedia
Picture credit: Vogue.com
Picture credit: Insider.com
Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy for Breakfast at Tiffany's, Looks from Burberry's Fall 2017 show inspired by Orlando
While a plethora of authors have continued to inspire designers, Jane Austen has been an irreplaceable source for fashion from the Regency period. Fashion went through major changes in the years Austen was alive. It reflected the changing societal scenario around it, as clothes often do. Austen has used brilliant words to style her characters and fleshed out a treasure trove of style icons who have continued to influence fashion through the decades.
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In her infancy, Austen was no doubt surrounded by the formal splendour characteristic of the late 1700s. Voluminous silks and exaggerated corsets defined the female silhouettes at the time. By the time Austen actually began writing her earlier novels like Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey, the clothes evolved to much simpler silhouettes and lighter fabrics. There was a heavy influence of the Grecian form with high-waisted empire lines made with sheer white muslin. The vibe was that of innocence and girlhood. Austen described this brilliantly in her characters of the time.
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Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice is undoubtedly the most beloved and popular Austen character of all time. Beautiful, intelligent, strong, and an unapologetic feminist, Lizzie is someone every woman aspires to be. She was the poster child of classic Regency-era fashion. Swathed in clean whites, burnished browns, and a variety of earthy natural tones; Lizzie was often described in flowy dresses. The delicate silhouettes and light fabrics like linen and muslin would fit right into 2019 with the current generation's love for all things minimal. Apart from a book, Lizzie was often seen with a bonnet. While they are elusive in the current scenario, a recent Marc Jacobs rainwear collection featured a modern take on bonnets.
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While Lizzie stood for the innocent and virginal fashion of the time, the bold silhouettes sans the corset were highlighted in the outfits of the antagonists. Caroline Bingley was often shown in deep tones of green and red. She also favoured velvet and silk to the lighter fabrics. Jewel tones and velvet have become essential to most fall wardrobes.
As the times graduated, so did the fashion. When Austen wrote Emma and Mansfield Park, there was a more decorative shift to the dresses. The fashion moved away from the earth tones and basic patterns to little more detailed textiles.
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Jane Austen's work continues to catalyse the work of several designers internationally. In 2017, Gucci's catwalk featured models carrying book clutches stamped with the titles of Austen's novels. The Elizabethan ruffles, spencer-like bolero jackets, and empire line silhouettes on the Alexander McQueen and Vera Wang collections would fit right into one of her novels as well.
Picture credit: Vogue.com
Molly Goddard Fall 2017, Alexader McQueen Fall 2017, Vera Wang Fall 2017
Not only her books, but her stories have given rise to a number of film adaptations that have spawned a number of iconic fashion moments. Clueless, for instance, is a cult classic based on Emma. Cher Horowitz and her impossible to replicate style has cemented the film's influential status in the sartorial sphere. From the classic yellow plaid co-ords to her fire engine red slip dress, every outfit has inspired a number of looks years after the film's original release.
Closer home, Aisha broke ground in the sartorial department as well. Another movie inspired by Emma and starring Sonam Kapoor, it featured a lot of coveted brands. From Aisha's lilac and white lehenga, to her vintage bags, and even her yellow Volkswagen Beetle; she truly became a 2000s style icon for Indian millennials to look up to.
Picture credit: TheIrishSun
Picture credit: Vagabomb
A still from Clueless, A promotional picture for Aisha
Looking at the influence of Austen's work on the fashion in India currently, we were curious to find out the impact it had on desi clothes decades back. We interviewed 75 year old Ila Kamdar to find out more.
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With a love for knitting, sewing and embroidery, Mrs Kamdar had always been fond of clothes. Sitting in an armchair bundled up in a beautifully self-embroidered floral shawl and a dull brown saree, her eyes twinkled when I asked about the wardrobe of her maiden days. Excited, she started showing me pictures of herself where, unencumbered by the boundaries a young bride in olden India was often pressured to follow, she wore trousers and maxi skirts and sarees with short blouses. One picture, in particular, caught my eye. A boat neck white knit that was delicate and almost see-through. "I knit it myself. I have it in two colours," she said proudly as I complimented the risqué blouse. It was reminiscent of the revealing European fashion in the Austen-era with light colours. Moving on to the skirt pictures, I noticed they were either pastels or earth tones; majorly greens, browns, and mustards. These looked like they had been picked right off of Elizabeth Bennet.
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Most of Mrs. Kamdar's outfits featured scarves or shawls. They were exquisite hand-loomed shawls made of cotton, or silk, or fine muslin. These scarves seemed to add volume to the thin fabrics and silhouettes of the garments underneath. Sombre colours and subtle chintz which were more suited to a restrained British taste decorated these shawls. These shawls were used by Austen through a lot of her books with varying colours and fabrics helping to flesh out personalities.
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It was enlightening to see just how deep the roots of Jane Austen's influence on fashion, not just in our Western counterparts but back home as well. Literature, when crafted by a good author can gift us characters that resonate with us on a personal level and capture our fascination for centuries. A true skill, Austen mastered it perfectly and continues to paint the sartorial scene with her words years after she created the masterpieces.