Established in 1994, The Course offers innovative and exciting lectures in Art History, Literature, Music and Opera.
In this series of 3, you will see from shimmering silks and sumptuous satins, glittering gold brocade to sheer muslin gowns, how artists through the ages have revelled in depicting details of dress. Whether clinging to every contour or concealing the shape of the wearer, clothing can create dynamism and drama – stories that contemporaries could read. Through the words of key dramatists and writers, and portraits in paint and print, this course will investigate how character can be created through clothing.Men in Black, Women in White? Jane Austen’s World
In the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy certainly made a “splash” in his crisp linen shirt (who could forget the scene as he emerged from the lake)? In an earlier era, Lawrence Olivier cut a dash with Greer Garson on the silver screen. To what extent did these adaptations really reflect the clothing and culture of Jane Austen’s world, or merely the worlds in which they were made?