Dress Codes of Charlotte Bronte
Charlotte Bronte, born in Thornton in April 1816, came into the world during the Regency period.
King George III is on the throne until 1820, after which George IV reigns until 1830.
He is succeeded by William IV until Queen Victoria ascends to the crown in 1837.
During these decades, the sartorial trends undergo many changes, and during the latter years of Charlotte’s short life, haute couture begins to appear.
Jane Eyre, Charlotte’s most successful novel, is first printed in 1847.
Critics and readers alike have tussled with the exact dates in which ‘Jane Eyre’ is set.
If we assume the lead character, Jane, is penning her memoirs in 1845 or thereabouts, and she is relating the drama of ten years past (with Rochester’s first marriage taking place 15 earlier), then an educated guess would suggest the novel is set in around 1835.
For the purposes of Rochester’s ill-fated marriage, then we can take an educated guess that it took place in around 1820.
Fashion for well-to-do women and men enters the Beidermeier period from around 1820.
This period includes the ‘demise’ of the high waists of the Regency era to more naturally-placed waistlines, widening skirts, often with pleats and voluminous sleeves.
Hems form a perfect circle, reinforced by piping and ruffles, and restrictive corsets became popular again, helping create the ‘perfect’ female silhouette.
Corsets are pleated and tightly drawn; necklines in day dresses are high, and large collars become popular.
Hats are worn including poke bonnets, made of straw and decorated with ribbon, tied beneath the chin.
Bronte Parsonage
Fans of the novel will relate to the descriptions above of the fashions of the period.
A visit to the Bronte Parsonage also reveals a great deal about the clothing worn during the Brontes’ lifetimes.
From beautiful fans to hardworking boots, the Bronte Parsonage curators showcase dresses and accessories which have survived the decades, safely on show behind protective glass.
Several of Charlotte’s dresses are displayed on a rotational basis and indicate the diminutive size of the author.
The dresses are accompanied by other surviving accessories, including shoes, headwear, stockings and bags.
It is easy to imagine Charlotte wearing these items both in her home and around Haworth.
We can also imagine her eponymous character, Jane Eyre, wearing such items as she becomes a teacher, governess and eventually, wife.
The Bronte Parsonage hosts annual exhibitions, and a recent one (2022), ‘Defying Expectations’, exhibited a clutch of items of clothing and accessories.
Part of the exhibition included Charlotte’s Berlin work bag, bonnets, shawls, a brooch, necklace, fan, a pair of moccasins, and other items.
It included recreations of the fabric print patterns thought to be popular in the time of the Brontes.
The chintz print appears to be popular for day dresses in 1835, with gigot sleeves, ribbon embellishments and lace details also making appearances for the fashionable.
During the mid-1830s, which, for the purposes of this article, is when Jane Eyre is positioning her ‘autobiographical’ tale, other popular dress trends include fichus, collars and capes.
The handheld fan becomes the vital finish touch, and there is an entire language associated with this elegant accessory.
Spin forward to 1845 and the clothed female outline has altered significantly: the gigot sleeves disappear; skirts are larger; and a pointed waistline are the order of the day.
Haworth in the Time of the Brontes
Haworth at the time of the Brontes has several weaving cottages in the heart of the village.
And as the Industrial Revolution progressed, more people moved to Haworth in order to work in nearby mills.
The Brontes lived in a district that was inextricably linked to the textile mills and at one point there are around 25 mills close by.
Therefore the Brontes and their father, Reverend Patrick Bronte, would have been fully cognisant of the importance of materials such as wool to the area.
The textile industry formed the backdrop not only to the village but the Bronte family’s lives.
In 1820, there were ten spinning mills around Haworth and nearby Stanbury.
Several of the mills also had farms attached to them.
Other trades in Haworth at the time include carpenters, tailors, clog makers, quarrymen and many more.
The famous Black Bull inn, frequented by Branwell, still stands today, and the high street, with its steep cobble incline, is little altered since the Bronte era.
The Brontes and their Fashions
Part of the Bronte mythology is the remoteness of Haworth, which Charlotte herself comments upon in her letters.
By dint of its isolated location, even when the railways begin to appear, the siblings are referred to as ‘quaint’ when their garb is described.
While this might be at times a fair comment, when we look back at the period, at the time it was completely understandable.
Haworth, beautiful though it is, was not the centre of the fashionable world.
This is reflected in many of the sister’s novels, when fashionable women are often deemed to be vain and rather shallow.
Charlotte and Emily’s stay in Brussels in the 1840s indicates how ‘unfashionable’ their dress is; in short, their garments are dated.
Emily famously refuses to change; Charlotte, meanwhile, neatens her attire accordingly.
When Anne and Charlotte travel to London in 1848, a year after the publication of several of the sister’s novels, their fashion sense is visibly dated.
They call upon Smith, Elder and Co in order to prove their identity: a trip that is hastily arranged, and one that Emily doesn’t undertake.
From these moments in the brief lives of the Brontes, we can discern that their dress sense was in keeping in some ways with their geographical location.
Their own opinions of how women should dress are absorbed into their various works of fiction and poetry.
‘Jane Eyre’, of all the Bronte novels, describes in detail the fabrics, headwear and fashion statements of the characters in the various chapters.
The structure of the novel, published in three volumes, reflects the ‘three stories/storeys’ of Thornfield Hall (structurally and via three characters: Jane, Rochester and Bertha).
This could be mapped upon the structure of the body: upper parts, midriff and lower extremities.
The Corset
Often lambasted as an aid to female repression, both literally and physically, the corset is a piece of ‘clothing’ which holds tension within its very word, design and purpose.
While there are differing arguments from feminist scholars as to the wearing of the garment, it is safe to say, corsets were commonly used in the nineteenth century.
The Bronte Parsonage showcases a child’s corset belonging to Charlotte.
While corsetry is undeniably part of the dress code of the mid-nineteenth century, we are also reminded of Jane’s famous words: “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will …”.
The imagery and symbolism of the corset are also apparent in the various references to Jane and Mr Rochester’s ribs in the text.
Charlotte’s Dresses at the Bronte Parsonage Museum
Regular visitors to the Parsonage appreciate the cyclical nature of the dresses on show.
Bronte enthusiasts can enjoy seeing different garments at different times of the exhibition cycle.
A selection of Charlotte’s dresses survive, yet in keeping with the times, the garments are often altered to fit subsequent owners.
The dress dates from June 1854 and is the dress Charlotte wore when setting off on her honeymoon tour.
She marries Arthur Bell Nicholls on 30th June 1854.
The colour has faded over time, and is thought to have been lavender and silver originally.
As with many dresses at the time, the garment is actually formed by two separate ones; the top and the skirt.
From the photo we can see the skirt is full and pleated onto a small waistband.
The skirt would have been worn with a small crinoline, while the top is elegant and most beautifully tailored.
We can appreciate the bodice detailing and truly imagine Charlotte’s diminutive stature
Even so, Charlotte would have had the fashionable female outline of the time, helped by corsets.
It has been argued that restrictive corseting may have shortened Charlotte’s life, however.
Given the sadly short lives of all her siblings, this may not necessarily have been the case, yet the corset perhaps didn’t encourage ‘good health’ either.
Other details on the garment include a peplum, lappets with a golden colour silk fringe and heavily pleated sleeves, the wrists having a velvet trim.
Additional items that are on display at the Parsonage include Charlotte’s wedding bonnet and veil, and a fan believed to have been given to her by her friend Ellen Nussey.
A selection of dresses that appear in the Parsonage at regular intervals include a blue flower print garment; a blue striped dress, and a cream print garment.
To Walk Invisible
The 2016 BBC television movie, ‘To Walk Invisible’ presents an excellent interpretation of the Bronte family, features detailed costumes, some of which have been on display at the Parsonage.
As with film and costume, the moving image provides a space in which to represent the characters through the clothes they wear in each scene.
From Charlotte’s demure and neat dress to Emily’s more wild attire and Anne’s unassuming print dresses, seeing the costumes ‘in the flesh’ was a real treat.
The Dress Codes of Lowood School
From Gateshead Hall to Lowood School; from Thornfield Hall to Moor House to Ferndean, Jane’s various ‘homes’ indicate a sense of restlessness in her very soul.
Comparing this to Mr Edward Rochester’s sojourns, his globe-trotting dwarfs that of Jane’s.
In both instances, they meet and describe various dress codes, fabrics and accoutrements.
Jane and Rochester clash in Millcote when Rochester attempts to buy Jane the finest silks following their betrothal.
Yet let us wind back to Jane’s unhappy childhood at Gateshead Hall, wearing her pinafore while she carries out household chores.
She meets Mr Brocklehurst, whom she describes as a black pillar (“sable-clad”) and describes her Aunt as being well dressed.
Jane is sent to Lowood School (based on Cowan Bridge) wherein the daily ritual is harsh, including the meagre uniform (which is, post-Brocklehurst, improved upon).
The Lowood uniform is severe and restricted
Jane describes it as: “brown stuff frock of quaint fashion, and long holland pinafores …” in line with Brocklehurst’s merciless regime.
In contrast, and on seeing the Misses Brocklehursts at Lowood.
“The two younger of the trio (Fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had gray beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls.’, hypocrisy is the order of the day.”, recalls Jane.
Miss Temple, Jane’s mentor at Lowood, appears to be of great influence to Jane; Jane even purchases a new dress for Miss Temple’s wedding, after which Jane advertises her governess skills in order to seek a servitude.
She advertises her skills as a governess in a regional newspaper, and she is offered a role at Thornfield Hall, near Millcote (thought to be Leeds).
Sartorial Elegance at Thornfield Hall
On meeting Mrs Fairfax, housekeeper at Thornfield Hall, for the first time, Jane describes her as wearing: “… a widow’s cap, black silk gown and snowy muslin apron …”
Jane as governess writes: “I … put on my black frock – which, Quaker-like as it was, at least had the merit of fitting to a nicety – and adjusted my clean white tucker …”
Adele Varens, the French pupil who Jane is to teach, is often described as spoilt and indulged.
Mr Rochester brings Adele a present from his travels, a frock which sense Adele into ecstasies (and which is referred to later when Rochester’s houseguests stay at the Thornfield Hall).
Earlier in the novel, Adele also described as wearing “rose-coloured satin, very short, and as full in the skirt as it could be gathered … a wreath of rosebuds circled her forehead; her feet dress in silk stockings and small white satin sandals.”
When Adele prepares to greet Rochester’s guests, she dons her pink satin frock, with its long sash and lace mittens.
Jane herself wears her finest dress, “the silver-grey one, purchased for Miss Temple’s wedding, and never worn since … my sole ornament, the pearl brooch” is also worn.
Mr Rochester, on their first, unexpected meeting, is described by Jane: “His figure was enveloped in a riding cloak, fur collared, and steep clasped.”
In the same encounter, Jane describes herself: “a black merino cloak, a black beaver bonnet; neither of them half fine enough for a lady’s maid.”
Contrast Jane’s attire with that of Celine Varens, one of Rochester’s mistresses, whom he presents cashmeres and diamonds.
Compare this to Grace Poole who wears a list slipper; prim cap; white apron and handkerchief.
The House Party
Mr Rochester’s house party, including Miss Ingram, are closely described: their attire includes one character wearing “a crimson velvet robe, a shawl turban of some gold-wrought Indian fabric …”
Miss Ingram is later described as wearing “ … a morning robe of sky-blue crape; a gauzy azure scarf was twisted in her hair.”
Jane also describes Miss Ingram’s riding attire: “Her purple riding-habit almost swept the ground, her veil streamed long on the breeze; mingling with its transparent folds, and gleaming through them, shone rich raven ringlets.”
Jane also describes the rest of the house party “a flock of plumy birds”, the ladies often wearing spotless white.
The ‘Play Within a Play’.
Various costumes are donned for the ‘play within a play’ (the game of charades which takes place on evening): tellingly, attic wardrobes are raided (from the third storey).
These include “… shawls, dresses, draperies of any kind; and certain wardrobes of the third story were ransacked, and their contents, in the shape of brocaded and hooped petticoats, satin sacques, black modes, lace lappets &c,; were brought down in armfuls …”
These details seem to refer to fashion relating to the mid-eighteenth century and are described closely by Jane.
It would be safe to assume these items of clothing, perhaps long forgotten in the attic rooms, are testament to the hereditary wealth of the Rochester Estates.
As the plot progresses, Rochester dresses as a female gypsy (red cloak, black bonnet, striped handkerchief) in a bid to garner some ‘home truths’.
Jane assumes she is the only one to detect that the gypsy is Mr Rochester in disguise.
Miss Ingram and other members of the house party appear to be taken in by the performance.
Audiences today could be forgiven for thinking this an odd chapter in Jane’s story.
In some film and TV adaptations, this event is completely missed out, or is re-imagined.
Jane is later summoned to return to her dying Aunt Reed’s bedside, and she travels to Gateshead Hall, where she meets her cousins (one dressed in flowing attire, the other puritanical).
Here, Jane’s fortunes take a different turn.
One letter, secreted away by Aunt Reed, changes Jane’s life (although we don’t see the consequences of this until later in the novel).
Jane returns to Thornfield when she again experiences an unexpected meeting with Rochester, during which she wears a bonnet with a veil.
The veil offers her a gauzy shield against showing her true feelings.
After the Proposal
We share Jane’s joy when Jane and Rochester are set to marry; Rochester and Jane travel to MIllcote, visiting a silk warehouse:
“He fixed on a rich silk of the most brilliant amethyst dye, and a super pink satin.”
Jane protests, threatening to wear her lilac gingham, that such luxurious items are not suitable for her.
She describes her own wedding attire on the morning when the nuptials are due to take place: “I saw a robed and veiled figure, so unlike my usual self that it seemed almost the image of a stranger.”
The veil, so recently rent in two by the mysterious visitor to Jane’s bedroom, is now a plain square of blond.
We can imagine, following the failed wedding ceremony, Jane disrobing, and taking on the mantle of her real self.
The title Mrs Rochester eludes to her, the first Mrs Rochester exists in the attics.
Very little of Bertha’s attire makes it into Jane’s memoir.
The description of Bertha is problematic to the modern reader and feminist literary criticism and post-Colonial criticism has tackled the conflict.
When Jane and Bertha finally meet, we can imagine Jane is her puritanical wedding garb, compared to Bertha’s white shroud.
This encounter, which has been foreshadowed in the preceding chapters, is visually compelling and deeply problematic.
Critics have interpreted that Jane is here meeting ‘her darker self’: Jane, once encountering Bertha in her ‘cell’ , is more sympathetic.
The Sojourn to Moor House
Jane flees Thornfield and after experiencing homelessness and starvation, she is taken in at Moor House, the home of St John Rivers and his sisters, Diana and Mary.
Jane becomes a teacher at Morton School and meets Rosamund Oliver, a neighbour whose family helps set up the school-room and cottage.
Rosamund is described as having an exquisite appearance: a purple riding habit, an Amazon cap of black velvet.
St John is in love with her (his own dress-sense being impeccable), yet no marriage takes place.
During her time in Morton, Jane hears that she is an heiress.
During the second of two ‘unlikely events’ (the first being the gypsy scene), it is revealed that St John and his sisters are in fact Jane’s cousins.
Jane turns down St John’s proposal of marriage, and in the supernatural element of the story, hears Mr Rochester calling out her name across time and space.
Ferndean
Jane travels to Ferndean, meets Rochester.
He is blind following the fire at Thornfield Hall, during which his wife took her own life, and reader, she marries him.
During her conversations with Rochester, he suggests that St John’s apparel “half strangled with his white neckcloth, and stilted up on this thick-soled high-lows” to which Jane replies that St John dresses well.
Later, following their marriage, Rochester recovers sight in one of his eyes: he can discern that Jane wears a pale blue dress and a gold watch chain around her neck.
Conclusion
Charlotte, more so than her author sisters, ensures us as readers have detailed facts when it comes to fashion in ‘Jane Eyre’.
Much is revealed by Jane’s opinions and descriptions, no doubt imbued by Charlotte’s own opinions of the dress codes of the day.
While today much can be revealed by what we wear, in the mid-nineteenth century this was no less so.
In fact, it was probably more apparent as the Bell/Bronte’s identity was eventually revealed.
We can also imagine how cumbersome the clothing was to the Brontes, not perhaps while at their writing desks, but when they were walking the moors in all weathers.
Seeing their shoes and other items on show at the Parsonage truly highlights how unsuitable some of their attire was for the terrain that surrounded them in Haworth.
Charlotte in particular seems to have been the more ambitious of the siblings.
She has strong opinions which are expressed through Jane Eyre in her titular novel.
As with the many petticoats, layers, ruffles and embellishments of the gowns and accessories the Bronte’s wore, such is depth and textures of the characters in Jane Eyre.
While characters in the novel are described from Jane’s perspective, which of course could be a stumbling block.
Perhaps we feel some characters are perhaps not as fully ‘drawn’ as they could be.
We can also imagine Jane wearing all of Charlotte’s surviving dress, and vice versa.
Further reading
An article in Vogue:
https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/bronte-sisters-clothes
George Smith and the Brontes:
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte (Oxford Classics).
Charlotte Bronte’s Corset by Katrina Naomi, The Bronte Society.
The Brontes’ Haworth, by SR Whitehead, Ashmount Press.
Fashion, a Concise History, by Gertrude Lehnert, Laurence King.
Costumer and Fashion, by James Laver, Thames & Hudson.
Sixty Treasures: the Bronte Parsonage Museum, The Bronte Society.
Celebrating Charlotte Bronte: Transforming Life into Literature in Jane Eyre, by Christine Alexander and Sara L Pearson, The Bronte Society.
The Corset: A Cultural History, By Valerie Steele, Yale University Press.
Fashion: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century Volume One, Taschen.
The Bronte in Context, edited by Marianne Thormahlen, Cambridge University Press.
The Oxford Guide to the Brontes, by Christine Alexander and Margaret Smith, Oxford University Press.