Tag: vignette

An Illustrated Vignette

Brigid Huey

My daughter has always been my biggest fan. She enthusiastically tells everyone about my writing. She is an amazing, loving child.

When I told her I was writing a vignette about Darcy and Elizabeth, she was very interested. What’s a vignette? What’s the Lake District? What do they do there?

I told her a little of the story line for the vignette I’ve written, to be published later this summer as part of Meryton Press’ Summer Holiday blog series. After asking me a few questions for accuracy, she went off and created this illustration for me:

“Miss and Mr Darcy on Vacation”

I love, love, love the way we only see Darcy and Elizabeth’s legs and feet. And I love the little detail of their Scottie dog. Of course, as soon as I asked her if I could post the picture on my website, she started fretting about getting it “right.” Luckily, I was able to convince her that it was this version I adored, and she let me have it without a fuss.

So there we have it. A perfect little illustration of my vignette that has something to do with Elizabeth and Darcy, the Lake District, and a picnic. (The Scottie dog was my kiddo’s addition, but I do wish I had thought of it!)

The exact date of publication is still to be determined, but I will let you know as soon as I know! In the meantime, check out the other vignettes already posted. They are so much fun.

Nineteenth Century Fashion

Brigid Huey
19th Century Fashion by Terrize on Deviant Art

What began as research for a vignette (more on that later), has developed into a deep dive into the history of women’s fashion in England. I’ve always loved the costumes in Austen films, but I never realized just how interesting those free flowing, form showing dresses were in regards to history.

As you can see in this lovely graphic by Terrizae on Deviant Art, the empire waist dresses with their freely moving skirts were a mere blip on the map of fashion. As early as 1830, those big skirts were back.

Beautiful as they were, the large hoop skirts made it difficult to move about in a normal way. Can you imagine just trying to sit down in one of those? I think most of us modern ladies would have a hard time managing. And let’s not even think about going to the bathroom!

So why, then, did the empire-waist come into fashion at all? According to historic-uk.com, there was a renewed interest during this time period on Classical works of art and literature. That is to say, the Greeks and Romans were cool again, and people wanted to dress like them.

What I find so amusing is the fact that these dresses, like the one Elizabeth Bennet wears in every adaptation, were considered bold and daring! I confess, I would love to have each and every one of the dresses in this pretty graphic, if only I had somewhere to wear them!