Falling in love with Jane

Slightly disappointing exhibition at Berrington Hall, the National Trust property near Leominster, of clothes from various film and television adaptations of Jane Austen novels.

It was disappointing because the advertising as you drove up made it sound like quite a big exhibition and let’s be honest there were pictures of Colin Firth in “the shirt” which caught my interest, but in fact there were only about 10-12 outfits and none from that particular production.  However it was nice to see outfits you remembered from on screen and to see them in the context within which the originals would have been worn. They did add interest to the interiors.

What was not mentioned in the advertising was a really interesting room of original clothes and material used to show different material types and styles. I was amazed at how gaudy some of the fabric looked. There was also a room of original agricultural labourer’s smocks.

The different parts of this exhibition could have been brought together more coherently and the advertising could have been a bit more honest and a bit less popularist.

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