Welcome to another exciting day of @MuseumBuddy collaboration between @ShibdenHall @BankfieldMuseum and I exploring LGBTQI connections in heritage! This afternoon we take a closer look at what our sartorial sapphic Anne Lister wore and how she challenged gender norms in doing so!
What do we know of what Anne Lister wore? Much of what we can draw from comes from this portrait of her by Joshua Horner, circa 1830. While it may not have appear very gender conforming, this would have been a real slap in the face of norms pertaining to women's fashion back then 
By 1817, Anne Lister would have made the decision to only wear black - a decision she made before visiting a certain Ann Walker, her future wife! This colour choice would have been exceptional for a woman at the time, given its association with mourning..
On 1 June 1817 her diary entry says "I have almost made up my mind always to wear black" and then on 2 September 1817 "I have entered upon my plan of always wearing black" showing this was quite a stark and bold fashion choice that perhaps needed a bit of thought and pre-planning
The fashion trend would have been, at that time, towards white and light colours for women's dresses - think of the outfits you usually see in works like Pride & Prejudice, whose adaptations on screen usually try to (more or less accurately!) represent Regency era fashion trends
But as we can see she sometimes did wear white, for instance when she visited the Queen of Denmark, something expressed in the #GentlemanJack adaptation, which places a sash as a twist drawing inspiration from light cavalry uniforms
What really strikes me in these depictions of Anne is that she draws inspiration from masculine wear and fashion not only in the use of black but in the very rigid structuring of her collar and shoulders. No décolletage here!
Anne later on in 1823 writes that she wore a greatcoat for riding, as opposed to a riding habit...another really remarkable step towards reclaiming masculine wear as her own. This is a large overcoat typically made of wool designed for warmth and protection.
What interests me in this is that Anne's very structured outfits remind me a lot of military-style outfits and the greatcoat, as it turns out, would also have been popular in the 19th century as part of a military uniform...
Just to give you an idea here is a French dragoon's greatcoat from 1812 (so a bit earlier) but you get the idea of quite a bulky, practical type of wear which would have accentuated Anne's striding about town...and would have been practice on her many, many travels
What Anne wears, specifically this long black skirt and jacket combo, looks like an everyday adaptation of riding clothing - also streamlined for practicality. What interests me is this - was she aware of other queer women wearing similar clothing? Well, it turns out...perhaps!
23 July 1822, Anne writes this about a certain Miss Ponsonby's clothes: "a blue, shortish-waisted cloth habit, the jacket unbuttoned shewing a plain plaited frilled habit shirt…". Sarah Ponsoby was one of the Ladies of Llangollen with Eleanor Butler.
We believe that the two women, who fled Ireland to escape the conventions of marriage and settled down together in Wales, were a lesbian couple - and they ALSO enjoyed flouting gender norms with their way of dressing inspired from masculine fashion!
Interesting to see here that the Ladies of Llangollen are wearing top hats but we don't have any evidence of Anne wearing one herself - though we welcome the addition to her costume design in #GentlemanJack
But we can see, in the fact that the cases of Anne wearing a bonnet being kind of exceptional, that she didn't really conform to feminine hats a lot of the time either...
I love the fact that when Anne DOES wear a bonnet it has to be black as a kind of concession:
By the way, I'm really enjoying your contributions, #AnneListerCodeBreaker people! I think it's really exciting to have collaborative research around Anne's diaries leading to a whole community of people devoted to decrypting her story!
Now hat wise we also have on the record from 2 February 1822 that Anne wore a beaver she borrowed from Isabella Norcliffe, who was one of her lovers. Have fun with that one.
What's really coming across here is that Anne's really particular about what she wears and doesn't wear.
This entry from 20 April 1824 reads "drove off in good style at a quick trot… My new hat & greatcoat on. An India handkerchief around my throat. My usual costume…"
This entry from 20 April 1824 reads "drove off in good style at a quick trot… My new hat & greatcoat on. An India handkerchief around my throat. My usual costume…"
By hankerchief we can maybe assume that she means a jabot, which would have been a silk tie tied in a knot around your neck - again, something usually attributed to masculine fashion at the time. I'd love to know more about that "new hat"...and whether it IS a top hat!
Here is also an extract that does prove that Anne wore a cravat 29 September 1821: she is encouraged to "shew myself in one of Mrs Milne’s frills stuck on over my cravat for she told me I should look better with one." The person she refers to is Miss Hall, do we know who this is?
I find the frills reference interesting, you can read it both ways: either "make your cravat more feminine" or "add your own gender-bending fashion twist to this outfit"...what do you think?
We can see in our portraits we have of Anne that she does add a ruffle to her high collar, a splash of white and frills in her otherwise severe outfit...
Interesting to look at what is happening in mainstream fashion at the time too: I have just found out about the "spencer", a fitted jacket inspired by military fashion making its way into women's fashion - here "Walking Dress" from the April 1820 La Belle Assemblée magazine issue
Looking back at this shows just how radical Anne would have seemed by contrast...here, we talk a bit about other people's perceptions of her and Anne's own awareness of them - from strangers to her own lovers, for good or worse...
OH - brilliant lead on Anne wearing a pelisse from @historywardrobe !
A pelisse in English 19th century fashion terms would have been a type of tailored women's coat...here an example of a pélisse from the @metmuseum
A pelisse in English 19th century fashion terms would have been a type of tailored women's coat...here an example of a pélisse from the @metmuseum
More info on that particular outfit from 1820 here, please note it is American so there were probably some style variations: metmuseum.org/art/collection…
But the original pelisse is a short fur trimmed jacket often worn hanging loose over the left shoulder of hussar light cavalry soldiers. It was meant to prevent sword cuts (so my sword lesbian scholar ears prick up...!) but also, let's face it, looks REALLY flamboyant:
I'd like to think that Anne would absolutely rock an original pelisse. We can see from the #GentlemanJack costume design military-style jacket inspirations going on...does this edge closer to my theories about Anne Lister fencing and wielding a sword? #WasAnneListeraSwordLesbian
Now one stereotype about lesbians is that we do love our Docs and our Birkenstocks - and well, guilty as charged. Anne also liked wearing boots rather than traditional ladies' footwear, very likely more practical when she embarked on large hikes and travelling expeditions!
I love these excerpts about Anne travelling because she takes risks, slips, slides - all of that does imply wearing more practical clothing. We are reminded she was the first amateur mountaineer to reach the summit of Vignemale in the Pyrenees in 1838.
wyascatablogue.wordpress.com/exhibitions/an…
wyascatablogue.wordpress.com/exhibitions/an…
We've also been having a buzzing conversation about Anne's undergarments and her relationship to them and finding the tightness uncomfortable
There are some mentions of underwear in Anne's diaries but as we have seen this mention of underwear is linked to her navigating it on other women, like in this extract about Ann Walker...
“At last I got my right hand up her petticoats and after much fumbling thro’ the opening of her drawers, and touched (first time) the hair and skin of queer.” (I see this "queer" term in all transcriptions of this 8 October 1832 entry and would love to know more of its use here!)
Through these examples and fragments of Anne's diaries we draw up a picture of the ways in which Anne found ways to reclaim and queer the fashion of her time - taking elements from both typically feminine and masculine style to fashion her own identity, challenging gender norms!
@threadreaderapp unroll please
