'Charlotte was interested in fashion and colour'

The Yorkshire Post brings a lovely sneak peek into this year's temporary exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

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Historical research, proving the provenance of a rather fashion-forward dress she wore, suggests Charlotte Brontë may have been more of her time.

This never-before-shown gown is now to take centre stage under an exhibition in Defying Expectations, alongside some of her more brightly coloured and even exotic attire.

Ann Dinsdale, principal curator at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said it shares a rare insight into the person she was.

Ms Dinsdale said: “Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is one of the best loved books in English literature.

“I think people have come to believe the author and protagonist are one and the same. And that, like Jane, Charlotte wore gowns in sepia shades, with plain lines.

“This exhibition sets out to change that and show that actually, Charlotte was interested in fashion and colour.”

The exhibition is co-curated with Dr Eleanor Houghton, an historical costume consultant, writer and illustrator, whose research has proven the provenance of this new dress.

And while she may not have been fully fashionable, the author’s surviving clothes do show that she followed some styles and trends.

Far from always being dressed in ‘drab, dark gowns’ like her heroine Jane Eyre, it highlights some of the more colourful and exotic accessories in Charlotte’s wardrobe.

One foldable parasol hat, described as an ‘ugly bonnet’, proves she was up to the minute with some trends, as seen in William Powell Frith’s 1851 painting of women lounging on Ramsgate Sands.

While the majority of the Brontë clothes were from mills close to home, the research shows, they were of the finest fabrics and dyes.

Brightly coloured shawls from India, meanwhile, and a wedding bonnet from France, show Charlotte was connected with the world.

Ms Dinsdale said: “There’s an idea that the Brontës were shut away from the world, in Haworth. But we know they did travel, we know they knew what was happening around them.

“Clearly that also concerned fashion.

“People do think that Charlotte always wore these plain, drab clothes. But she wasn’t years behind the times, she was very much a product of when she lived.

“The new dress was clearly one meant for her London visits, after the publication of Jane Eyre. She would have attended all kinds of glittery events like the opera.

“She needed a wardrobe for that new life she was leading.”

The exhibition, Defying Expectations, runs until the end of the year.

Ms Dinsdale said: “It’s really exciting, we can’t wait to share it. It’s such a lovely, visual and colourful exhibition. I think Charlotte Brontë is going to surprise people.” [...]

One of the first published accounts by the modernist author Virginia Woolf was of a visit to Haworth in around 1904, and of a trip to the Brontë Museum as it was then on Main Street.

Ms Dinsdale said: “She was brought up short by the sight of Charlotte’s dress - because it made her realise that apart from being a great literary mind, she was a real woman.

“This is the first time such an exhibition has ever been held. These dresses do lose people. They remind visitors that as well as being writers, the Brontës were real women.” (Ruby Kitchen)

Great British Life suggests '7 romantic walks for Valentine's day in Yorkshire' and one of them is

Brontë romance - Haworth Moor  

Straddling the Pennines, this invigorating walk sweeps through the wild moorland and heather which was an inspiration for the Brontë sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne. The paths and track on this route provide views up to Top Withens ruins, connected locally to Emily’s famous novel Wuthering Heights and the surrounding moors. The walk is 4.8 miles long. (Kathryn Armstrong)

Still in Yorkshire, Yorkshire Live features a local log cabin seen on a Channel 4 programme which is

located near enough to Hebden Bridge, Saltaire and Wuthering Heights' Gimmerton Chapel for a visit during your stay. (Jasmine Norden)

Several websites are looking forward to seeing Wise Children's Wuthering Heights in London next month: London News Online, Culture Whisper and Sheerluxe.

Collider looks into adaptations of Shakespeare's plays.

Orson Welles’s Macbeth attempts no realism; the actor-director once called it a cross between Wuthering Heights and The Bride of Frankenstein; but it still supports talk of kings, castles, and witches. (William Fischer)

Télérama (France) shares a 1998 interview with actress Isabelle Huppert.

TRA : En dehors de votre vie professionnelle, quels événements vous ont marquée, récemment ?

I.H. : Qu’on le veuille ou non, le monde s’impose à vous avec une incroyable brutalité. J’absorbe les événements, je les ressens fortement, mais cela a peu à voir avec mon métier d’actrice. Enfin, pas consciemment. Je pourrais très bien ne pas y être, dans ce monde, et continuer à jouer. Être actrice, jouer, c’est essentiellement une affaire d’imagination. Je pense aux sœurs Brontë, qui imaginaient les histoires les plus délirantes sans les avoir vécues… (Translation)

El Español (Spain) features writer Virginia Feito whose debut novel, Mrs March, was actually written in English.

"Me llamo Virginia por el estado de EEUU, donde vivía mi familia. Mi casa siempre ha estado llena de cultura americana, de cómics, libros o VHS en inglés, hasta los especiales de Navidad de El Grinch. Era una niña bastante pedante que leía a Dickens y a las Brontë, y todos al empezar a escribir emulamos a los autores que admiramos, que en mi caso había leído a todos en inglés". (David Barreira) (Translation)