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Talk: The Silk Dress & Elizabeth Gaskell’s Writing

The silk dress was a Nineteenth-century symbol of respectability, luxury and seduction.

Join Margo Singer as she showcases some authentic Victorian silk dresses and accessories, and discusses the dress’s appearances in novels including CranfordNorth and South and Ruth – as well as in Elizabeth Gaskell’s own letters.

See some real Victorian silk dresses, find out why many Victorian women aspired to own one, and learn about its importance as a motif in Elizabeth Gaskell’s writing.

 

 

Free with usual house entry (£5 / £4)

18th Jul 2019

1pm - 1.45pm

Talk, Talks

We've got a house...it certainly is a beauty...I must try and make the house give as much pleasure to others as I can.’

Elizabeth Gaskell, in a letter to her friend Eliza Fox in 1850.