Visit to the Jane Austen exhibit

This year Skokloster, a 17th century castle, has a an exhibit with costumes from various Jane Austen adaptations, and me and my sister decided to go there and drool over them. As usual I only had my mobile phone with me, and the light wasn't easy to work with. If you want better quality photos of the pieces and a bit about the thought process behind their presentation I would recommend checking out RegencyGentleman's coverage of the exhibit. He is both a regency costumer and one of the curators of Skokloster, so he really knows what he's talking about.

Here are some of my favorite photos

The Daswhood sisters from Sense and Sensibility (1995)

The Shirt!!!! Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Beautiful trim (but I don't remember from which adaptation)

Lady Catherine de Bourgh (P&P 2005) and Caroline Bingley (P&P 1995)

Elinor Daswhood and Edward Ferrars, Sense and Senibility (1995)

Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon (sigh Alan Rickman) Sense and Sensiblity (1995)

Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice (1995)

At the end of the exhibit they had a room where you could try on some regency costumes. Of course they were done to to be easy to take on and off, and wear over regular clothes, but it was still fun to dress up a bit.

Me and my sister

 It was also really intersting to visit Skokloster from another perspective. On the way home from the wedding in Halmstad I visited Torpa, one of the best preserved medieval stone houses in Sweden. It was built in the 1480s as the main residence for one of the most noble families in Sweden, and abandonded as the main mansion in the middle of the 17th Century, just when Skokloster was built. Torpa was abandonded, just when Skokloster was the ideal rich home, so it was interesting to compare them.

Main dining hall at Skokloster, late 17th century

16th century dining hall at Torpa

There were even some pieces in both houses' collections that were identical. Such as a special glass piece, the difference though was that at Skokloster it was just one of many items, while at Torpa it was a unique piece.

Glass "humpf" to the right at Skokloster

Glass "humpf" at Torpa, dated to 1581.