Bringing Austen to Life: Costumes and Connections in Bath

“Is it some kind of anniversary?” the man at the bus stop asked me. “What are people all dressed up for?”

I looked down at my pink empire-waist gown and at my cameo ribbon choker.

I looked back up at the man and at the windows and spires of Bath Abbey towering behind him.

Um. Was he joking?

“It’s…the Jane Austen Festival,” I said in bewilderment as a small group of people strolled past in top hats and sunbonnets. “For Jane Austen’s 250th birthday?” And with a hum of mild interest, the man turned away, and that was that.

I don’t know what rock that poor fellow had been living under, because in Bath in September, it’s hard to go half a block without seeing some mention of Jane Austen—whether it’s the Regency-costumed people parading up and down the streets, colorful banners bearing titles like Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey that hang overhead, or even endorsements of local restaurants supposedly penned by the authoress herself (although I find that a little hard to believe).

Costume, above all, is a defining aspect of the Jane Austen Festival. Dressing up in Regency-inspired attire is not only fun, it’s a way of signaling to other Janeites—a reason to smile knowingly at strangers as you pass, to exchange compliments, to share a tiny moment of connection. During intermission at the theatrical performance of Emma, the women’s toilet became a bright, cheerful little room filled with adoring exclamations of “Oh, I love your dress!” and “What a beautiful cameo!” 

In this way, the environment of the Jane Austen Festival echoes the Regency society from which it hails, especially as it was in Bath—where “seeing and being seen” was the social objective. The mini promenade that took place at the very end of the festival was one final opportunity for festival attendees to show off their beautiful costumes as they strolled around the Royal Crescent, just as fashionable visitors to Bath would have done two centuries before.

Of course, Jane Austen fandom isn’t exclusive to those who came in costume—plenty of people in modern clothing were there for the fun as well. In a bookstore, an older man snapped a photo of me in my gown with a digital camera. “I just love Jane Austen,” he told me happily. Twenty minutes later, as I stood taking pictures on the street, a pair of middle aged women approached me—“It’s Jane Austen on her cell phone!” they giggled. And at the No. 1 Royal Crescent museum, I overheard bits of a conversation between two girls as they ranked Austen’s novels from best to worst (to my dismay, they both emphatically put Persuasion last). Perhaps the most notable plainclothes Janeite in attendance was none other than the actor Adrian Lukis, who played Mr. Wickham in the BBC’s 1995 Pride and Prejudice!

To see a whole city come alive with love for Jane Austen was truly an experience to remember. That man at the bus stop may not have realized it—but all around him on that breezy September day in Bath, friendships were being formed, memories were being made, and stories were being told—and it was all in the name of Jane Austen.

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