A silk pelisse coat created by Associate Professor Hilary Davidson, chair of FIT’s Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice master’s program, is on display through Sept. 14, 2025, at The Morgan Library and Museum’s exhibition A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250, a show marking the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth.
Davidson’s pelisse is a replica of one that Jane Austen is likely to have worn. She constructed it based on extensive research into the original for Jane Austen’s House, which lent the garment to The Morgan. A digital video reconstruction of the pelisse (which Davidson made in collaboration with Fashion Design professor Larissa King) is also on display. It shows how the pelisse was constructed and how it moves when worn. The New York Times review mentions the professors’ video as a highlight of the exhibition and prominently features a photo of Davidson’s pelisse.
Davidson, author of the 2019 book Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion, also recently appeared on CNN to share her expertise on the clothing depicted in Austen’s books. The CNN feature explored the cultural legacy of Mr. Darcy’s wet linen shirt, as worn by Colin Firth during the impromptu swim that made the world swoon, in the BBC adaptation of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Davidson explained the significance of that costume choice in the now-iconic scene and its influence on subsequent interpretations of Austen’s work, as well as on other period dramas set in Georgian England. “It’s such an intimate vulnerable moment for him, while also being quite sexy,” Davidson said in the interview. “The emotional yearning that is so much a part of Austen adaptations is really beautifully encapsulated in that.”
