{"id":4474,"date":"2010-03-16T00:05:44","date_gmt":"2010-03-16T05:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=4474"},"modified":"2010-03-16T14:21:21","modified_gmt":"2010-03-16T19:21:21","slug":"jane-austen-is-all-like-that-dress-bitch-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/jane-austen-is-all-like-that-dress-bitch-please\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Austen Is All Like, “That Dress? Bitch, Please!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went to the Morgan Library & Museum<\/a> with a gorgeous and exceptionally nice friend* earlier this year. How nice is my friend? After I told her there was no need to apologize for a statement that didn’t offend me in the slightest, she apologized for the apology. She is the only person I know who needs to be a little meaner, so I was delighted to show her an example of vintage bitchery in an exhibit called A Woman\u2019s Wit:\u00a0 Jane Austen\u2019s Life and Legacy<\/a>. In a September 1796 letter to her sister Cassandra<\/a>, Jane Austen damned a fellow party guest with this faint praise:<\/p>\n

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“Miss Fletcher and I were very thick, but I am the thinnest of the two \u2013 She wore her purple Muslin, which is pretty enough, tho\u2019 it does not become her complexion.\u00a0 There are two Traits in her Character which are pleasing; namely, she admires Camilla<\/a>, & drinks no cream in her Tea.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You know Cassandra was like, “Oh no, she di’int!” when she read the letter.\u00a0 When I read it, I dragged my friend over and said, “If Jane Austen can say something like that, you can too.”<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>

Portrait of mean girl Jane Austen by her sister Cassandra. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery. <\/p><\/div>\n

The Jane Austen exhibit is over but Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves<\/a>, an exhibit of an illuminated prayer book from the 1440s, runs through May 2.\u00a0 No reproduction of the images does justice to the brilliant colors — particularly the blue and yellow — surrounded by gold, but if you’re not going to be in New York and like medieval art, the book of the exhibit is available<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sadly, there are no images of the cream-avoiding Miss Fletcher in her purple dress, but you can click here<\/a> to see me wearing purple. If you want to say bitchy things about whether purple becomes me, save it for your sister because I’m not interested<\/a>.<\/p>\n

*Name withheld to protect the extremely nice.<\/em><\/p>\n

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I went to the Morgan Library & Museum with a gorgeous and exceptionally nice friend* earlier this year. How nice is my friend? After I told her there was no need to apologize for a statement that didn’t offend me in the slightest, she apologized for the apology. She is the only person I know…<\/p>\n

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