Hilary Davidson
@fourredshoes.bsky.social
Dress & Textile Historian | Curator | Fashion History | Culture | Archaeology | Books: @AustenDress 2019; Jane Austen's Wardrobe 2023 | In Lenapehoking / NYC
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
Today is National Thesaurus Day.
Personally, we find these made-up holidays contemptible, abhorrent, nauseating, repugnant, and unpalatable.
Personally, we find these made-up holidays contemptible, abhorrent, nauseating, repugnant, and unpalatable.
January 18, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Today is National Thesaurus Day.
Personally, we find these made-up holidays contemptible, abhorrent, nauseating, repugnant, and unpalatable.
Personally, we find these made-up holidays contemptible, abhorrent, nauseating, repugnant, and unpalatable.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
If you're looking for a sign to switch careers: this is the sign.
January 18, 2026 at 12:44 AM
If you're looking for a sign to switch careers: this is the sign.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
An excellent exhibit display and a reminder to make sure your library has a copy of The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives! Fashion history! Organization history! CRIMES! This book is FULL OF POCKETS.
January 18, 2026 at 3:27 PM
An excellent exhibit display and a reminder to make sure your library has a copy of The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives! Fashion history! Organization history! CRIMES! This book is FULL OF POCKETS.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
Take 30% off selected 18th century history titles until 31.1.2026 - including books by @fourredshoes.bsky.social and @chloewigstonsmith.bsky.social.
Includes free postage in the UK!
Browse online here: yalebooks.co.uk/bsecs26/
Includes free postage in the UK!
Browse online here: yalebooks.co.uk/bsecs26/
January 16, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Take 30% off selected 18th century history titles until 31.1.2026 - including books by @fourredshoes.bsky.social and @chloewigstonsmith.bsky.social.
Includes free postage in the UK!
Browse online here: yalebooks.co.uk/bsecs26/
Includes free postage in the UK!
Browse online here: yalebooks.co.uk/bsecs26/
If only there was a luggage rack.
January 13, 2026 at 10:11 AM
If only there was a luggage rack.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
Why Viking clothing was so bold and colourful www.medievalists.net/2024/01/viki... #vikings
Why Viking clothing was so bold and colourful - Medievalists.net
How did the Norse dress in the Viking Age? It might surprise readers to find out that the Vikings wore vivid colours, flowing silk ribbons, and glittering bits of mirrors.
www.medievalists.net
January 12, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Why Viking clothing was so bold and colourful www.medievalists.net/2024/01/viki... #vikings
Not sure whether to let a lovely local organisation know that an upcoming speaker's talk is 1) completely based on someone else's book and 2) that book is wildly inaccurate.
January 12, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Not sure whether to let a lovely local organisation know that an upcoming speaker's talk is 1) completely based on someone else's book and 2) that book is wildly inaccurate.
Women in Melbourne wear so many more dresses than Sydney women. I haven't seen this many in summer since London.
January 9, 2026 at 6:58 AM
Women in Melbourne wear so many more dresses than Sydney women. I haven't seen this many in summer since London.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
Well here's an incredibly niche product - a reproduction French artist's smock. #DressHistory
Blouse de peintre Corot | Le Géant des Beaux-Arts
Blouse de peintre Corot, 100 % coton. Beige. Lavable à 30 °C. Nombreuses poches de rangement.
www.geant-beaux-arts.fr
December 27, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Well here's an incredibly niche product - a reproduction French artist's smock. #DressHistory
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
There’s no pitch for genAI in the classroom that doesn’t boil down to “it’s everywhere,” or that takes education as more than job training, or, consequently, that actually argues for genAI as a tool that has a distinct function in education.
It’s not educators who have their heads in the sand here.
It’s not educators who have their heads in the sand here.
December 27, 2025 at 5:56 PM
There’s no pitch for genAI in the classroom that doesn’t boil down to “it’s everywhere,” or that takes education as more than job training, or, consequently, that actually argues for genAI as a tool that has a distinct function in education.
It’s not educators who have their heads in the sand here.
It’s not educators who have their heads in the sand here.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
an easy way to understand this is that people make clothes cool and not the other way around. so our judgement of what looks "good" is often shaped by the cultural capital of various social groups. punks, skaters, hip hop heads, etc look stylish simply bc they are cool. thus money is not a barrier.
December 26, 2025 at 11:39 AM
an easy way to understand this is that people make clothes cool and not the other way around. so our judgement of what looks "good" is often shaped by the cultural capital of various social groups. punks, skaters, hip hop heads, etc look stylish simply bc they are cool. thus money is not a barrier.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
true. that's bc you've allowed your sense of style to be narrowly defined by fashion brands, instead of thinking about it in terms of cultural history. over the course of the 20th century, many groups have dressed well, even if they didn't conform to fashion trends or bourgeois respectability
December 26, 2025 at 11:37 AM
true. that's bc you've allowed your sense of style to be narrowly defined by fashion brands, instead of thinking about it in terms of cultural history. over the course of the 20th century, many groups have dressed well, even if they didn't conform to fashion trends or bourgeois respectability
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
You can tell that LotR was written by an academic because Gandalf disappears for like 20 years doing research to answer a single question.
December 26, 2025 at 12:40 AM
You can tell that LotR was written by an academic because Gandalf disappears for like 20 years doing research to answer a single question.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
No one expects a Spanish Exhibition!
October 16, 2025 at 11:13 PM
No one expects a Spanish Exhibition!
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
How does Good King Wencelas like his pizza?
Deep pan, crisp and even.
Deep pan, crisp and even.
December 26, 2025 at 2:58 AM
How does Good King Wencelas like his pizza?
Deep pan, crisp and even.
Deep pan, crisp and even.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
these three ghosts could've been an email
December 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
these three ghosts could've been an email
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
At Harvard’s Houghton Library, I found a letter with salt crusted onto it. When I read the letter, I realized it was the guy’s dried tears because the letter was about the death of his young daughter
I think we need a mega thread of everyone's craziest archive stories.
December 22, 2025 at 7:42 PM
At Harvard’s Houghton Library, I found a letter with salt crusted onto it. When I read the letter, I realized it was the guy’s dried tears because the letter was about the death of his young daughter
I did a podcast about my new book A Guide to Regency Dress with Dr. Miranda Melcher on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
newbooksnetwork.com/a-guide-to-r...
newbooksnetwork.com/a-guide-to-r...
Hilary Davidson, "A Guide to Regency Dress: from Corsets and Breeches to Bonnets and Muslins" (Yale UP, 2025) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:54 PM
I did a podcast about my new book A Guide to Regency Dress with Dr. Miranda Melcher on @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
newbooksnetwork.com/a-guide-to-r...
newbooksnetwork.com/a-guide-to-r...
I'm back in my small home town for the holidays. Went shopping in the next town, got spotted by a friend who I thought was living in Sydney but now also lives in my small home town.
December 22, 2025 at 12:51 AM
I'm back in my small home town for the holidays. Went shopping in the next town, got spotted by a friend who I thought was living in Sydney but now also lives in my small home town.
Farewell, proud Wordle streak, about to be the victim of a day not existing on an international flight. I wish we could have known each other longer.
December 19, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Farewell, proud Wordle streak, about to be the victim of a day not existing on an international flight. I wish we could have known each other longer.
Delighted to see my first two books in the @nytimes.com today for the Jane Austen 250th anniversary
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
December 16, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Delighted to see my first two books in the @nytimes.com today for the Jane Austen 250th anniversary
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
Jane Austen mentions Christmas in all of her novels - spent with family & friends, stoking ‘a roaring Christmas fire’ against the snow outside, and making merry with dancing.
Hilary Davidson (@fourredshoes.bsky.social) introduces a fashion-focused Austen Christmas.
yalebooks.co.uk/a-jane-auste...
Hilary Davidson (@fourredshoes.bsky.social) introduces a fashion-focused Austen Christmas.
yalebooks.co.uk/a-jane-auste...
A Jane Austen Christmas - Yale University Press London
Author Hilary Davidson introduces a fashion-focused Jane Austen Christmas ... Jane Austen mentions Christmas in all six of her completed novels. The Jane Austen mentions Christmas in all six of her co...
yalebooks.co.uk
December 15, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Jane Austen mentions Christmas in all of her novels - spent with family & friends, stoking ‘a roaring Christmas fire’ against the snow outside, and making merry with dancing.
Hilary Davidson (@fourredshoes.bsky.social) introduces a fashion-focused Austen Christmas.
yalebooks.co.uk/a-jane-auste...
Hilary Davidson (@fourredshoes.bsky.social) introduces a fashion-focused Austen Christmas.
yalebooks.co.uk/a-jane-auste...
I can no longer hold space for the phrase 'holding space'.
December 15, 2025 at 3:51 PM
I can no longer hold space for the phrase 'holding space'.
I'm back! After an unintentional and for no particular reason break. Also Instagram isn't wordy enough.
December 9, 2025 at 12:04 AM
I'm back! After an unintentional and for no particular reason break. Also Instagram isn't wordy enough.
Reposted by Hilary Davidson
A GUIDE TO REGENCY DRESS
by Hilary Davidson, Yale Books, out now.
No one does this kind of gorgeous, informative, meticulously researched, beautifully designed fashion history book better. A fine gift for every Janeite!
@fourredshoes.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social
by Hilary Davidson, Yale Books, out now.
No one does this kind of gorgeous, informative, meticulously researched, beautifully designed fashion history book better. A fine gift for every Janeite!
@fourredshoes.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social
November 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
A GUIDE TO REGENCY DRESS
by Hilary Davidson, Yale Books, out now.
No one does this kind of gorgeous, informative, meticulously researched, beautifully designed fashion history book better. A fine gift for every Janeite!
@fourredshoes.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social
by Hilary Davidson, Yale Books, out now.
No one does this kind of gorgeous, informative, meticulously researched, beautifully designed fashion history book better. A fine gift for every Janeite!
@fourredshoes.bsky.social @yalebooks.bsky.social