Posted by Lynne on July 07, 1997 at 21:59:34:
In reply to Re: Lydia so tanned! posted by Ann on July 07, 1997 at 18:49:36
] ] ] I was wondering in P&P2 when it's summer, Lydia is actually very tanned. Wasn't it considered unbecoming etc. in those days?
] P&P2 also had a shocking lack of parasols. The only one I remember was held over the head of Anne deBurgh by Mrs. Jenkinson. I thought that ladies used parasols frequently, to keep the sun from making them a little tanned when traveling in the summer.
In S&S, Marianne's skin is described as "very brown", in fact the exact words read like this: "Her skin was very brown, but, from its transparency, her complexion was uncommonly brilliant...." I wondered about that, too----as I thought the desired and fashionable complexion during the Regency would have been more like the peaches and cream look of Kate Winslet, who played Marianne in S&S. In fact, the first time I read the book, I pictured Marianne with dark hair, with complexion to match (the book says her eyes were also very dark)---not anything like Ms. Winslet. I suppose what was considered "very brown" in those times----would have meant someone just had more color in their face. Our definition means someone has a dark tan or dark complexion---the Regency definition may have been someone was a shade or two darker than the prescribed shade of apple blossom for the skin of English ladies. Strange---how fads like this come and go... Perhaps complexion didn't matter so much if a person had great features, good teeth, etc. But if their features were not so handsome----it was perhaps more important to attain a more fashionable complexion. Or maybe this obsession with keeping one's skin very white didn't really hit hard until the Victorians.....
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