Candice Hern – bestselling author, Regency fashion scholar, speaker, and collector – has several presentations available for writers’ groups, general interest groups, libraries, and Jane Austen organizations. She would be pleased to speak at your next group meeting, conference, or library event. Candice also allows certain items from her collections to be displayed at libraries or museums, upon request. Contact Candice for her availability, or for topics not listed below.
What People Are Saying
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“Candice was a fabulous speaker on Regency era fashion. Her expertise, paired with her natural flair, had our audience audibly gasping at each new revelation and smiling throughout the presentation. After the talk, guests commented how much they enjoyed the speaker and how her content provided complementary context for the Jane Austen movie adaptation costumes on view at the museum.”
- Taft Art Museum, Cincinnati on
Regency Fashion (or Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen)
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“Candice gave a marvelous presentation on Regency fans from her collection. Our members enjoyed it so very much, and she did a terrific job giving us the background and history of each of her fans. One fan was more beautiful than the next—just jaw dropping!”
- Fan Association of North America on
Brisé Fans of the Regency Period
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“Candice's informative talk about silhouettes in the time of Jane Austen was met with delight and enthusiasm by our members. Candice never fails to bring new perspectives to our understanding of the Regency era in which Jane Austen lived.”
- Jane Austen Society of North America, Minnesota Region on
Shades, Shadows, and Profiles: Silhouettes During the Time of Jane Austen
Presentations
Candice will provide a short history of silhouettes, known as shades in Jane Austen’s time, and their various techniques (scissor cut, hollow-cut, painted). Some of the most famous professional “profile miniature” artists will be singled out, as well as a few famous amateurs, including the King’s daughter. The various Austen family silhouettes will be discussed, including two purported to be of Jane herself.
Augmenting her PowerPoint presentation, for in-person events, Candice will bring many examples of silhouettes from her own collection to provide a closer look at some of these miniature treasures. On display will be both silhouettes framed as pictures and mounted as pieces of jewelry. Magnifying glasses will be available for attendees to more closely examine the exquisite details of the smaller pieces. Many of Candice’s silhouettes, including the locket shown here, were painted by the same artist who painted the famous silhouette of Jane Austen’s sister, Cassandra.
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The grand parures of precious gems worn by royalty and other aristocrats of the Georgian and Regency eras are what we see in paintings and in museums. But the ordinary people, who could never afford such pieces, favored a more sentimental type of jewelry, which was accessible and less expensive. The sentiment of such jewelry fell into two categories: the sentiment of love and the sentiment of death. In this presentation, Candice will explore both types, including symbols and iconography of mourning and of romance, all of which would have been well understood by people of the time. The
use of hair in both types of jewelry will also be discussed.
Candice’s Powerpoint presentation will include lots of detailed images of mourning jewelry and love tokens from museums, including a mourning brooch with a lock of Jane Austen’s hair from the Jane Austen’s House Museum, as well as many examples from her own collection, including lover’s eyes, such as the one shown here. For in-person events, items from her collection will be on display for attendees to examine.
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On Exhibit