Keats House Reopens
In 2009 Keats House opened again to the public after a
major restoration project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund with
significant financial support from the City of London Corporation.
For Information on opening hours, please see our
Visitor Information page and for more information on the
restoration project please see our
Magic Casements project page.
New Dress for Fanny Brawne
Keats House has commissioned historic dressmaker Lindsey Holmes
to recreate an ‘Autumnal Half-Dress’ from 1818. Using Gale
Flament’s thesis about Fanny Brawne and fashion, we have a broad
idea of the kind of clothes that Fanny used to wear.
When Keats first met Fanny Brawne in 1818 he described her as
‘beautiful, elegant, graceful, silly, fashionable and strange’. She
was eighteen years old and had recently moved to Wentworth Place
with her widowed mother and younger brother and sister. Hampstead
was close to army barracks where there were many military dances
throughout the year. Fanny was a popular participant and initially,
Keats was enamoured by her sense of fun and humour. Dressing up for
these occasions would have been important to her and her penchant
for style and fashion expressed itself in her collection of fashion
plates. She was also an avid sewer and made most of her dresses
from scratch.
The dress will form part of a larger display about fashion and
style during the Regency period, including items which belonged to
Fanny, and copies of fashion plates collected by her.