Eleanor Houghton

Eleanor Houghton is an historical costume consultant, writer and illustrator. She read English Literature at the University of Oxford before setting up her own business as a model milliner. As a result of a serious illness, Eleanor‘s life took an unexpected turn and brought her back to the world of academia. In 2014, she gained a first class MA degree in Eighteenth Century Studies, before being awarded a full Wolfson Doctoral Scholarship for her research into Charlotte Brontë’s extant clothing collection.

Eleanor’s work is highly innovative and wholly interdisciplinary. Her expert knowledge of eighteenth and nineteenth century fashion and literature mean that she is often called upon to work as costume consultant for film and television, novelists, museums and curators. Eleanor’s detailed costume illustrations and papercuts have been sold at The Morgan Library, New York and the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Yorkshire.

Her first book, MATERIAL WITNESS, is an innovative biography that explores the life of Charlotte Brontë through the author’s surviving clothing. It will be published by Icon Books in June 2024.

You can find out more about Eleanor and her work on her website at www.eleanorhoughton.com