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Eleanor Houghton

Writer • Illustrator • Historical Dress Consultant

Eleanor Houghton is a historian, author, artist and historical costume consultant specialising in the clothing and literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She is the author of Charlotte Brontë’s Life Through Clothes (Bloomsbury, 2026), a highly innovative study of Charlotte Brontë’s life, told through the clothes she wore and the world she inhabited.

Eleanor works closely with costume designers and directors across film and television productions, as well as with museums and writers, providing historical costume research, consultancy and visual interpretation. Alongside this, she creates original illustrations and commercial artworks inspired by historical dress, available for commission, exhibition and sale through galleries, museums, selected stockists and in her online shop.

Eleanor is experienced in:

  • Historical dress consultancy - specifically film and television

  • Research and fact-checking

  • Costume illustration

  • Media commentary

  • Public speaking

  • Exhibition support

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Explore Writing
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Consultancy

  • Book News

    Eleanor’s long awaited, self-illustrated biography, ‘Charlotte Brontë’s Life Through Clothes’, (Bloomsbury 2026) is now available from all good bookshops.

    It has already been featured on BBC Radio, The Yorkshire Post Magazine, Country Life,

    Yorkshire Life, People’s Friend, the TLS and ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

  • Events/Media

    Since the book’s launch in February, Eleanor has been busy chatting to podcasters, journalists and book festival goers. You can listen to her talking all things ‘Charlotte Brontë’s Life Through Clothes’ on the Haptic and Hue Podcast , on Sew What?‍, ‍New Books podcast, Dressed: The History of Dress podcast with Cassidy Zachary, the TLS podcast and the upcoming BBC History Extra podcast.

  • Online Shop Open

    Explore Eleanor’s growing collection of illustrated cards, books, prints, and postcards — each inspired by the worlds of literature, historical dress, and the past.

    New originals and themed collections are released regularly. For the latest drops and behind‑the‑scenes work, follow along on Instagram.

Eleanor’s Instagram - Catch up with @eleanorhoughtonhistorian here

In the early nineteenth century, the British state lottery was hard to miss. It was a government run scheme designed to raise revenue, and the streets of London were full to bursting with handbills promising luck to all who could read them. The soo
In eighteenth‑century Friesland, in the northern Netherlands, babies were often dressed in small chintz jackets and sleeves — little pieces cut from precious Indian cottons that had travelled across oceans before finding their way into everyday