Isabella Bird

If you open an anthology of travel writing-particularly women's travel writing-you arebound to find an excerpt by Isabella Bird. Howeverwhile Isabella Lucy Bird is much celebrated fortraveling the globe challenging convention andbecoming the first woman to gain admission into theRoyal Geographical Society little attention has beenpaid to the progression of her costume changes andhow her authority over her attire corresponds to hergrowing authority as a writer and an emboldenedexplorer. Bird actively uses her dress as aperformative space; her clothing descriptions becomeher ultimate layer of costuming as she bothtranslates and transgresses Victorian standards offemininity in order to package herself as aprofessional explorer who is also a woman. Althoughgender boundaries and expectations have changedgender continues to incite intense conversation andthis work can contribute to discussions on genderperformance in writing and costume.