Winner of the Regency-Era Wet Shirt Contest: Mr. Darcy!

An upcoming exhibit celebrating two Anglophile obsessions will bring together all sorts of pop-culture memorabilia. Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity opens this August at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. This could be a very interesting show about two literary giants, adaptations of their works and, as the title suggests, the nature and effects of fame, but The New York Times is all aflutter about one thing in particular: the shirt worn by Colin Firth in the 1995 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice!

It’s official: The shirt that turned the actor Colin Firth into a heartthrob — and helped fuel the continuing global Jane Austen pandemonium — is coming to the United States.

“The shirt seemed like a celebrity object that demonstrated the kind of fun that people have with Austen as an author,” said Janine Barchas, a University of Texas English professor who is a curator of the show with Kristina Straub of Carnegie Mellon University. “It exemplifies the kind of play that is central to our whole exhibition.”

And get this!:

A half-serious proposal to keep the shirt wet and molded to its display dummy by using misters like those in grocery store produce sections was deemed “curatorially unsound,” Ms. Barchas said. But outside the protective glass case, the library is bracing for a humid reception.

“We will be giving the Folger some Windex, to be used in what we anticipate will be a daily wiping-down of lipstick marks,” Ms. Barchas said.

Whoa! It seems “The Gray Lady” is getting a little worked up over Mr. Darcy, isn’t she? Watch out, Miss Bennet! And The Folger Shakespeare Library was actually considering keeping the costume perpetually wet so it would stick suggestively to a (presumably) Firth-shaped mannequin chest? Who exactly is sponsoring this exhibit? Chippendales?

You remember the scene. Mr. Darcy, fresh from a swim in the pond, bumps into a very surprised Elizabeth (Jennifer Ehle) at Pemberley. His soaking garb, scandalously see-through and clingy, makes for an awkward moment between the repressed pair. (Though it all sounds chaste, it was actually a very surprising addition in 1995–and, of course, not in the source material.) If you’ve never seen it, take a look below:

Other objects will include a Shakespeare bobble head, Will and Jane action figures, a scarf featuring Jane Austen’s family tree, salt and pepper shakers in the shape of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth and more.

Source: The New York Times