Happy times for the Bronte Sisters,

It was Emily who, shopping in Bradford with Charlotte and her friend, chose a white stuff patterned with lilac thunder and lightning, to the scarcely concealed horror of her more sober companions. And she looked well in it; a tall, lithe creature, with a grace half-queenly, half-untamed in her sudden, supple movements, wearing with picturesque negligence her ample purple-splashed skirts; her face clear and pale; her very dark and plenteous brown hair fastened up behind with a Spanish comb; her large grey-hazel eyes, now full of indolent, indulgent humour, now glimmering with hidden meanings, now quickened into flame by a flash of indignation, "a red ray piercing the dew."readbookonline

Emily is mentioned as having chosen a rather flashy  fabric for her dress on one trip  ” white stuff patterned  with thunder  and with lighting, in purple splashes (p213 project Guttenberg online edition, Mrs Robinson, based on Ellen Nusseys remembrances.)
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