Aboard the ship, Lucy encounters a family known as the Watsons. Lucy immediately observes the family and labels them as unreasonably dressed in accordance with the situation. According to Lucy, the Watson family is "dressed richly, gaily, and absurdly out of character for the circumstances. Their bonnets with bright flowers, their velvet cloaks and silk dresses seemed better suited for park or promenade than for a damp packet-deck." (Bronte 58) Lucy obviously finds their style of dress over indulgent, and she immediately compares it to another lady passenger who adorned a "simple print dress, untrimmed straw-bonnet, and a large shawl, gracefully worn, formed a costume plain to Quakerism." (Bronte 58) Lucy notes that the passenger's outfit, though plain, is becoming on the young woman and notices as she "paced the deck once or twice backwards forwards; she looked with a little sour air of disdain at the flaunting silks and velvets" (Bronte 59) and then she approaches Lucy and strikes up a conversation. This young lady is in fact, Ginevra Fanshawe, a key character throughout the novel who informs Lucy that the school she attends is looking to hire an English teacher for the year. The different types of clothing, though seemingly small, play an imperative role in this key scene. If Ginevra or Lucy would have been dressed in a more ostentatious manner, it is safe to assume that they would have never made the acquaintanceship, which leads Lucy to Madame Beck's school in Villette and to the pair's continued friendship as Lucy becomes the English governess at the school. .
Lucy's taste for simplicity in dress is again noted by Bronte when Ginevra shows Lucy her beautiful ball attire for a party. Lucy proceeds to tell Ginevra, "people may tell you, you are very handsome in all that ball attire; but, in my eyes, you will never look so pretty as you did in the gingham gown and plain straw bonnet you wore when I first saw you.