Dressed for Downton...

Today I went to the Hobby Craft Create and Stitch exhibit at 'Glow' Bluewater and they had a selection of the costumes from series one of Downton Abbey on display. From the very first episode of Downton, I was hooked by the great story lines, drama and of course the gorgeous costumes...

Downton Abbey Series One Trailer

Downton Abbey Series One costumes designed by Susannah Buxton

-Not all of the dresses on Downton have been made for the show, some have appeared in other dramas. Lady Mary wears a gown previously seen on Catherine Zeta-Jones. “I think it’s wonderful that the dresses are worn again,” says Susannah, “It’s a marvellous example of recycling – and it would have gone on in real life.Some of the vintage dresses worn by the cast can cost up to £2,000, but designing and making all of the outfits would be impossible as they’d blow the wardrobe budget. “I am always, always on the lookout for materials," says Susannah. "Some of the dresses I made from cloth I bought by the yard from a stall at Shepherd Market in London. “On Downton, about a third of the costumes are made from scratch. We couldn’t have done all of them – it would have cost a fortune, way over our budget – and some of the fabrics just don’t exist anymore.” Susannah admits that while the costumes look stunning, most of them are very uncomfortable for the cast to wear. “In the first series they were wearing those really tight, severe, S-shaped corsets and they had real problems. It’s a nightmare for those poor things. They were very, very uncomfortable. You have to learn to wear them, and of course the girls are not used to it. They were so tight cast members couldn’t even eat in them. The men suffer too – those razor-sharp collars are very uncomfortable."

Anyway here are my photos from the exhibit, with stills...
Lady Mary Crawley...

Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley 

Lady Sybil Crawley...

Jessica Brown-Finday as Lady Sybil Crawley

Lady Edith Crawley...

Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley

Lady Cora Grantham...

Elizabeth McGovern as Lady Cora Grantham

Dowager Countess of Grantham...

Dame Maggie Smith as Dowager Countess of Grantham

It was amazing to see all of these costumes close up- you get to see how the different textures play against one another and all the tiny details that the screen might not necessarily pick up on and the Crawley sisters have the tiniest waists! 

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