Downton Abbey is a British historical drama which depicts the Crawley family and their domestic servants between 1912 and 1926. The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC) in Spokane, Washington, recently hosted a major exhibit, Dressing the Abbey, showing the clothing styles during this period.
The exhibit featured 35 costumes from the series. According to the display:
“Each costume represents a moment in the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their staff, who lived on the Downton Abbey estate. The fictional series follows members of the household from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 through the first World War, and into the summer of 1927.”
One of the major events impacting British society was World War I. With regard to fashion, one of the displays states:
“Fashion reflects social values, and post-war styles were no exception. Wartime austerity translated into fewer luxuries, simpler styles and muted colors. The battlefield left little time for fashion and men’s war-time styles stayed relatively consistent. Although physically fit soldiers returning to civilian life preferred slimmer suits.”
With regard to women’s fashion, the display states:
“For the first time since the French Revolution of 1789, women cut their hair into short ‘shingle bobs.’ Casual knits were popular for daywear and embellishment trended with a boom of costume jewelry. Shorter skirts signaled more than freedom of movement, and flapper girls danced the night away to jazz music.”
World War I had a great impact on British society, not only in terms of lives lost, but also on the nature of British society and its class and gender structure. According to the display:
“The war’s simpler fashions reflected blurring boundaries between gender roles. Women assumed jobs previously held by men, like driving trains, working in factories, or farming. For women in the middle and upper classes, it was likely the first job they held outside of the home.
The war broke down class barriers too. Ladies volunteered as nurses tending to the wounded, and gentlemen fought alongside their former tenants on the battlefield. Like the real-life Countess of Carnarvan, the fictional Crawleys opened up Highclere Castle as a house of healing for wounded soldiers.”
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