Dressing Downton

Finally after an abysmal two year wait, the Dressing Downton traveling exhibit finally made its way to the West coast in lovely Anaheim. I have been waiting since it was first announced in 2015 and I was appalled at the projected timeline for a Cali appearance, but apparently places like Wisconsin and South Bend Indiana has more appeal and takes more precedence than beautiful, sunny, overcrowded, worst traffic in the nation California. This may sound a bit egotistical but since when?! Anyways, they finally landed at my back door and I couldn't wait to get to the museum! With dear mama in tow, we headed out to what was surprisingly a nearly sold out exhibit. Even after three months in SoCal the show was still selling out their tickets and we had to scramble to secure ours for this wonderful Saturday afternoon.

Because of the fact that the exhibit began running two years prior to the end of the show, the costumes from seasons 5 and 6 were not included in the showing, but the glamorous threads of seasons 1-4 stood proudly on display and I was a little geeked to be so close to the outfits worn by the various members of my favorite cast. Sadly, neither Mary nor Edith's wedding dresses were on display, as it was explained to me that they were not included in the contracted collection to be shown. Each episode can be costumed by different people, so not all the designers are consistent, but some of the names of award nominated costumers for the first four seasons are Susannah Buxton, Caroline McCall, Dulcie Scott, Heather Leat, and Poli Kyriacou. Other designers may have been Anna Robbins, Michael Weldon, and Kathryn Tart, however their names don't seem to appear until seasons 5 and 6, so I'm not sure if any of the costumes here are part of their work. But for those of you who are nowhere near the limited showings of the exhibit, here's a first hand glimpse at the Downton Duds!

Lady Mary

Matthew and Mary

Violet, Cora, and Robert

Edith

Sybil

L-R: Cora and Robert; Rose and Jack Ross; Cora and extra costumes

L-R: Martha Levinson; Martha, Violet, Edith; Violet

L-R: Footman's Livery and Mrs. Hughes; Matthew and Carlisle

Mary, Branson, Sybil, and Edith

Violet's best

Gift shop...Obviously we don't spend our Sunday nights there anymore but the castle bag was too good to pass up...I didn't get the middle one but I wanted to

Moi

 Mumsy