Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center
Anaheim, CA
By Angela Rocco DeCarlo
"Downton Abbey," one of the most successful television shows, is set in a fictional Edwardian English castle, awash with nobles, paid-servants and enormous upheavals due to war, jealousy and financial ruin.
The Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center, Anaheim, CA, is presenting an exhibition of the lovely wardrobe of the show. Seeing the clothing up close is delightful.
In every detail the show's six seasons evoked the volcanic disruptions brought on by World War I and its political, societal and financial changes. The Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age took woman from their corseted floor-length dresses to loose shifts exposing naked shoulders and legs - shocking.
"In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, now God knows, anything goes." From Noel Coward's song, "Anything Goes."
The Downton Abbey era is illuminated through the skillful Julian Fellows' scripts and an array of outstanding good-looking actors who enchanted television viewers. The gorgeous period clothing charmed all.
"Dressing Downton - Changing Fashion for Changing Times" featuring nearly 40 of the original garments designed and fitted to the individual actors, can be seen at Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center, Anaheim, California, until May 11. It then ...