Downton Abbey
Page 3
‘Cora is wonderful to dress and I love the fact that she’s American and very much a follower of fashion, but on a different level to her daughters. The design process for her outfits tends to be a little more organic and evolve gradually.’
Anna Robbins, costume designer
‘For her ballgown we used original fabric, vintage lamé and a turquoise fabric with leaves, which we dyed a mauve-y lilac – a very Cora colour. Using this we created a draped dress with a cowled back and chiffon sleeves that cascades down to her ankles with a bit of a train.’
Anna Robbins, costume designer
ANNA ROBBINS
Costume Designer
The costumes have always played a hugely important part in Downton Abbey, in recreating the period feel of the show, while also adding to the story of all its characters. For the movie, costume designer Anna Robbins oversaw the whole process, as she had done for the last two seasons of the television series. The standards that she and her team worked to on the show were already extremely high – as some of the dazzling on-screen creations testify – but for the movie they knew they had to raise their game even further.
Downton Abbey is also famed for its historical accuracy, so Anna was keen to ensure authenticity across all the classes. Her job initially was to move the characters into the late 1920s and to find that epitome of the decade’s style. ‘Fashion moves forward and never stands still, particularly women’s fashion,’ explains Anna, ‘but it’s still a rolling evolution, which in the TV series can be achieved by adding or changing little things. In a film, you obviously can’t do that, and I had fewer costumes, so I really had to make my mark with each one.’
In preparing for any television series or film, Anna’s first job is to get to know the characters really well and their place in the story. She also researches the period extensively, looking at books, historical references as well as images, both generally and those of real people depicted in the film. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is an invaluable resource as she can view actual garments in their archives and see first-hand how they were constructed. Vintage clothes markets are also useful for research as well for sourcing actual garments for the show. Anna worked closely with John Bright at the costumier Cosprop, which specialises in the making and sourcing of authentic period costume for film, television and theatre.
‘The men’s clothes are largely tailored from scratch, mainly because the men in the 1920s tended to be much smaller with different body shapes, and tailoring new suits helped us to give them the right shape and proportion for the period.’
Anna has to consider carefully where each scene will be shot. She works with Donal Woods and the art department to look at fabrics and colours on the set, and also talks to Ben Smithard about the lighting. ‘I look at each scene as a kind of composition, which needs to be painted beautifully, all of the costumes sitting really well together. It’s all about looking at palette, texture and tone, and finding a combination for each character that symbolises what they represent.’
LADY MARY and HENRY TALBOT
Michelle Dockery
Matthew Goode
Over the years, we’ve watched Lady Mary grow from a girl to a woman; we’ve seen her incredible strength, tenacity and poise, a character who doesn’t always do the right thing but who, ultimately, we can’t help but admire. In the words of Michelle Dockery, who plays Mary: ‘I’ve always loved her complexity. She’s incredibly human – she can be as kind as she is mean. She goes to dark places, but is always learning.’
After a period of resistance, Mary finally succumbed to the charms of handsome racing car driver Henry Talbot and they are now happily married, with two children George, (her son from her first marriage to Matthew Crawley) and eighteen-month-old Caroline, who is a new addition to the family since we last met them.
Dashing Henry has charisma, says what he thinks and clearly adores Mary. They are both strong and stubborn, but entirely right for each other. Thankfully, Mary realised this at the end of the final season, putting aside her initial reservations over his ‘adequate but not overwhelming prospects’ and love of car racing. Now they are married, they are still blissfully in love, although Henry retains his independence by running a car showroom with Branson – when the film opens Henry is away at a motor show in Chicago – and is happy for Mary to take charge at Downton, where she has taken over much of the responsibility of running the estate.
Violet: ‘Of course, little Mary could hammer in a tent peg with her teeth.’
It is Mary now who frets over the weighty task of balancing the books and keeping everything going. As a result, when the royal visit is announced, Mary oversees preparations, both upstairs and down – a huge undertaking, as she constantly reminds everyone. She is, however, more than capable, soon commandeering the services of the recently retired Carson. Lord Grantham worries whether ‘poor little Mary’ has taken too much on. Violet is less doting and knows her granddaughter well: ‘Of course, little Mary could hammer in a tent peg with her teeth.’ And Mary is never afraid to roll up her sleeves either, as she helps to unload the chairs for the parade in pouring rain when they arrive unexpectedly during the buffet.
On coming back to the Downton set after a three-year hiatus, Michelle was thrilled to have the opportunity to return to Highclere and ‘to be back with all the gang again’. While Michelle had seen some of the cast during the three years, she was reminded how much she’d enjoyed spending time with the people making the television series, such as her on-screen grandmother: ‘Suddenly it all stops, so of course we all missed each other. I saw Maggie [Smith] every day and then suddenly I wasn’t seeing very much of her and I’d forgotten just how funny she is.’
‘When we first started the series, we were all in corsets, with so many layers you could barely walk. To travel from that Edwardian style to the kind of thing we’re wearing now has been amazing. In the first season I needed dressers to help me get in and out of costumes, whereas now I can just throw my costumes on in the morning.’
Michelle Dockery
Mary looks stunning in whatever she wears, but the 1920s styles suit her frame beautifully and Michelle has always been excited to see what she will be wearing on camera. ‘On coming back to Downton, my first costume fitting was one of the most exciting of my whole career, because I just couldn’t wait to see what they had in store. When Anna [Robbins] said she’d just been to Paris to find pieces for me, I was just chomping at the bit to see what she had brought back!’
In the privacy of her bedroom, Mary often talks frankly with her maid, Anna, and the two characters have developed a close relationship. Michelle was pleased to get back in front of the camera with Joanne Froggatt: ‘I’ve always loved my scenes with Joanne so it was wonderful to play those again.’ When the royal visit is almost over, it is to Anna that Mary confesses that she’s pleased it went well but is not sure she could face it again.
Less harmonious is Mary’s relationship with her sister, Edith, whose new-found happiness and status initially comes as something of a surprise to Mary, who had always belittled her little sister since nursery days. Edith has grown in confidence over the years, especially now she is happily married, and there is more of an equilibrium between the two siblings – although Mary still can’t help but get in the odd dig at Edith as old habits die hard.
As self-assured as Mary seems, though, the responsibility of running the Downton estate weighs heavily on her mind, as she confides to Anna and her grandmother Violet. It is clearly a struggle and she worries whether keeping Downton going is worth it, ‘when the world it was built for is fading with every day that passes’. Anna reminds her what Downton Abbey means to the people who live and work there, how it is the heart of the community not just for them but for the village and county too. Violet similarly dismisses Mary’s concerns, impressing on her that Mary is the future of Downton Abbey – that she will take over from Violet as the ‘frightening old lady who keeps everyone up to the mark’.
Henry: ‘I’ll only come if you promise to dance with me, non-stop.’
Mary: ‘Oh, it’s a deal.’
Of Mary and Henry’s future together, Matthew Goode, who plays Henry, says, ‘He’s quite a modern character and I think in ten or fifteen years, he will have relaxed the code a little bit at Downton. I doubt you’ll see him in white tie and stockings again. And of course he drives, and you don’t get much more modern than that – he embraces technology and I think we can all relate to the thrill you get putting your foot down in one of those cars.’ Ultimately, of course, he’s happy to be with Mary, to dance all night with her at the ball and to remain at Downton – ‘Leave Downton? I think we’re stuck with it, aren’t we?’ he says to Mary as they dance.
With Henry at her side, the future does indeed look rosy, and Mary knows in her heart that she will battle on for the sake of the family, for Violet and the future descendants of the Crawleys. If anyone can keep Downton Abbey going it’s Mary, and we can’t help but feel it’s in safe hands.
In 1927, waistlines had dropped right down to the hip – it was all about long lines and free movement; corsets had gone, a reflection of the emancipation of women. Clothing was softer and more comfortable – women were more active so their clothing needed to be practical.
‘Edith and Mary are both career women. Mary is managing the estate and is very much a woman in a man’s world. She wears a lot of ties and waistcoats and she looks wonderful in androgynous tailoring, which is fabulous for that era.’
Anna Robbins, costume designer
For the dinner at Downton Abbey with the King and Queen, costume designer Anna Robbins dressed Mary in a reimagined Delphos gown.
The original Fortuny gowns were created in the style of an ancient Greek tunic, the chiton. First available around 1907, the dress attracted immediate recognition, its free-flowing shape a world away from the tightly corseted fashions of previous years. Originally worn as more of an informal gown by avant-garde actresses such as Sarah Bernhardt, the dress was later taken up by well-to-do women like Mary as acceptable evening wear.
Anna first worked with the legendary textile house Fortuny on the final series of Downton Abbey and her ongoing relationship with them led to collaboration with the heritage textile company to create this bespoke pleated gown for Mary for the film. This unique dress is neither vintage nor a copy, it is a ‘brand new’ original created using the famous and secret pleating technique developed by Mariano Fortuny and his wife and muse, Henriette.
‘It has taken Fortuny years of development to unlock the secrets of the pleat and I knew that with this reclaimed technique I had a unique opportunity to work with them on this gown for Mary. The silk was dyed to a brilliant, rich Prussian blue that becomes more luminous after pleating. The gown is entirely hand sewn and the pleated silk skims the body and pools effortlessly on to the floor.’
Anna Robbins, costume designer
‘Where I could, I would use original pieces. Beaded dresses tend to be original because to bead a dress to couture level could cost tens or even thousands of pounds to make, which the Downton budget wouldn’t quite stretch to! I might build in an original beaded panel or piece of fabric into a dress. We had an amazing workroom and a beader who helped customise original dresses, such as Mary’s ballgown which is half 1920s and half 2018!’
Anna Robbins, costume designer
Country Estates
The estate over which Mary presides would have been much larger than the house and the servants that work in it. Stretching across several thousand acres, it includes a home farm, which supplies the house with food and produce, tenant farms, cottages, woods, shooting ranges, lakes, gardens and a park. Workers on the estate – from gardeners, farmers and carpenters – would vastly outnumber servants in the house and would have been recruited from the local village, with other workers living in estate cottages.
When it comes to the survival of the Downton estate, Mary is capable of making tough decisions, which is just as well as great landowners across the country were struggling to make ends meet. For estates like Downton Abbey, farming was central to their existence. Landowners had to innovate to find ways to survive at a time when the countryside was sinking into depression as prices of farming products dropped and rural populations dwindled.
Since the end of the First World War, country estates had laboured under a much heavier burden of taxation, and many of their owners were forced to sell part if not all of their estates. While land was increasingly subject to heavy income tax, money earned from its sale could be kept tax free, which encouraged estate owners to sell parts of their property, often to tenant farmers. Death duties had risen again in 1919 and servants’ wages had also experienced a sharp rise.
It is against this backdrop – with many great estates being sold, broken up and even demolished – that Mary is striving to hold on to Downton Abbey, a not-inconsiderable task.
ANNE ‘NOSH’ OLDHAM
Hair and Make-up Designer
Having worked on the first two seasons of Downton Abbey, Anne Oldham, known as Nosh, was delighted and flattered to be invited back by the production team to work on the film. Although she was familiar with the series and the team behind it, she was keen to refresh the look of the characters while keeping everything very much within the Downton mould. ‘Our goal was to heighten and polish, and to bring everything forward a couple of years,’ explains Nosh.
Now that Downton was to appear on the big screen, Nosh needed to push even further that attention to detail, checking and re-checking everything before the camera rolled. ‘We also had a really good camera team, headed up by Ben Smithard. He and I talked about the lighting for the scenes, as this hugely affects how people look on screen. Our goal was that in the daytime our female characters wouldn’t look too made-up – they should appear polished but in a natural way, especially for the characters downstairs. In the evenings, women can wear visible make-up but again we were careful here – lipsticks and eyebrows were a little stronger at that time and we might do a little nod to that but we wanted the upstairs ladies to look glamorous but not make them look like flapper girls as that would have been a little extreme.’
When Downton Abbey first came on our television screens, Nosh and the rest of the team worked hard to establish the eighteen main characters, each with their own silhouette and look, so that even if you only saw the back of their heads you would know instinctively who they were. This means that although characters’ hairstyles may have evolved over the years, no one’s appearance is radically changed.
For the film, all the new characters needed to be similarly distinguishable from the rest of the cast. Nosh felt that she needed to spend as much time and effort as possible on the new cast members, giving them the same attention to detail as everyone else.
Before any filming happens, Nosh does full hair and make-up tests with the actors, fitting wigs that have been made, and then making any revisions that are required. ‘You want the actors to feel completely at home in their look,’ explains Nosh, ‘so they’re feeling confident and ready for that first day of filming.’
LORD and LADY HEXHAM
Harry Hadden-Paton
Laura Carmichael
Edith is now happily married to ‘one of the grandest men in England’ (as her father once described him), her very own prince charming Bertie Pelham. Living at his family seat of Brancaster Castle with Edith’s daughter, Marigold, the couple have the rather grand titles of Marquess and Marchioness of Hexham.
Bertie unexpectedly inherited his title – one that outranks an earl – just before he and Edith married but their subsequent rise in social status hasn’t gone to their heads. They are still very much the forward-thinking couple they were before their marriage, shocking Edith’s parents when they turn up at Downton without so much as a nanny or a valet. ‘It’s 1927,’ announc
es Bertie. ‘We’re modern folk.’
Edith’s modern outlook on life is mirrored in her fashionable appearance, and after arriving at Downton she’s keen to see the new ballgown she has ordered from the atelier of well-known fashion designer Madame Handley-Seymour. Laura Carmichael, who plays Edith, was similarly keen to see some of the wardrobe department’s creations for the film, which included an original beaded dress as well as tiaras, which Edith can wear now she’s married. ‘The costumes are stunning, as are the locations,’ enthused Laura. ‘Downton has always looked beautiful but everything has gone up a notch for the movie and to see that energy making it all perfect has been very exciting.’
‘Edith went from having long hair to a shorter cut with a wave; now life has really changed for her we needed to show that she’d moved on, while still being very much the Edith we know.’
Nosh Oldham, hair and make-up designer
Edith’s ballgown is late to arrive and then a similar dress turns up in the wrong size. While Edith appears to fret about the dress, she does have more serious issues to consider, namely that she thinks she is pregnant, as she later confesses to Bertie. Naturally, they are both delighted, although the news is marred by the fact that the King has asked Bertie to join his son, the Prince of Wales, on a long foreign tour at the time the baby is due. Bertie is torn between duty to his King and his obvious longing to be close by as Edith brings his first child into the world. Fortunately for Edith and Bertie, Cora and Queen Mary manage to advise the King that now is not the time for the Marquess to head off overseas.