Downton Abbey Costumes Exhibition in Boston and now on Auction in 2025

2025 Exciting Updates!  In 2019 I attended the Downton Abbey Costumes Exhibition in Boston that had been traveling around the country. So much fun! See below for all my photos and commentary. It’s now been announced by Bonhams Auction House in London that there is an upcoming costumes and props auction – much of which appears to have been the items I saw on the tour.

Per Bonhams: The Auction, a sale of iconic props, costumes and set pieces from across the series, together with a free exhibition open to the public between 18 August – 16 September 2025 at our New Bond Street saleroom in London. With more than 120 million viewers around the world, the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Primetime Emmy Award-winning series created by Julian Fellowes is one of the most popular programmes in the history of British television. Preview the auction and register your interest to stay updated. Scroll down to discover more about this exclusive auction.

Would you consider placing your bid?

And of course – there’s Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale coming out in September 2025.

So, Friday was my birthday and my oldest friend (meaning longest term, NOT OLDest, lol) took me to the Downton Abbey Costumes Exhibition currently showing in Boston and then out to a lovely lunch. I was really looking forward to the exhibit as I loved the series and had blogged about it when it was airing on PBS. Unfortunately, many of the photos I’d painstakingly edited and posted seemed to have gone missing. So, there are a lot of holes in my past posts, but there are still lots of photos.

 

Cora, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern)

In addition to the unusual color palette, this costume also featured exquisite knife pleating on the coat and bead detail on the dress.

 

This gorgeous velvet costume has such amazing details and layers. The mannequins really don’t wear these looser, less structured costumes anywhere as well as the actors do.

Mr. Carson (Jim Carter), butler,  and Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), head housekeeper

As I mentioned, the servant’s Downton Abbey costumes tended to be shown in their room sets. Above we have examples of their daytime looks while running the household, shown in Mr. Carson’s rooms. As the two top servants in of the household, the butler and head housekeeper, their clothing was somber but of high quality and impeccable tailoring.

At the end of the six season run, Hughes and Carson finally tied the knot. As servants, they didn’t have extensive wardrobes, the funds or the interest to invest in fancy wedding clothes. The ever practical Mrs. Hughes plans to wear something in her closet, but her friends are having none of it and encourage the Countess Cora to loan her a coat befitting the importance of the day.

The lovely pink velvet duster jacket featured extensive lace appliqué, beading and silk flower details. It was worn over a simpler purple dress. Mr. Carson wore a classic gray flannel three-piece suit with natty blue polka-dot tie.

Lady Edith Crawley/ Marchioness of Hexham (Laura Carmicheal)

Lady Edith, commonly referred to as “Poor Edith”, was the “ugly duckling” 2nd daughter for whom things never seemed to go right. She was jilted at the alter by an older bridegroom who decided he was too old for her (he was) and she was settling for him just to get married (she was). Her first wedding dress was a loose fitting sheath style gown with a gathered detail on the hip and a lovely back draping. The thing about Edith, she may not have been the prettiest sister, but the actress could were these shapeless garments spectacularly well.

Edith’s second wedding, while filled with pre-wedding drama (of course), was much more successful and as a Marchioness, she ultimately outranked even her own mother and Grandmama in the nobility.

Her second wedding dress was a more traditional lace affair with lots of layers and draping.

 

I always though that the Downton Abbey costumes designers took pity on Poor Edith and gave her the best clothes. Especially, as I said, because she could wear them so well.

 

 

Lady Mary Crawley Talbot (Michelle Dockery)

 

Lady Mary, the eldest daughter of the house, first married the doomed Matthew Crawley, distant cousin and heir to her father’s estate (because men, even distant unknown relatives, outranked female next of kin).

I actually never liked this dress either in the show or in person. It really does just hang there and completely obscures the body.

Mary’s second wedding was more of a fancy day dress and not a formal wedding dress.

Mary was an experienced horse-woman and the actress looked particularly striking on horse back in her various riding habits.

 

I always loved this dress.

And this dress was worn in the final season, in 1925 (I believe).

I will say that in person, this dress is nothing. A thin silk sheath with a gold lace overlay tacked on. But on the actress with the right lighting, it’s quite something. It’s also teeny tiny. One fun thing about costume exhibits is you can get an idea of how big (or small) actors really are.

 

 

Lady Rose MacClare Aldridge (Lily James)

Lady Rose was a 2nd cousin to the Crawley sisters and was basically brought into the series to inject some younger blood after Mary and Edith became grown women and mothers and the death of Lady Sybil. She started out as the perfect flapper wild child, then calmed down into a more mature character. They had very few of her costumes in the exhibit, but did have her Debutante Presentation Gown which had a kind of dropped Marie Antoinette pannier look about it. It’s both sweet and sophisticated with metallic threads running through the lace, pretty floral appliqué and dazzling diamonds.

These 1920’s era gowns were unstructured and very loose fitting. Most literally hang on the mannequins as if on a hanger. The beauty in these clothes is how they are worn on the body and in movement. The bias cut of many of them skims the body and accentuates movement.

I was initially underwhelmed yesterday when seeing the Downton Abbey costumes in person. They didn’t seem quite as – exciting as I expected? I couldn’t put my finger on what was bothering me. But I kept thinking about how amazing the costumes were that I saw in 2016 at an exhibit on Cape Cod that showcased costumes from several different movies. I went back and looked at that post and I do think it comes down to shape and structure. Most of those costumes were highly structured garments that literally wore themselves. Bustles, corsetry, etc was created to give shape to clothing of different periods depending on the fashions of the day. The lack of same, as was the fashion in the 1920’s, quite literally leaves the clothes shapeless and for the actual wearer to be doing the work of making them look great. That said, seeing all the Downton Abbey costumes details up close and personal is really fun.

 

All Downton Abbey Exhibition Boston photos ©Linda Merrill, 2019.

 

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Downton Abbey Finale Photo Extravaganza

Downton Abbey Drawing Room Finale

 

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