Fashion 101 | Fashion of Downton Abbey and Early 20th Century Fashion

Darlings, I just recently found myself obsessed with Downton Abbey. The stories, the history, the fashion of Downton Abbey! The pilot episode takes place the day of the Titanic's sinking and quickly propels through almost a decade in 2 seasons. So much happened to our world at this time and to witness it through the eyes of British royalaty and their staff is quite intriguing. From the early 20th century fashion to the brink of the 1920s let's see what Fashion 101 will unwrap today...

For Modern Era fashion, I feel the latest we ever possibly revert back to is the 1920's fashion of the flappers and the gangsters, so to have the spotlight on the very early 20th century fashion is most inspirational. The hats, the dresses, the automobiles!

The low busts, curvy hips and long dresses of the early 19th century began to change from a mature, full bodied figure to a slight, boyish figure. By the latter half of the 1910s dresses began to accentuate smaller busts, slender hips, and exposing the scandalous...ankle.

Early 20th century had a passion for hats, not quite Marie Antoinette level but not far. Wide brim, heavily adorned hats sat upon long wavy hair plaited up hair. By the end of the decade what would become the famous finger wave hairstyle of the 1920's began its experimentation. Also the hats became more simple, with slopped rims and much deeper crowns. These would soon lead to my favorite cloche hats.

The original Harem fashion of Poiret in 1910 inspired by an oriental craze from a popular theatre show in Paris. One of my more favored moments in the fashion of Downton Abbey was when Lady Sybil came to dinner showing off her new dress, the lastest fashion from Paris.

The fashion of Downton Abbey is a character in itself. As fashion always does, it tells a story of the society the characters live in and how drastically the Great War changes everything. Customs of utmost importance like afternoon tea gowns fall to wayside for nurses uniforms to care for the ever growing wounded soldiers. In fact it is interesting to note that many of our major fashion changes in history took place due to war, or the fact that it ended. You see that? We're all in this together.

What do you love of the 

fashion of Downton Abbey?