Downton Abbey's Costume Designer Talks Falling In Love With The 20s And Her Favourite Outfit From The Show

[Photo Credit: ITV]

Monday was the launch of the The Complete Collection of Downton Abbey- a collector’s edition box set of all six seasons. It was a show that captured the nation and its costumes were a key part of that. I sat down with Downton Abbey costume designer Anna Robbins to find out about the work that went on behind the scenes to create the stunning fashion we saw on screen.

When you took this job, had you worked on any period productions before?

Yes, I had come off the back of an ITV drama (The Bletchley Circle) which was set in the early 1950s and flashed back into the war. It was about female code breakers at Bletchley Park. I did a couple of series of that and I’ve also done a few smaller projects dotted throughout history too. You learn the discipline of period design, but every decade requires its own research.

Describe, for those who don’t know, what your job as Costume Designer entails?

My job is to design the look of the show and I’m responsible for the costumes for every single person you see on camera, so this includes the principals and the supporting artistes you see in the background.

I’m responsible for everything you see from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet, so hats, bags, gloves and jewellery are all included in that. It’s my responsibility to create a cohesive look and characterise the characters well so that their story and their journey is enhanced by the look of their clothing.

Downton Abbey spanned a lot of eras, but I came in to design the last two series, so I guess the challenge for me was to also make sure the transition was very smooth and that the audience are carried through the journey and eras without really realising that the fashions are changing so quickly over time. It should feel very natural.

Where did you look for inspiration and historical information when you were creating the costumes?

I spent weeks, if not months, visiting galleries such as the V&A and the National Portrait Gallery in London. I also looked up vintage photographs to get some real-life takes on period fashion. I then compared these to the work of high-end fashion designers from the period. The internet is obviously a very useful tool! I’ve also gathered a library of reference books over my career, so these were useful too.

Who was your favourite character to dress and what was your favourite outfit from the show?

That’s a really difficult one and it’s really hard to pin down. I enjoyed designing for all of them for lots of different reasons. It was a real pleasure to design for the young upstairs girls, simply because they wore so many different dresses that I got to go through the design process a lot, which is really great fun.

I also really enjoyed designing for Maggie Smith as the Dowager has such a distinctive and different look so I got to really stretch myself just with that one character- taking her Edwardian silhouette and trying to move it forward into 1920s colours and fabrics without losing her sense of character. So I would probably say the Dowager is my favourite character to design for, but it changes every day.

In terms of my favourite outfit, there are hundreds to choose from. I think that one I come back to thinking about quite a lot was in series five during the fashion show- I designed Lady Mary’s outfit and there was something in that moment on screen with her red hat and blue and white dress that made me feel that I really nailed her look, and from that point on I really knew where I wanted to take her. It was such a classic and stylish look, so it really sticks in my mind. I fell so completely in love with the 1920s when I was designing for the show- the beauty of it and the craftsmanship will never leave me.

What happens to all of the costumes now that the show has finished. Did any of the cast ask to keep anything in particular as a memento?

No, but I think there were lots of things that they would have loved to have taken away- some of the evening dresses or even some of their coats that you could pair up today with jeans and still look stylish. Ultimately though, everything has been catalogued and stored very carefully- I guess with a view to them being seen again, maybe in an exhibition. That would be great- I’d love for them to have another lease of life.

The American characters were dressed quite differently from the British ones. How was their fashion different?

It’s different because it evolved differently, so it’s similar when you look at it at face value, but if you investigate the cut and the fabrics and perhaps the boldness of some of their styles, they then start to diverge a little as they exist in a different environment. It’s the same way that Parisian fashion is different from London fashion. It’s the same as it is today- you can see cultural and geographical differences within fashion trends.

How long did some of the elaborately beaded costumes take to make, and how many people were involved?

I had a very small team actually, compared to what people might expect. My workroom was a team of four- I had a cutter, two makers and a trainee. Our trainee Hannah became very good at re-beading and restoring some of the original dresses. You could have all four girls working on the same outfit at different stages.

With an original dress that needed reinforcing, you could spend a week repairing it and it would still be a very fragile thing. You could also spend a week making an elaborate dress from scratch, but you would never be able to get that same level of detail into it unless you used pieces of original embroidery and beading, as the craftsmanship then was very labour intensive. Beading something from scratch would take weeks if not months and that’s not something that we had the luxury of doing.

The most time intensive outfits were actually the Dowager’s- Maggie’s dresses had so many layers and different embellishments to give them that elegant and slightly earlier Edwardian feeling to them. They would take a minimum of a week each.

What was the show like to work on, and what are your favourite memories?

Downton Abbey has been one of the most amazing jobs I’ve ever done, and that’s mainly because the cast and crew were just incredible and a very close family. Also, as a costume designer, to be able to design something of that era and spanning such an amazing strata of society is a dream to do.

The Complete Collection of Downton Abbey is available to own on Blu-ray™ & DVD now, courtesy of Universal Pictures (UK).