Day Trip: Dressing Downton Fashion in South Bend

Lady Mary Crawley is gone, but her clothes live on, as the History Museum in South Bend hosts Dressing Downton: Changing Fashion for Changing Times (through January 8, 2017).

The nationally touring exhibition of costumes from the hit PBS show Downton Abbey includes hunting tweeds, formal gowns, servant get-ups, and the splendid purple number Maggie Smith wore to tea in the first episode.

More about the exhibition from the museum:

“This international exhibit, presented in partnership with the BBC/Masterpiece Theater and the Exhibits Development Group, features 36 costumes worn during the first four seasons of the PBS program Downton Abbey. The award-winning costumes are shown in memorable vignettes that offer an immersive perspective of the program’s most memorable characters, both upstairs and down. Offered in historical context, Dressing Downton chronicles the great changes taking place in Britain during the tumultuous early 20th century. Each area is accompanied by images that show the costumes as they appeared on the actors during the scenes in which they were worn.”