Tea Fashion: Downton Abbey Exhibition

For Downton Abbey fans, there’s a current traveling museum exhibit show that will not only be a feast for your eyes, it can also be a feast for your appetite as well. The Downton Abbey exhibit is named “Dressing Downton: Changing Fashion for Changing Times”. At the writing of this date, the tour has a stop in Chicago. It is being held at the The Richard H. Driehaus Museum mansion, and auditorium.The Downton fashion exhibit features 35 different costumes from the British Masterpiece PBSTelevision series show.

The period costumes from the fictional show, are wonderfully duplicated by the renowned costume shop, based in London England, named Cosprop L.T.D. This company has won numerous awards for their work on period costumes. The company painstakingly used all types of media to reproduce these costumes from pictures and paintings, to 20th century fabrics and embellishments. Many fashions were apparent and changing in Britain during the 20th century. Some were lavish and fragile, while still others were made from rough and sturdy materials.

The current exhibit in Chicago is in the Driehaus Museum and is itself lavish and elegant. The affluent families of Nickerson & Fisher present a drawing room, living room, library and bedrooms in which the costumes will be displayed.

The Masterpiece show Downton Abbey is set just after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. It is filmed on a tremendous estate, where the fictional aristocratic Crawley Family goes through many a stuffy British society event and personal triumphs and struggles with family, friends, and servants. The Exhibition tours the United States from late 2014 through early 2017, as of this writing the Driehaus Museum tickets for the exhibit and separate tickets for the afternoon tea are sold only in advance. Many dates are completely sold out. Please see the list below to attend your local area exhibit tour.

Upcoming dates after the Chicago tour are:

Cincinnati, OH Taft Museum of Art, July 2016 – September 2016
South Bend IN The History Museum, October 2016-January 2017
Anaheim CA Muzeo Museum & Cultural Center February 2017-May 2017
Nashville TN Checkwood Art & Gardens July 2017- September 2017
St. Augustine FL The Lightner Museum October 2017- July 2018
*Previous shows were well appointed and well attended, they were:

Asheville NC The Biltmore Estate February 2015-May 2015
Oshkosh WI Pine arts Center and Garden June 2015-September 2015
Richmond VA Virginia Historical Society October 2015-January 2016

The Traditional English tea (at the Driehaus Museum) will include a garden inspired setting, seasonal scones, cake breads, tea sandwiches and sweets, with two selections of specialty teas from Chicago’s tea purveyor Rare Tea Cellar.

Hopefully, you’ll be able to catch the exhibit in your area and have a feast for your eyes and lovely tea for you tummy as you are inspired by the sixth and final season of The Downton Abbey show!

*Exhibit Development Group EDG who promote international cultural events by producing events of art, science and history, have brought the Downton Abbey exhibit. More information on them can be obtained by access to their website at: exhibitsdevelopment(dot)com

**Downton Abbey is coproduced by Carnival Film & Television Limited, A CarnivalFilm/Masterpiece. Masterpiece is a trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation.

***PBS(dot)org can be accessed to see local listings for show times and sweepstakes offerings, as well as addresses to connect with social media.

****visit video.pbssocial(dot)org to access admission into streaming video for the show