How Downton Abbey Has Changed Fashion

By Lindsay Baker

D ownton Abbey’s romantic portrayal of a stylish era has inspired designers and in fluenced mainstream fashion all over the world, writes Lindsay Baker.

“What is a weekend?” asks the Dowager Countess of Grantham played by Maggie Smith in the hit TV series Downton Abbey, in her grand, imperious way.1. Dowager Countess of Grantham:格兰瑟姆伯爵遗孀，《唐顿庄园》剧中人物；Maggie Smith: 玛吉·史密斯，英国女演员，代表作有《哈利·波特》、《唐顿庄园》等；imperious: 傲慢的。In the upper echelons2. echelon: 阶层。of Downton’s leisured classes, it is a fair question—there is, after all, no work and therefore no difference between a Friday and a Saturday. And in the glamorous,rari fied life portrayed, the sole occupation of Lady Mary and the other Crawley ladies is to be fabulously turned out for every occasion—be it breakfast, hunt, shoot, dinner, ball, or, in the latest series, a visit to a jazz club.3. glamorous: 富有魅力的； rari fied:高高在上的；Lady Mary: 玛丽小姐，剧中女主角；fabulously: 极为美好地；turn out: 打扮，装束。The gentlemen too must be appropriately dapper4. dapper: 衣冠楚楚的。at all times.

This bygone era of the British aristocracy as depicted (and romanticised) on the small screen has fascinated audiences across the globe—particularly in the US—and for many viewers, the costumes are the main draw.5. 电视上描绘并戏剧化展现的古老的英国贵族时代吸引了全球范围内的观众（美国尤甚），对于许多观众来说，剧中的服饰是令他们着迷的主要原因。aristocracy: 贵族；depict: 描述；draw: 吸引观众的事物。So much so that an exhibition at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, north of Washington DC, is to display a collection of costumes from the popular series, including a burgundy dress worn by Lady Mary and the wedding dress worn by Lady Edith when jilted at the altar.6. so much so that: 到某种程度以至；Winterthur Museum: 温特托博物馆；Delaware: 特拉华州，位于美国东部；burgundy: 紫红色；Lady Edith: 伊迪丝小姐，玛丽的二妹；jilt: 抛弃；altar: 圣坛。The Winterthur is a 175-room country house set in a thousand-acre estate, and was for many decades the home of the wealthy Du Pont family.7. estate: 庄园； Du Pont family: 杜邦家族，美国最古老、最富有的家族之一。

The exhibition’s co-curator8. curator: 负责人，管理者。Jeff Groff describes the overall theme of the show as “contrasting English country-house life and American, something Downton Abbey does very well with its characters. The fit is very good.”

英剧《唐顿庄园》自播出以来引起全球范围内的热烈反响，获奖无数。究其原因，不难看到它的优点：丝丝入扣的剧情、紧密联系的逻辑、重量级演员的加盟、细致入微的制作等等。正所谓“人靠衣装”，从另一个角度看，也不难发现《唐顿庄园》还有一大独特之处在于其华丽的英国贵族古典服饰。可以说，凭借考究的服饰，《唐顿庄园》刮起的复古风不仅席卷了普通民众，甚至在时尚圈也引起了轰动！

Golden ages

In much the same way that hit US TV shows Mad Men and Gossip Girl permeated fashion, so Downton style has seeped into our culture.9. Mad Men: 《广告狂人》，美国电视剧，首播于2007年；Gossip Girl: 《绯闻少女》，美国青春偶像剧；permeate:遍布，席卷；seep into: 渗入，出现。Look around and the signs are everywhere in the mainstream—trench coats and riding boots, beaded dresses,faux-fur collars, retro wavy bobs and jewelled hair accessories are just a few of the more ubiquitous examples.10. 环顾四周，主流时尚中随处可觅得“唐顿风格”的踪影：无论是风雨衣还是长筒靴、缀珠长裙还是人造皮衣领、复古波浪短发还是镶宝石的头饰，都不过是“唐顿风格”无处不在的众多例子中的一小部分。trench coat: 风雨衣；riding boot: 长筒靴；beaded: 饰有珠子的；faux-fur: 人造毛皮； retro: 复古的；bob: 齐耳根的短发；ubiquitous:无所不在的。Where Downton goes, fashion soon follows. As the drama has progressed through several ages of style, the fashion world has re flected the changes every step of the way. From Downton’s first episodes, set just after the Edwardian era11. Edwardian: 英王爱德华时代的。, through the 1920s and then 1930s in subsequent seasons, the direct in fluence of the small screen on international fashion can be traced.

It started back in 2012 when the actresses who play the Crawley sisters appeared on the cover of edgy UK fashion magazine Love, and designer Marc Jacobs confessed he was a fan of the show.12. edgy: 前卫的；Marc Jacobs: 马克·雅可布，美国知名服装设计师。In his Autumn/Winter 2012 collection for Louis Vuitton, Jacobs referenced the Edwardian era, with extraordinary, outsized hats, elbow-length gloves and tight- fitting long coats. In full Edwardian mode, the models arrived for the runway show on a custom-built steam train.

In the same season, Burberry evoked a countryside,tweedy mood, and Ralph Lauren opened their show to the soundtrack of the Downton theme music, as models in narrow, tailored jackets, checked trousers and elegant pastel dresses evoked an aristocratic English shooting party à la Downton.13. 同一季度，博柏利提出了一个展示乡村风味的粗花呢服饰的想法，拉夫·劳伦也引用《唐顿庄园》的电视原声作为其开场伴奏。模特们身穿狭长的量身定做的夹克、格纹裤和精致的浅色裙，引来了一场模仿《唐顿庄园》英国贵族风格的拍摄派对。Burberry: 博柏利，英国奢侈品牌；tweedy: 粗花呢制的；Ralph Lauren: 拉夫·劳伦， 国际著名服装品牌；soundtrack: 电影原声带；checked: 格子花纹的；pastel: 淡色的；shooting: 拍摄；à la: 仿照。Not only that, the brand has since been sponsoring the show in the United States.14. brand: 品牌；sponsor: 赞助。It makes sense—the American designer’s old-money, WASP aesthetic chimes perfectly with the Downtown sensibility.15. old-money: 继承祖业的家庭或成员；WASP: White Anglo-Saxon Protestant，盎格鲁－撒克逊裔白人新教徒，被视为权势人物；aesthetic: 审美的，美学的；chime with: 与……协调，sensiblity:(尤指对文学或艺术的)感受力，鉴赏力。UK bridalwear designer Jenny Packham, meanwhile,credited Downtown with an upturn in sales of her wedding dresses,16. credit sb./sth. with sth.: 把某事归功于某人/某事；bridalwear: 婚礼服；upturn: 好转。many of which draw on early 20th-Century in fluences.

Downtown has since moved on from Edwardian corsets and full-length skirts, and the season that kicked off in 1920 and ushered in the flapper age also coincided with Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby adaptation, that led a revival of the roaring-‘20s aesthetic in 2013.17. 自此，《唐顿庄园》告别了英王爱德华时代，以及那个时代的紧身外套和拖地长裙。在《唐顿庄园》始于1920年的剧集中，开辟于20世纪20年代的时尚女郎时代与巴兹·鲁赫曼版本的《了不起的盖茨比》不谋而合。这在2013年点燃了20世纪审美复兴的熊熊烈火。corset: 紧身外套；kick off: 开始；usher in: 引进； flapper:（20世纪20年代蓄短发、穿短衣服、在聚会中寻欢作乐的）年轻女郎；coincide with: 符合，相一致；Baz Luhrmann: 巴兹·鲁赫曼，2013年执导影片《了不起的盖茨比》。And as the show’s action moves into the late 1920s and early 1930s, costume styles have shifted. Downton costume designer Caroline McCall has cited iconic French designers of the era, Vionnet and Lanvin, as in fluences.18. iconic: 代表性的；Vionnet: 薇欧芮，法国高级服饰品牌；Lanvin: 朗万，世界知名时装品牌。

Kasterine sees the American interest in Downton-style fashion as part of a wider fascination with the era of British history that the show depicts. “There’s an immense romance to that period of time between the wars,” she says. “Downton is very glamourised. In fact there was an appalling snobbery as well.19. appalling: 令人震惊的，骇人的；snobbery: 势利。But this was a golden age for the aristocracy who were then rich and powerful—and Britain still had an empire. It must have been an amazing time to live for some people . The women could be glamorous and the men could be dastardly and macho.20. dastardly: 凶残的，邪恶的；macho:大男子气的。Perfect manners were very important. There was no idea that Hitler was just around the corner. And in the end the dresses were very, very beautiful.”

The biggest draw of Downton style for fans of the show,however, is probably how character is reflected in costume. The suffragette-sympathising, class-busting Lady Sybil sports daring harem pants.21. 剧中，西比尔小姐支持妇女参政论，并与她所属的阶级格格不入，因此她的穿着是大胆的扎脚宽松长裤；suffragette: 妇女参政论者；busting: 破裂；Lady Sybil: 西比尔小姐，玛丽的三妹；sport: 穿戴；harem pants: 扎脚宽松女长裤。American character Martha Levinson (played by Shirley MacLaine) is forward-looking and progressive, with flapperesque, shorter hemlines, cloche hats, and plenty of feathers and black-jet jewellery.22. forward-looking: 有远见的，高瞻远瞩的；progressive: 主张进步的；hemline:（裙子下摆的）底边，底缘；cloche: 钟形女帽；jet: 黑玉。The formidable, ultra-traditional Dowager Duchess, meanwhile, remains resolutely Edwardian in her silhouette—and is generally appalled by anything to do with the modern age, week-ends included.23. formidable: 令人敬畏的；silhouette:轮廓，侧影；appalled: 震惊的，极度惊恐的。