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:格蘭瑟姆伯爵遺孀，《唐頓莊園》劇中人物；Maggie Smith: 瑪吉·史密斯，英國女演員，代表作有《哈利·波特》、《唐頓莊園》等；imperious: 傲慢的。In the upper echelons2. echelon: 階層。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: 瑪麗小姐，劇中女主角；fabulously: 極為美好地；turn out: 打扮，裝束。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. 電視上描繪并戲劇化展現的古老的英國貴族時代吸引了全球范圍內的觀眾（美國尤甚），對于許多觀眾來說，劇中的服飾是令他們著迷的主要原因。aristocracy: 貴族；depict: 描述；draw: 吸引觀眾的事物。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: 到某種程度以至；Winterthur Museum: 溫特托博物館；Delaware: 特拉華州，位于美國東部；burgundy: 紫紅色；Lady Edith: 伊迪絲小姐，瑪麗的二妹；jilt: 拋棄；altar: 圣壇。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: 莊園； Du Pont family: 杜邦家族，美國最古老、最富有的家族之一。

The exhibition’s co-curator8. curator: 負責人，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.”

英劇《唐頓莊園》自播出以來引起全球范圍內的熱烈反響，獲獎無數。究其原因，不難看到它的優(yōu)點：絲絲入扣的劇情、緊密聯系的邏輯、重量級演員的加盟、細致入微的制作等等。正所謂“人靠衣裝”，從另一個角度看，也不難發(fā)現《唐頓莊園》還有一大獨特之處在于其華麗的英國貴族古典服飾?？梢哉f，憑借考究的服飾，《唐頓莊園》刮起的復古風不僅席卷了普通民眾，甚至在時尚圈也引起了轟動！

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: 《廣告狂人》，美國電視劇，首播于2007年；Gossip Girl: 《緋聞少女》，美國青春偶像劇；permeate:遍布，席卷；seep into: 滲入，出現。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. 環(huán)顧四周，主流時尚中隨處可覓得“唐頓風格”的蹤影：無論是風雨衣還是長筒靴、綴珠長裙還是人造皮衣領、復古波浪短發(fā)還是鑲寶石的頭飾，都不過是“唐頓風格”無處不在的眾多例子中的一小部分。trench coat: 風雨衣；riding boot: 長筒靴；beaded: 飾有珠子的；faux-fur: 人造毛皮； retro: 復古的；bob: 齊耳根的短發(fā)；ubiquitous:無所不在的。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: 英王愛德華時代的。, 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: 前衛(wèi)的；Marc Jacobs: 馬克·雅可布，美國知名服裝設計師。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，博柏利提出了一個展示鄉(xiāng)村風味的粗花呢服飾的想法，拉夫·勞倫也引用《唐頓莊園》的電視原聲作為其開場伴奏。模特們身穿狹長的量身定做的夾克、格紋褲和精致的淺色裙，引來了一場模仿《唐頓莊園》英國貴族風格的拍攝派對。Burberry: 博柏利，英國奢侈品牌；tweedy: 粗花呢制的；Ralph Lauren: 拉夫·勞倫， 國際著名服裝品牌；soundtrack: 電影原聲帶；checked: 格子花紋的；pastel: 淡色的；shooting: 拍攝；à la: 仿照。Not only that, the brand has since been sponsoring the show in the United States.14. brand: 品牌；sponsor: 贊助。It makes sense—the American designer’s old-money, WASP aesthetic chimes perfectly with the Downtown sensibility.15. old-money: 繼承祖業(yè)的家庭或成員；WASP: White Anglo-Saxon Protestant，盎格魯－撒克遜裔白人新教徒，被視為權勢人物；aesthetic: 審美的，美學的；chime with: 與……協(xié)調，sensiblity:(尤指對文學或藝術的)感受力，鑒賞力。UK bridalwear designer Jenny Packham, meanwhile,credited Downtown with an upturn in sales of her wedding dresses,16. credit sb./sth. with sth.: 把某事歸功于某人/某事；bridalwear: 婚禮服；upturn: 好轉。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，《唐頓莊園》告別了英王愛德華時代，以及那個時代的緊身外套和拖地長裙。在《唐頓莊園》始于1920年的劇集中，開辟于20世紀20年代的時尚女郎時代與巴茲·魯赫曼版本的《了不起的蓋茨比》不謀而合。這在2013年點燃了20世紀審美復興的熊熊烈火。corset: 緊身外套；kick off: 開始；usher in: 引進； flapper:（20世紀20年代蓄短發(fā)、穿短衣服、在聚會中尋歡作樂的）年輕女郎；coincide with: 符合，相一致；Baz Luhrmann: 巴茲·魯赫曼，2013年執(zhí)導影片《了不起的蓋茨比》。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: 薇歐芮，法國高級服飾品牌；Lanvin: 朗萬，世界知名時裝品牌。

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: 令人震驚的，駭人的；snobbery: 勢利。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: 兇殘的，邪惡的；macho:大男子氣的。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. 劇中，西比爾小姐支持婦女參政論，并與她所屬的階級格格不入，因此她的穿著是大膽的扎腳寬松長褲；suffragette: 婦女參政論者；busting: 破裂；Lady Sybil: 西比爾小姐，瑪麗的三妹；sport: 穿戴；harem pants: 扎腳寬松女長褲。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: 有遠見的，高瞻遠矚的；progressive: 主張進步的；hemline:（裙子下擺的）底邊，底緣；cloche: 鐘形女帽；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:輪廓，側影；appalled: 震驚的，極度驚恐的。