We're about to be smacked with the hard reality that it's the end of an era, guys. Downton Abbey, the PBS show that turned everyone in your family into period-piece junkies, is starting its sixth and final season on Jan. 3. The show was captivating for the characters and story arcs but also for the nearly encyclopedic way we got to watch fashions morph from decade to decade. We met everyone in 1912 (remember the family member who perished on the Titanic?), and the women were in high-necked, constrictive floor-length styles before moving to drop-waist, flapper-inspired pieces. Hemlines changed, jewelry got switched up, and, heck, they eventually showed some leg (and low heels!). It's so often movies that get all the sartorial praise, but Downton pretty much confirmed weekly shows should be mined for style inspiration too.
With the end looming near, we scored time with the show's costume designer, Anna Mary Scott Robbins, to find out what we can expect, which style moments top her personal best-dressed list, and how the entire experience was. It should come as no surprise that she loved her job, especially since it covered her favorite decade to work on.
"My favorite time [for costumes] would be the first half of the 20th century because it's so accessible. You're so close to it that you can identify with the people wearing the clothes, you can imagine that it would be you or your grandparents," she said. "I love how tantalizingly close it is, and yet how different from our clothing today."
Glamour: What can we expect, fashion-wise, from season 6?
Anna Mary Scott Robbins: I've really gone to town and found some incredible original pieces that I'm very excited about. Knowing that it's the final season, I wanted to go out on a high and epitomize that mid-decade point that we've reached. The '20s glamour and decadence, knowing that that way of life is waning.
