We here at Frock Flicks (okay, Kendra and Trystan) are so excited for the final season of Downton Abbey that we’re doing weekly costume recaps AND podcasts! Tune in each week for an episode-by-episode recap of our thoughts on both the plot and (especially) the costumes (designed by Anna Robbins) — because really, while we all are invested in the lives of the fictional Crawley family, don’t we actually keep coming back to see what they’re wearing? You can find the podcast at the bottom of this post, or on iTunes!
Well here it is, the finale after six series — let’s tie up all those loose ends with some vintage moire satin bows, shall we? This episode was SO LONG that unfortunately we’re pretty much only focused on the ladies here, image-wise. Sorry boys!
Donk takes the whole family for a walk:
Isobel visits Violet to worry about Lord Merton:
Back at the Abbey and downstairs:
Outside on the lawn, the family is having cocktails (we can’t remember, was this a special occasion?).
At dinner:
Edith goes to visit Granny before heading to London; later Mary comes to visit:
Over at Lord Merton’s house, Isobel finds out that he has a really bad kind of anemia that will kill him soon:
In London:
Back at the Abbey, Mary has ordered a new-fangled hair dryer!
And in London, Edith thinks she’s going out to dinner with Rosamund, but Rosamund and Mary have plotted to get her together with Bertie, who is all “I NEED YOU.” This is a nice gesture, but we think Mary should also have to lick Edith’s shoes clean for a year.
Back at the Abbey:
Over at the Dower House:
Edith, Cora, and Robert are off to visit Bertie! True Wuv is back in business!
BERTIE’S CASTLE BEATS ALL THE CASTLES. We were cackling SO HARD!
Inside, we’re all dressed up for dinner with Bertie’s mom, who is foreshadowed to be a hard-ass:
Back at the Abbey, Carson’s got the shakes, and it’s interfering with dinner:
Isobel takes Lord Merton to see Doctor Clarkson, who confirms the really bad anemia diagnosis:
Outside, bitchy daughter-in-law is there to haul Lord Merton away from Isobel:
Back at the Abbey, Henry is done with racing but trying to figure out what his life will be next.
Mary takes Master George to say goodbye to Barrow, who has finally found another job:
Over at BERTIE’S CASTLE, Edith and Donk have a heart-to-heart (because telling Bertie’s mom about Marigold is apparently worse than the former Marquess, Bertie’s cousin, being gay):
Back inside the CASTLE, Edith has decided she needs to tell Forbidding and Judgy Mother-in-Law-to-Be about Marigold:
At Mr. Mason’s farm, Daisy FINALLY realizes that Andrew may just be a hunk of roof-repairing flesh.
Isobel tries to visit Lord Merton, but bitchy Daughter-in-Law tells her he’s too sick to see anyone.
Isobel goes to Violet. She’s Very Concerned about Lord Merton.
At BERTIE’S CASTLE, it’s time for the engagement-announcement-party, but nobody yet knows whether or not Mother-in-Law is going to deal with the whole Marigold information.
Luckily, Donk gives Mother-in-Law the hint that it’s now or never to welcome Edith into the family and therefore remain on her son’s team. She does the right thing.
Violet is taking care of business. She and Isobel show up to spring Lord Merton from bitchy Daughter-in-Law jail!
At the Abbey, Mary and Tom come out to welcome Edith, Cora, and Donk back from Bertie’s.
And, it’s wedding time and Christmas! Rose and Atticus are back from New York for Edith’s wedding.
At dinner, the family catches up and we see a lot of rewears:
Isobel wants Dickey to get a second opinion about the anemia. Can he get a second opinion about the suit too? It’s a little anemic after all that rewearing.
Back in the Abbey:
In town, Henry and Tom open a car shop, while Cora manages hospital business. Their respective sig.others are impressed.
At the Dower House:
Time to prepare for Edith’s big day!
The church is filling up!
And we’ll round things out at the Abbey:
Thus ends six seasons of Downton Abbey. We had all the feels when we watched it, how about you? Listen to us analyze the episode and the whole series’ impact on historical costume TV in the podcast recap!
Downton Abbey Season Six, Episode Nine, Podcast Recap
Listen to our podcast recap of the episode here or on iTunes!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:31 — 23.2MB)
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Love Mary’s Fortuny. It’s about time Edith had a beautiful wedding dress. Loved Mary stepping back and letting Edith shine. Daisy is HOT with fringe. Asked New hairstyle shows how big her eyes are.
More later.
Mary’s last dress was assuit. (Confirmed by a dealer friend who has sold me assuit pieces in the past and knows my minor obsession.) There was much squealing over it last night (my poor husband was trying to WATCH THE SHOW while I did clothing play-by-play – he’s a patient man), and on looking at your screen grabs, the “Random Extra Lady” at the engagement dinner may be as well.
Good work! If I’m not mistaken the “Random Extra Lady” is actually Liz Trubridge, the series Exec Producer.
Glad they gave her a good costume!
INDEED!
COOL!
Oh, and your castle, My Lady. http://www.alnwickcastle.com/
Adds to travel plans!
Another reason to visit magnificent Alnwick castle: the village hotel is lavishly decorated with salvaged paneling and stained windows from the grand stairs and first class lounge on the RMS Olympic! (Titanic’s twin-sister.) How cool is that?
Time for Mr. Selfridge….
ROFL, it wasn’t MARY trying to steal any thunder, it was “Oh right I’m married to you now” Henry who apparently thought when Mary said “AFTER the wedding”, she meant “When Edith’s walking down the aisle is close enough.” I mean, I get it, dude, you are basically totally forgotten (I can see it, Henry and Editor Chick eventually run off together so Tom and Mary can be with their first loves, Cars and Downton) but what part of NOT TODAY wasn’t clear? He just felt shoved in through the whole episode.
Meanwhile I also liked Mary’s reaction to Anna’s going into labor–Anna’s “But we’re in your room! It’s kind of funny you helping ME undress.” Mary: “BIG PICTURE TIME HERE.”
And I was definitely not midroad on Edith’s wedding dress, maybe it’s just my lace addiction but I thought she got the best one of the show. Okay, or a tie with Rose’s long formal one. Both neatly dodged the teens-and-twenties frumpy bedsheet look (I loathe my great-grandmother’s wedding picture from 1916 and agreed with the Royal Weddings show on ovation about how the Queen Mother’s dress was both very fashionable for the time and hideously frumpy.) Mary hadn’t gone full pudding (hard when you’re rapier-thin but her dress was just kind of…here’s a white rectangle), but hers was very dull and Edith’s wedding-that-wasn’t was pretty, ish, I guess. She got the best headpiece, too.
The more I look at Edith’s wedding dress, the more I like it — given the era!
The bob on daisy makes her look like Fran-Bow
Downton ended here in the UK at Christmas, and I’ve been waiting for it to air in America just so I could read your recap! Great job covering a really long episode, and yes, I agree that the hats this episode had some pretty fab ribbons and details!
Yay! We worry about the whole timing discrepancy, glad you tuned in to our coverage.
Was it just me or did the whole Daisy hair cut thing remind you of the story, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair.” I loved Edith’s wedding gown, it reminds me of the one my great-grandmother wore for her second wedding. I was kind of hoping that the Dowager Countess would have pulled a knot in Mary’s tail about what happened with Edith and Bertie but that was just me.
Re Lady Violet calling Mary to the carpet Re Edith and Bertie, Tom made her feel small and she was at the time believing she would have to give up Henry bcoz his racing. Besides remember that it was Edith who exposed Mary’s indiscretion with Mr Pamuk. Both were in the wrong, but Edith wasn’t yelled at by family members.
Another point I loved wardrobe-wise was how Lady Rose’s clothes were more mature, gorgy still, but Ms Robbins took into consideration her marriage and birth of Victoria Rachel Cora Aldridge. Rose also seems to be a Fortuny lover. The teal silk velvet coat she wore upon arrival screams Fortuny. *love*
I really liked how Rose’s wardrobe seemed all grown up! You’ll definitely notice this in our last article on ‘charting Downton style’ – Rose began as quite the wild young thang :)
So do I
What was with all the hats at the reception (on the ladies)? Was it a period thing? A wedding reception thing? It looked so odd to me, coats off, hats on… I was hoping you would make sense of it.
We had the same question but no answers! We did discuss it on the podcast.
I’m quite certain that in daytime dress, a lady’s hat was not something taken off when she went indoors for a visit. So for instance when a lady came to call, she kept her hat on although she took off her coat. And if a lady dined in an hotel or a restaurant during the day (say teatime or luncheon) the hat remained on. I’m not sure when that changed, but not by the 1920s certainly. The hat after all is not for warmth – it is for fashion.
http://www.walternelson.com/dr/lady-hat
Thanks for the info!
Hello Id like to find the fabric of ladys rose velvet dot dress or the dress to rent ?? can someone give me a contact ? Thank you
late to the game, but the red pleated dress and Rose’s coat are both original fortuny http://fortuny.com/downton-abbey-wardrobe-visionary-calls-on-fortuny-for-final-season/