Saturday, April 14, 2012

Countess Grantham's White Suit


Countess Cora Grantham's white suit is perhaps one of my favourite costumes featured in the Downton Abbey series so far!  I was lucky enough to be able to get some close-up photos when I visited the Creative Stitches exhibit in Glasgow last month.


This white suit has the most beautiful trim around the neck and midway down the front.  The same trim is applied to each of the corners at the bottom of the jacket front.   We also see the same trim on the bottom of both sleeves.

I'm wondering if the coat is a faux coat in that it is worn more like a tunic?  I also wonder if the blouse underneath is just a dickey or collar piece and not a full blouse?


Here's a bit of a close-up of the trim.  You can see that the neck is an intersting shape that bends slightly out and features a high neck lace blouse piece.  Take a look at the trim.  Doesn't it look like separate pieces sewn up on the jacket to make it look like one continuous piece?  I think the diamond trim is separate and that the trim is individual pieces of four corner looped trim placed one after another.  What do you think?  There are also small white scrolled trim pieces applied to the front with the last pair of white trim pieces overlapping the black trim.  Lastly, there is some sort of textured cord that is sewn all around the front opening all the way down to the bottom (but not around the coat except at the neckline).  I can't tell if this is sandwiched between the facing and the front of the coat or applied only on the outside of the coat.  I also can't tell if the coat is sewn up part of the way and the rest is kept closed with a series of hook and eyes?


Here is a close-up of the bottom of the coat.  You can see the diamond trip is flipped and placed on in a square shape at the bottom to mimic the corner line.  I also see that the textured cord is simply wrapped under the bottom of the coat on the front and is applied at the sleeve cuffs as well:


Here's a close-up of the sleeve cuffs.  I really like the simple placement of trim on the sleeves.



 In this photo, you can see the height of the neckline and also the placement of trim at the back of the neck:


Here it is again....They've placed the diamond trim in the middle and it looks like they've cut the other trim and placed it around the diamond to connect it to the main trim.  I really like how this looks.  Unfortunately, white makes it really hard to see the seam lines on this coat.  Does it look like there is a center back seam??  The sleeves are definitely pleated at the sleeve caps (a look I LOVE):


They also had the fabulous matching hat on display. It's a wide brim hat with a silk like fabric covering the main part of the hat and a black net with small velvet dots.  There's also black and white ribbon trim, white ribbon trim, what appears to be silk flowers and black and white feathers!  Phew!


Here's a lovely portrait and a close-up of the hat front.  The feathers really stand out in this photo as does the trim on the jacket.  Is it me or does it look like the jacket could have used a narrow shoulder adjustment for Elizabeth McGovern?


What do you think? Do you love this suit?  How do you think it was constructed?
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