Finger on the Shutter

By: Jill Finger

Dec 05 2017

Category: Uncategorized

1 Comment

Last Friday, when Bonnie, Liz, and I traveled to New York City, our main destination was the Downton Abbey exhibit. We had tickets for a 1:30 entrance, but arrived early and were admitted at 1pm. The first floor was recreations of the rooms from the show starting with the kitchen. The actual clothing was on mannequins and the kitchen was complete with food as if Mrs. Patmore would walk in and start cooking. The dining room was gorgeous, fully set for dinner, with lots of silverware at each place setting and 4–count them—4 flower arrangements.The dresses on display were the ones actually worn on the show with a note saying who had worn it. A glass case displayed jewelry that accessorized the dressesThe second floor had Lady Mary’s bedroomand beautiful photographs of each member of the cast along with an explanation of who they are on the show and what happened to them in the course of the series. 

Lord and Lady Grantham, Robert and CoraThe 3 daughters: Lady Mary, Lady Edith, and Lady SybilThe Dowager Countess of Grantham-Violet CrawleyThe third floor was the smallest display, consisting of clothing from the show.  We couldn’t touch,  but the displays were close to the separating ropes, so the clothes could be closely examined. What we did see was the edges of the veil and even the hems on the wedding dress weren’t finished, but that wouldn’t be noticeable on TV. However, the detail on this wedding dress train was gorgeous. Mrs. Hughes and Carson’s wedding finery. And lastly, my all time favorite quote from the show. 

The exhibition was like walking onto the set of Downton Abbey and is there until the end of January. Bonnie, Liz, and I highly recommend it.