Getting Dressed in Downton Abbey Fashion: Late 1910s-Early 1920s Wardrobe

I’ve recently become enamored with the fashion of the late 1910s- early 1920s, specifically 1918-1921. It’s the type of clothing we all fell in love with in “Downton Abbey”. There’s something so stylish and wearable about it, even though it’s 100 years old. I can definitely see myself wearing these clothes for normal wear! I’ve never really been big into “vintage” clothing but this somehow strikes a balance between vintage and historical clothing.

It’s also a really fascinating time period full of incredible and fast-paced change. One can’t deny the parallels between the post-WWI era and our current times, from a worldwide pandemic to racially motivated violence as seen during the Red Summer of 1919. I hope that by looking back to this time period, we can see how much more work must be done in our own.

Other than the corset, which I will link to below, I created all of the patterns for the clothing myself. The undergarments consist of an envelope chemise, corset, petticoat, and camisole, as well as shoes and stockings. The dresses featured are a house dress, linen summer dress, and wool suit.

Corset pattern: https://www.scrooppatterns.com/produc...

Cotton sateen, plaid linen, and navy wool from Burnley and Trowbridge Company: https://burnleyandtrowbridge.com

Straw hat from Timely Tresses: https://www.timelytresses.com

Shoes from Remix Vintage: https://remixvintageshoes.com

Catalog images from https://archive.org

Pattern image: https://etsy.me/3rWr4T1

Music from Free Music Archive https://freemusicarchive.org/home

“The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra is licensed under a Public Domain Mark 1.0 License.

“By the Beautiful Sea” by Ada Jones and Billy Watkins is licensed under a Public Domain / Sound Recording Common Law Protection License.

“The Vamp by Rega Dance Orchestra” is licensed under a Public Domain / Sound Recording Common Law Protection License.