1920s Outfit ideas inspired by Downton Abbey- Pin this!
With the final season of Downton Abbey complete, I wanted to re-create some of my favorite looks from the past seasons. I have plenty of new and thrifted ’20s style clothing in my collection, so these 1920s outfits were pretty easy for me to put together. If you don’t have good thrift/charity shops, you can find many similar clothing styles in new clothing stores today. Use what you have, what you can find locally, or buy online to create your own costumes inspired by fashion in the roaring twenties.
These are 1920s outfits inspired by Downton Abbey for all classes, all ages, and all occasions from day to evening. If you need help with your 1920s outfit, don’t hesitate to ask!
1920s Outfits for Home
Lady Mary in a simple blouse and pleated skirt.
Not all of life at Downton or in the 1920s was dressing in glamorous evening gowns. Ladies wore simpler day dresses, skirt and blouse mixes, and sometimes even pants (gasp!). In the 1920s, the turn from mostly dresses to sportier casual separates was in full swing. In the final season of Downton Abbey set in 1925, we see Edith, Mary and sometimes Cora wearing loose-fitting blouses, long thin skirts, and lightweight jackets (cardigan style) that had very long lines. The drop waist silhouette was in fashion and everything a woman wore made her figure appear taller. Although clothing was shapeless, it was not unflattering. A fabric belt, sash or fitted blouse hem created enough of a waist so as not to look like a sack for potatoes. Yes, even for plus sizes.
1920s Daywear using a long blouse and pleated skirt. Bead necklaces are some richness. Shoes are neutral single or T strap heels.
This first look I put together was inspired by the ladies’ at home clothing. Typically, they would wear these from morning to afternoon while at Downton, running into town or, in the case of Edith, working at her London Office. Casual was the latest fashion.
A few 1920s style blouses I found at Forever 21
I started with a button down blouse, which was not common yet, but the buttons are covered by a placket so it is OK. An ideal blouse is one that is long, loose, and pullover or buttoned up the back. Most blouses in the early ’20s did not have collars, while the mid to late ’20s they took on menswear inspiration and included pointed or rounded collars. Read about 1920s blouse styles here. Shop 1920s style blouses online here.
Next, I added a long (mid shin) pleated linen skirt. The long pleats are perfect for this era. Read the history of 1920s skirt styles here.
For shoes, a pair of T-straps or single strap Mary Janes are ideal for around the house or in town. A pair of walking Oxfords would be good, too. I chose a tan pair of T-straps for this look to coordinate with the overall light color of the outfit. The only accessory is a simple bead necklace, again fairly long, to add length to the outfit.
Mix and match 20s style tops and skirts
1920s Day Dress Outfit
Downton Abbey 1920s Day Dress
When not in a skirt and blouse, ladies usually wore dresses. They were more traditional. This look here started with a vintage cotton dress (’70s?) with pretty floral embroidery. It had a natural waist drawstring band which I covered up with a wide sash in contrasting blue. This brings it into the early ’20s style where the waist was higher, sashes were wide, and dresses looked very “little girl.” Middle and lower class women (and Downton Abbey’s servants) would still be wearing this look in 1925. Shop 1920s day dress here.
For shoes, I went with black Mary Janes (not white — lower classes had no need for shoes that dirty easily) with cut out details, a common design in the early ’20s. I also choose a wide brim straw hat to match the dress (again, an early ’20s style), and white mesh gloves (blue would have been nice, too). I didn’t add a necklace because of class status and because the outfit didn’t need it. Perhaps a cuff bracelet would have been a nice accessory.
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- Repro daywear outfit
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- Drop waist floral day dress
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- With a sash/belt this become an early 20s house dress
Outfits above. Shop 1920s day dresses.
1920s ‘New Woman’ Outfit
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- Edith’s menswear inspired office look
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- Mary Crawley’s plaid 20s suit
Men were influencing 1920s women’s fashion and occupations. Mary is managing farmers, Edith running a paper, Isobel is head of the hospital board. These new jobs meant progressive “New Women” were wearing menswear inspired clothing such as a collared blouse and necktie and vest.
For my New Woman look, I started with a collar blouse and thin necktie (I had to ask my husband to tie it). In the picture on the right, Edith wore a bow front blouse. Edith also wore a long vest left unbuttoned. I didn’t have a vest like that, so I used a menswear style tweed vest and buttoned it up just like in Mary’s outfit. The look is very sporty and still accurate to 1920s. Next, I used a blue tea length pleated skirt. The coat is a vintage cape coat with faux fur collar. It was a popular style in the 1920s as well as the 1960s, and on trend again in 2015.
For accessories, a brown felt cloche hat matched the vest. A pair of black or brown lace up Oxford shoes were comfortable and practical for walking in the country. Finally, a pair of wrist length gloves were always on hand when outdoors.
I LOVE this look. I think I will wear it to my next 1920s themed event for something a bit unusual.
Edith inspired sporty day look
Some New Women went as far as to wear pants, usually just for sporting outdoors, although some designs were worn at private house parties, beach resorts, and at home. They were inspired by Asian clothing and featured semi wide loose legs, a long jacket with a mandarin collar, and a wide wash belt. They were made of silk, so they flowed beautifully. While we don’t see any of these worn in Downton Abbey, Lady Sybil, who wore Harem pants in the first season, would be just the type of woman to wear a pant suit in the 1920s, too. Also, if you watch Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, you may see her wearing a white pant suit quite often. It was a look for the rebellious forward thinking woman.
1920s Pant Suit Costume with Scarf
For my look, I found a white Asian inspired pant suit made of cotton/linen in a thrift store. I see these quite often, so keep your eyes out for one. Online, they are trickier to find. If you can find wide leg chiffon pants, you can wear them with just a blouse and still be in style. The blouse I found was a silky ’50s night gown top. Lingerie departments are another place to find great clothes with a beach resort look.
For shoes, I chose two tone Oxfords because this is a sportier look. A straw or felt cloche hat adds just a little more 1920s style. My favorite accessory in this look is a long scarf with fringe tips tied at the neck to one side. You will see many long, thin, silk scarves worn in Season 6 of Downton Abbey. They were the in accessory of the mid ’20s. I use many of the fringe pashmina scarves and skinny scarves at Bohomonde for my scarves. A large scarf or fringe wrap like these here would also look fancy with a pant suit.
Look at this article for more ideas on using scarves to accessorize a simple dress.
Look here for even more non-dress 1920s outfit ideas.
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- Different scarf types and placements create new looks on the same dress.
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- Long skinny scarves or a thicker fringe scarf ads interesting detail to a dress without permanent trim.
Lady Mary and her fashionable scarf
1920s Tea Outfits
Taking tea with friends was a daily event at Downton Abbey, as was hosting afternoon outdoor parties. For these occasions, casual day wear was set aside and something nicer was put on — always a dress, but not yet the beaded evening gowns. Dresses were made of light airy materials in colors to match the season with a few more accessories than home clothes.
For my first afternoon tea look, I found a vintage drop waist navy blue and floral print dress (’80s) with tiered skirt. Very 1920s! I then piled on the accessories with a black cloche hat, long pearl necklace, wrist gloves, and a pair of T-strap shoes.
1920s Afternoon Tea or Traveling Dress
The above look is perfect for a fall or winter’s day, while the look below is a nice airy summer tea dress. I found another vintage ’80s dress with a dropped waist and gathered skirt. The top is sheer with a flounced neckline. If I were to be extra picky, I would say this look is more in line with the late 1920s and early 1930s. The peachy pink color was popular at this time as well. It is a look that can work for either decade.
1920s Summer Tea Dress
The dress is paired with a straw hat called the Edith Hat on Modcloth (how appropriate!). It came with a green or white band, so I added a peach colored flower to coordinate with long bead necklace. There were many styles of jewelry in the 1920s, but the bead necklace is the most iconic and versatile of them all. Next came again white mesh gloves (they breathe well in hot weather) and a pair of light colored single strap shoes with a modest heel height.
High heels were only worn in the evening and indoors. On grass, low wide heels were the most comfortable dressy shoes. Completely flat shoes were not worn at all — small heels were still attached to Oxfords and saddle shoes, and those were for sporty looks. They would not have been worn with a tea dress. If your feet can’t handle any sort of heel, by all means wear single, multi or T-strap flat shoes and you will still look close enough to period correct. For wide shoe wearers, you have great options, too.
1920s-1930s Garden party/ Tea Dress Costume
Me, dressed for a Gatsby festival wearing the floral dress and Edith hat mentioned above.
One last Downton Abbey 1920s outfit: the Tea Party/ Garden Party look. I love this floral print dress. It is a reproduction 1930s dress I found at Unique Vintage. The design is early thirties but still in the overall mood of the ’20s. I wore it recently to my local Great Gatsby summer festival and I had many compliments on it.
To go with a summer garden theme, I chose a white straw hat with flowers added on. I paired it with white gloves and pink T-strap shoes that match some pink in the dress. On the mannequin, I put another long bead necklace only because my tassel necklace broke while dressing her. Tassel necklaces were another popular style of long necklace at this time and are also in style now.
Shop more 20s dresses here.
1920s daytime dresses/ tea dresses
1920s Mature / Mrs. Dresses
The daughter wears newer 1920s drop waist casual dress while the mother wears modest clothing of earlier times.
The above looks were all inspired by the young Crawly sisters, but that isn’t to say they can’t be worn by mature women, too. Women like Cora, Isobel, and Violet may have chosen to avoid the “New Woman” fashion and instead wore more conservative styles from the Edwardian era and early ’20s. Here are three Downton Abbey 1920s outfits using the same dress but with different accessories that give it a mature aesthetic.
Downton Abbey style dresses for mature women
The dress is a lace inset costume dress I found one eBay years ago. The lace gives it a late Victorian to Edwardian era feel. In the mid 1920s, lace was seen as too “old,” although many women continued to wear it (even Mary Crawley wears lace dresses in the last season).
The Dowager in a long jacket
In the first look, I added a wide beaded belt in a shape that is very Edwardian but was still worn in the early ’20s. The chiffon sleeves are perfect for this in-between decade as they offered modest but not full coverage. The hat I choose was a wide brim, tall crowned velvet hat with a feather clip I attached to one side. It was a lucky thrift store find. See more wide brim Edwardian style hats here. With a pair of sturdy T-strap shoes and wrist length gloves, this look is ready for a day time event.
The dress on the right is another style of day dress using the same outfit as the first, but adding a matching velvet coat. The coat length is ideal for the 1915-1920 time period, while something a little longer would have been seen in 1920-1925. A light velvet coat is a great way to dress for an afternoon event where you don’t want exposed arms. A pair of pumps and a filigree necklace takes it to a more formal indoor setting. I could easily see the Dowager wearing this look, couldn’t you?
The middle costume uses the same dress but takes it up a notch to afternoon or evening attire. I placed a black lace shawl over the shoulders and secured it to the body with a thin fabric belt. This belted look was very common in the early ’20s, while the lace takes it back a few years earlier in time. With long multi strap heels, long black gloves, and a fancy crystal hair clip, she is ready for dinner at Downton.
Day and Night Downton Abbey Outfits using the same Nataya dress, styled with different accessories.
Another look for all ages using the same dress can also be transformed from day to night with the right accessories. The dress is the Nataya Titanic Tea Dress in black and cocoa. It comes in many more color combinations as well. Don’t be worried by the “Titanic” name. It is a timeless style that can span 1912 to 1925 very easily.
As a day dress, all it needs is a wide brim hat (this one is straw), wrist length gloves, a long faceted bead necklace, and sensible plain T-strap shoes.
For the evening look, I changed the hat out for a tall feather hair clip, long black gloves, and fancy gold and black heels.
Downton Abbey Dinner Dress
Downton Abbey evening attire
Now for everyone’s favorite costume: the dinner dress! All those stunning vintage beaded, lace, or embroidered dresses the women wore to dinner make me swoon! Thankfully there are plenty of beautiful Downton Abbey inspired gowns for sale online (or locally, too). They range from long floor lengths to shorter ’20s flapper dresses. Both were seen in the final two seasons of Downton Abbey, although the longer dresses were still preferred.
1920s Dinner Dress at Downton Abbey
My look begins with a new Pisarro Nights beaded dress. It is the best selling dress on VintageDancer, especially for a Downton Abbey themed event. I bought it in silver, but it comes in a full range of other colors, plus/petite sizes, and with long or no sleeves. It’s a dress for every body!
Lady Rosamond in beaded evening gown, and Mary Jane shoes
Evening shoes were often matched to the dress or an accessory. Silk shoes were dyed, while leather shoes were hand painted. You could paint your own shoes (here is a tutorial) or buy a pair of strappy heeled ’20s style shoes. In this example, a pair of sparkling glitter silver shoes seemed perfect. Don’t forget to wear stockings. Lighter colors were worn in the evenings, again to coordinate with your dress. Black was the backup choice. Sheer nude was a bit too risqué. Pastels, tan, white or grey were better choices.
Don’t forget to have some fun in your costume!
For fancy eveningwear, a crystal headband is a must. Long pearl or fascinated bead necklaces were still worn in the evenings or a heavier statement necklace for the early ’20s style.
The one thing I forgot to photograph was a 1920s style purse. You don’t see many of these in the show since most dinners were filmed at the Abbey. A woman out on the town would carry with her a small beaded, mesh, or embroidered purse with a few coins, handkerchief and maybe makeup (gasp!) in it. In modern times, purses are necessary to hold our phones. Shop 1920s style purses.
The final bit is long gloves. Very long gloves. Evening gloves were worn up and over the elbow, usually in white, but black was OK with a black dress. Gloves were worn before dinner and taken off during dinner. Look here for some long glove choices.
1920s style evening dresses
1920s Style Dresses
Here are some 1920s style dresses to get you started on your Downton Abbey costume:
Debbie Sessions has been teaching fashion history and helping people dress for vintage themed events since 2009. She has turned a hobby into VintageDancer.com with hundreds of well researched articles and hand picked links to vintage inspired clothing online. She aims to make dressing accurately (or not) an affordable option for all. Oh, and she dances too.
