Duke’s Duds Costume Rental at 2806 Avenue A supports Lubbock Moonlight Musicals and is home to hundreds of costumes representing more than 100 years of fashion. Duke’s Duds shop manager Gatlin Alldredge said he’s been helping customers achieve the “Downton Abbey” and Jane Austen’s England looks by providing vintage 1960s and ’70s outfits that were modeled from those periods.
Although Jane Austen’s novels, which inspired the Dancing with Mr. Darcy events, were published in the early 19th century, “Downton Abbey” does not take place until the early 20th century. This gives event attendees a wide range of fashion styles to choose from. Alldredge said a popular style with customers is a look closer to the “Downton Abbey” trend.
“The style that we’re going with is a little bit later in the 19th century,” Alldredge said, “when they had gone to the thinner look with layers.”
Alldredge highlighted many of the era’s styles, including dresses with single overlays, tulip style dresses and skirts, beaded pieces and the shift away from corsets.
“They don’t wear corsets, it’s not the skinny waist,” Alldredge said. “It’s more of an A-line cut, a no-waistline kind of a thing.”
Cynthia Ward, owner of Vintage Rose at 3424 34th St., also said many Dancing with Mr. Darcy customers have rented outfits from the “Downton Abbey” era.
“The period is Edwardian, starting around 1901,” Ward said. “Dancing with Darcy is Jane Austen period, and they did that for years. It was problematic for everybody because that’s pretty early. That’s 1800s; with the corsets and the bustles, it’s extremely difficult.”
Ward said she was happy to see the addition of the “Downton Abbey” theme, as it gave event attendees more costume choices. She emphasized the popularity of empire waistlines in the Edwardian period, as well as large hats, dainty jewelry and high gloves.
Ward said 1920s costumes are also popular for the Dancing with Mr. Darcy event, and guests can accessorize one of their own straight dresses with beads, feather boas and headbands with feathers and jewels to achieve a ’20s look.
“I have some dresses from the ‘20s that work, because ‘Downton Abbey’ is moving in on that era,” Ward said. “For the most part, the ‘Downton Abbey’ crowd likes the ‘20s.”
Ward emphasized the trend of dainty necklaces with drops, while Alldredge said popular jewelry included pearls, lengthy and asymmetrical necklaces and silvers. He said these styles should be easy for event attendees to mimic with their own jewelry.
Along with imitating jewelry styles, Alldredge provided a few tips for how event guests can make their own costumes from things they have at home.
For women, Alldredge said, layers are necessary.
“Doing over-the-shoulder shawls or tying a shawl around the waist to create that sort of v-look that was the overlay for the skirts,” Alldredge said.
He also included high neck collars, heeled shoes and rounded updo hairstyles.
Ward said any dress with an under-bust, empire waistline could be appropriate for the Edwardian era and that a ‘20s shoe can be mimicked by a strappy modern shoe with a short heel.
For men, Alldredge said, a normal black or gray suit can be worn if it is accented with whites.
“It would be very appropriate for a man to have a white dinner vest,” Alldredge said. “They generally would have had tailed coats, but they also would have had dinner coats, so a square jacket is acceptable.”
He added that shiny shoes are a plus.
With the already popular Dancing with Mr. Darcy’s addition of a “Downton Abbey” theme, event attendees have more than a century of fashion trends from which to choose. Fortunately, they also have a few costume shops in Lubbock that are ready and eager to help create the perfect outfit.
“I like that they added ‘Downton Abbey, it gives them some choices,” Ward said. “Even if it is originally based on the Jane Austen story of getting Darcy to dance.”
