Cathy's Art Diary

Delightful online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum interviewing Anna Robbins, costume designer for Downton Abbey. Robbins has designed for the last two series of Downton and the three films. One stage with her were some of the pieces from the latest film, which hadn't come out when the talk happened, and she talked us through the design process for them. She was ably interviewed by Emily Harris from the museum who got her to talk though how she gathered her ideas, how the outfits were constructed and how she used vintage pieces. She talked about how the clothes had to be historically accurate but were to be used in a world of imagination and had to reflect the narrative arch of each character. I was fascinated to hear how often one outfit then sets the palette for a whole scene with other pieces reacting to it. I now can't wait to see the film at the weekend! Stop Press: I have seen the film by the time of writing, in fact I’ve seen it twice, and loved it.

Fabulous exhibition at Bonhams of costumes and props from the Downton Abbey series and films which are to be auctioned. Having just watched the series and first two films again I was so excited to see this and it didn’t disappoint. There were two large rooms, one for upstairs and one for down. The clothes and objects were arranged in tableaux. The costumes were fabulous and it was like seeing old friends. From Lady Sibyl’s hareem pants, through the iconic wedding dresses to Lady Edith’s London business dress it was all beautiful. I loved a display of maids off duty clothes hanging up. The attention to detail in the faked documents was wonderful. I’m sure many were never seen close up in the series but they had the words which were read out on them and all the correct headings and stamps. They even had Marigold’s birth certificate which I don’t remember seeing at all.   Closed 16 September 2025 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Fascinating online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the designs for the character of Mrs Coulter in the recent adaptation of “His Darks Materials” for television. The event, which was also live at the museum, brought together costume designer Caroline McCall and actor Ruth Wilson who played the character. Unfortunately I have lost the notes I took while watching so I don’t know the name of the lady who ably interviewed them. McCall talked about how she used the text of the books for inspiration for the clothes and Wilson talked about how she used the clothes to help her mould the character. They talked about how they discussed the clothes as part of both their creative practice and the influences they drew on. I have since finished the series which was visually stunning and the talk gave me a good insight into the depth of the thinking behind it.

Stylish but annoying exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the rise in South Korean culture and style. The show was a work of art with beautifully designed rooms and display cases all styled to match the objects they were showing. However the excessive use of light boxes and multiple video screens made some of the items hard to look at, such as a lovely screen which was impossible to see without reflections of a video of beauty products or a big screen from the previous room. It was also sometimes hard to work out which label went with which object. This was a topic I knew nothing about and felt quite old, rather than informed, when I came out. I found some aspects quite sinister like the very realistic digitally created girl group and the sheer consumerism of a lot of it. However I did love the clothes both the traditional and the contemporary take on traditions and I might need to go and look up some of the historically based K-television. Closes 25 June 2023 R...

Showing for members at the National Gallery of a new Sky Arts film on Raphael. It was introduced by one of the gallery’s curators who pointed out that not a lot is known about the life of Raphael and it was noticeable that the programme was a bit light on some of the details. However the art was shown beautifully and it filmed in some interiors which can’t be visited. It evoked a good sense of what it might have been like to live in Florence and Rome in this period and placed the work in the context of other things which were happening at the time. It was interesting to watch the credits at the end as there was a good list of the works shown and where they can be seen.

Interesting talk at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival looking at the original and the new Civilisation television series. James Stourton, the biographer of Kenneth Clark, talked about the original series which he said was made by the BBC as a beacon for colour TV. It aimed to tell the story of Western civilisation and pioneered the idea of filming on location. He talked about the criticisms of the series and how these were highlighted by the fact that it came out at a time when society was changing and it hadn’t reflected this. David Olusoga, the historian and one of the presenters of the new series being made at the moment talked about the vision for this new version. He says it will still have personal views but there will be three presenters, himself, Simon Schama and Mary Beard, Olusoga’s sections focus on when cultures come together not just in crushing ways but also when they come together for mutual benefit. He also pointed out the new series i...

Fun exhibition at the Old Truman Brewery looking at the work of the costumiers Angels. The first section of the show looked at the history of the company including designs contemporary to their foundation and talking about their origins hiring clothes in the 19th century to jobbing actors as they were expected to provide their own costumes for plays and were often picked on having the right clothes rather than their abilities! The second half focused on costumes they had produced and films they had worked on in a rough chronological order. I loved the 70s section including a dress for Margo on the Good Life and Glenda Jackson’s Cleopatra outfit from the Morecombe and Wise show. I also liked the costumes from Wicked which I’ve not seen but it’s now on my to do list! It was also interesting to see costume for films being made now which are out now such as an outfit for Maggie Smith in “Lady in the Van”, not exactly high glamour but fascinating to see the attention to de...

Slightly disappointing exhibition at Berrington Hall, the National Trust property near Leominster, of clothes from various film and television adaptations of Jane Austen novels. It was disappointing because the advertising as you drove up made it sound like quite a big exhibition and let’s be honest there were pictures of Colin Firth in “the shirt” which caught my interest, but in fact there were only about 10-12 outfits and none from that particular production.   However it was nice to see outfits you remembered from on screen and to see them in the context within which the originals would have been worn. They did add interest to the interiors. What was not mentioned in the advertising was a really interesting room of original clothes and material used to show different material types and styles. I was amazed at how gaudy some of the fabric looked. There was also a room of original agricultural labourer’s smocks. The different parts of this exhibition could have ...