A step back in time

Sunday I went to another event with a friend. A little bit of a time travel experience stepping back in time to the beginning of the century and the times of Downton Abbey. At the Hallwyl museum they just opened an exhibition on the costumes from the master piece series - Downton Abbey that I think almost everyone has been following. The very moment I heard there was going to be an exhibition on the dresses and outfits from the series I wanted to come here and see it.

 

This is the perfect location for this exhibition as the Hallwyl house is from the beginning of the century. It was the most modern and luxurious house of Stockholm in those times and the many rooms are still beautiful. Most of the dresses are originals from the series that have been worn by the characters. You can recognize serveral of them from particular scenes out of Downton Abbey. The remaining dresses once belonged to the family members of the Hallwyl family that lived here.

So here you get to see some of Lady Mary, Lady Sybil, and Lady Edith's dresses. 

The exhibition seemd very popular even if it just opened. We were there in line shortly before the museum opened and there was already a long line of people queing. The line had grown considerably by the time we left. 

I love these summer garden party outfits. There are so many fine details on these dresses. A lace collar, fine pieces of embrodery, ribons, pearls ect. Fancy waist bands. Details of semi transparentness. Stones and pearls woven into the most beautiful fabrics. I was wondering how you do laundry on such fine dresses. I guess you would have to wash them by hand very carefully.
 

Even the servants such as the butler and main house maid that carried out their jobs and services around the family had quite fancy and fine dress uniforms. The vest on this butler uniform is an amazing piece in fine satin adding some color to the uniform that makes all the difference. To the right are examples of fine evening dresses from the series worn as dinner dresses. I read somewhere here that Lady Mary has a very large wardrobe in the series and she would change her outfit serveral times a day even at some days.

I think this is my favorite among the dresses at this exhibtion. I love the black lace and all the small shiny pearls that are woven into the lace. It is almost hard to see but this dress has semitransparent arms. It shows some skin but still gives coverage. I love the cuts on these dresses, loose but yet very flattering for the body. The loong necklaces is another favorite. I have always loved the clothes from this period around the 1920'ties.
 

As you can see this house museum offer the perfect surroundings and enviroment for this dress and costume exhibition. These outfits much have cost a small fortune to buy as they were all hand tailored and very fine materials were used.

 When E and I were done with the Downton Abbey dresses we first went for a very nice long walk around Djurgården. Then influenced by the fine aristocratic times and enviroment that we had just stepped into before our walk we decided that the perfect way to end the day would be to by treating ourselfs to some afternoon tea.
 

So we had afternoon tea at Svenskt Tenn. This is were Lotta and I tried to have tea when she was here but unfortunately then they closed early as the entire tea reception had been booked by a large party of some sort. But now I finally did get the chance to go for tea here.
 

They have a large selection of different kinds of tea on their tea menu. Then they also have all the classic small sandwiches and pastries that go with afternoon tea.
 

This apple tart was to die for. Totally devine. I completely fell in love with the tiny sauce cup containing vanilla cream. Such a tiny and cute sauce cup it almost felt like part of one of those doll house tea serving sets.