Downton-Inspired Vintage Beauty and Fashion Flashback

Hi, my name is Rachael and I’m a Downton Abbey-aholic.

There. I’ve said it. And I have a bit of a confession…I actually sacrificed my beauty sleep for a few weeks to watch seasons 1-3 on DVD over the past month and a half in an effort to get caught up before season 4 starts in the US in January.

I was interested in the show when I first heard of it, but didn’t watch for whatever reason. I tried to watch it later on when it started winning awards and I saw my friends posting picture of their Downton-inspired tea parties and table settings–and especially when I noticed the return of Edwardian-style accessories in high end department stores and boutiques but I wasn’t able to find it On Demand–I don’t know why it didn’t dawn on me at the time to just go to the library and check out the DVDs!

Well once my friend and colleague, Barbara Sherf, of Capture Life Stories started hosting Downton-inspired events (most for charity) in the Philadelphia area, I finally asked her: “What’s the big deal about Downton Abbey?” She looked at me blankly like “what rock have you been living under?”…and simply suggested I go to the library and rent the first season. Well I did and I watched the whole thing in three nights. It’s not just that the acting and the story and set are gorgeous…which of course they are…but oh my, the fashion and accessories and makeup (actually, the lack of makeup) really drew me in.

Little known fact about me:

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a fashion designer when I grew up. I was fortunate to go to a high school that offered fashion design and clothing construction in addition to regular home economics-type classes, and I spent the first two years of college as a fashion design major. Well my career obviously took a different path, but my love for fashion and fashion history will always remain.

So when Barb asked me to co-host the Downton Abbey Fashion Flashback event this past month, I immediately said yes. We went to a local boutique that specializes in high end period-inspired clothing and accessories and got to dress up and have a fun photo shoot to promote the event.

Though I love talking about fashion history, I still wanted to contribute something to the discussion that was more in line with what I do today–holistic skincare. Since the women in the show and in many old photographs had beautiful skin, I decided to do a little research myself and add in a brief history of trends in beauty, cosmetics, and skincare practices of each era of the 20th century, starting with the pre-World War I Edwardian era.

It was amazing to see how at first society, caste systems, and lifestyle influenced skincare and beauty trends–not to mention the fact that this was at the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution, so skincare regimens were very simple and often used ingredients from nature that I use in my own apothecary skincare products today. Of course they had some beauty practices that were downright scary, since they didn’t know about long-term toxic effects of substances like lead–but it was still cool to see.

Is our skin better off now, or were the Downton Abbey era ladies better off?

As the years progressed and women became less influenced by social mores and their peers and more influenced by the burgeoning advancements in printed media, film, radio, and later on, television, it was fascinating to see how the trends changed as the social roles of women changed.

Ingredients in cosmetics changed too, from nearly all natural to now nearly all chemical. We can also draw comparisons to how changes in the food industry also followed a similar time frame, beginning with 100% whole foods and ending up today with the majority of foodstuffs available being processed and full of chemicals. Given the amount of chronic skin conditions we have today, plus autoimmune diseases, allergies, chronic, an acute diseases…I’m not sure we’re really any better off now than women were back then. What do you think?

Barb and I really enjoyed presenting together, and I loved how some women who attended the event brought along their own collected treasures. We saw vintage lipstick holders, purse-sized perfume atomizers and bottles, combs that folded into tapestry-covered cases, and more goodies.

Even though I wasn’t alive when ladies used accessories like these, I got a really strong sense of nostalgia from the energies these pieces still carried…who knows, maybe I owned them or pieces like them in a prior lifetime!

Want to learn more about vintage beauty and how to make modernized versions of some of the most tried and true beauty secrets over time?

I’ve taken my love of vintage beauty secrets and turned it into The Vintage Beauty Club, where we take a closer look at some of the most significant cosmetics and beauty trends over history (rather, herstory). We keep the gorgeous natural ingredients and replace any toxic ingredients from those old formulations with safer, modern alternatives. Each class is just $37, and comes with video instruction, the recipes, and a shopping list.

Click HERE to check out the Vintage Beauty Club!