Costumes of Downton Abbey, a major exhibition featuring 40 exquisite costumes from the award-winning PBS series, will open at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library next month. The Winterthur-curated exhibition will compare and contrast the fictional British world of Downton Abbey with the real-life American counterpart Winterthur in the first half of the 20th century.

Opening March 1, 2014, through January 4, 2015, this anticipated exhibition will feature iconic costumes such as Lady Edith's wedding dress, Lady Sybil's harem pants, and Lady Mary's engagement dress, plus a spectrum of characters' attire worn upstairs and downstairs. Henry Francis du Pont's Savile Row evening jacket, the du Pont family's 1874 Tiffany silver tea service, Mrs. du Pont's traveling case, a rare display of vicuna, plus accessories, photos, and vignettes will help recreate extraordinary times in these larger-than-life households. 

A co-production of Carnival Films and Masterpiece, Downton Abbey depicts life in an aristocratic household of the fictional Earl and Countess of Grantham and is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed period dramas ever produced. It has won a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries and seven Emmys, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries. It has become the highest-rated drama series on PBS. By the third season, it was one of the most widely watched television shows in the world. The Guinness World Records recognized Downton Abbey as the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011.