Downton Abbey: Season 5

So, I confess: last night I watched the premiere of Downton Abbey, Season 5 - and it is even better then I thought it would be.  I mean, not just good but really good.  Julian Fellowes is brilliant and it is a fun and exciting start to 1924 at the Abbey.  I don't know how Julian Fellowes, as the sole writer of Downton Abbey does it, but does it he does - and he does it brilliantly!  Lady Mary, Mosley (there is a great scene with Mosley, really entertaining) Lady Edith, Rose, Lord Grantham, Thomas, Maggie Smith, the Dowager Countess... on and on... the whole cast has an opportunity to shine.  It is wonderfully written and wonderfully entertaining.  Resist if you can until January 2015!

Some behind the scenes photos of Downton Abbey season 5 from the Hollywood Reporter:

xo, Juliana

Downton Abbey Season 4 Premiere!

One of my favorite scenes in the movie Emma is when Mr. Knightley (the yummy Mr. Knightley - Jane Austen certainly could dream up the perfect dream men couldn't she : ) said to Emma, "I just want to stay home, where it is cozy".  And behind them looms the rather enormous house Highbury.

And tonight I just want to stay home, be cozy and watch the premiere of season 4 of Downton Abbey.  I have already seen the complete season and it is AMAZING!  I did not miss what's his face at all.  You know the one I mean with the big blue eyes who had the nerve to leave the series, make Julian Fellowes end last season with his death, then moved to LA, lost a lot of weight, dyed his hair and transformed into Ethan Hawke.  

 

Him.  If you have not seen season 4 yet, You won't miss him at all.

Let's remember him as he was:

and now that he is on his knees, begging us for forgiveness...

I don't think so.

Back to Downton Abbey.  I have been reading Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey and it is wonderful fun.  It is crazy the level of detail the makers of Downton have gone to - things like Daisy's new fangled mixer which they bought on Ebay in the United States, shipped to England, had cleaned, refinished and then rewired.  I don't know about you but I did not pay that much attention to the mixer. And then things like the menu cards, written by a calligrapher and removed from the table only when the main course is served - just as it would have been in a house like Downton.  I had a fuzzy recollection of seeing the menu cards on the table but not really noticing them.  So it is not just the superb writing of Julian Fellowes (who has written every episode himself), the wonderful cast (and you will not really miss Miss O'Brien either - another one) but the attention to all of the many little details that make for an immersive experience into Downton Abbey.  Where all is cozy...

See you at the Abbey!

and PS...

remember when we dressed 'Lady Mary' for the 2013 SAG Awards??!

Michelle Dockery in Chado Ralph Rucci from RARE vintage!  2013 SAG Awards

and then, when it was so much fun at the 2012 Met Gala seeing the ladies of Downton Abbey:

Ladies of Downton Abbey at the 2012 Met Gala taken by most wonderful husband for me - and you!

love, kisses and vintage,  Juliana

More Met Gala Snaps

So of all the people that were there to be seen, I was most excited to see a couple of the ladies from Downton Abbey!  Excuse me Mick Jagger and Colin Firth!  Out of the way! Lady Mary and Lady Edith are in the house!

Oh yes and a few Jonas Brothers were there too.

and so was the amazingly talented Rihanna

And also the amazingly talented Janelle Monáe

and the Temple of Dendur looked magical.

Be sure to go see the exhibit Sciaparelli and Prada: The Impossible Conversation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  They have some of the most spectacular and iconic pieces of Schiaparelli and the Miuccia Prada pieces are, as always, provocative and timeless.