Tweed Party-'Gosford Park' Steeped in 1930s Elegance

The movie: “Gosford Park”

The costume designer: Jenny Beavan, who won an Academy Award for “A Room with a View,” and whose other Merchant Ivory collaborations over the last 20 years include “The Remains of the Day,” “Howard’s End,” “Maurice” and “Jefferson in Paris.” Other movies include “Sense and Sensibility,” “Tea With Mussolini” and “Jane Eyre.”

The look: Sure, it’s been done a million times before, but 1930s English shooting tweeds and riding gear never looked so good in this upstairs-downstairs, star-studded whodunit.

You should know: Costumes are a combination of period clothing from the renowned Cosprop costume house in London and newly made apparel, or a fusion of both. For instance, the ultra-elegant Lady Sylvia McCordle (Kristin Scott Thomas) wears a simple, bias-cut gown newly made from vintage red velvet. Her cream-colored gown is from the ’30s, with new black trim added “because it was rotting at the top,” says Beavan. All the men’s evening suits are vintage except for those worn by Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and Lord Stockbridge (Charles Dance) because the actors were too tall to fit into the old styles. As for the stiff, white evening shirts with detachable wing collars and white ties, they are still worn in England and were purchased at Gieves & Hawkes or Ede & Ravenscroft. “They’re boiled in starch until they’re like cardboard. Actors hate them,” says Beavan.

Trivia: Thomas had plenty of ideas concerning her stylish character. When she comes home from a ride wearing standard gear—shirt, necktie and wool riding britches—there are no riding boots. Instead, her legs are covered in old socks and lace-up shoes. Beavan reports that Thomas figured Lady Sylvia had already kicked off her boots and liked the idea of her character not being at all concerned with her looks. “She said, ’Can’t I wear terrible old socks and shoes?’ She loved the idea of looking a bit odd.” For the scenes taking place in the evening, when she sashays into dinner in simple, bias-cut gowns, Thomas got to thinking again, this time about wearing Chanel diamonds from the period—a “pompom” necklace with two detachable pompom drops and matching earrings. “Kristin said she’d worn this necklace at Cannes one year, and Chanel was glad to help,” says Beavan. Thomas also wears an art deco diamond necklace from Tessier in London, which is also the source of the Countess of Trentham’s (Maggie Smith) diamonds.

Knit alert: The hand-knitted women’s cardigans—fit neatly to the waist with ribbing at the bottom—and men’s V-neck vests worn with shooting tweeds look fresh and wearable now. All were hand-knitted for the production in England, where the knitting scene is “fairly alive and well,” says Beavan. Cardigans were made from vintage patterns taken from the book “A Stitch in Time.”

Research: Beavan studied Tatler and Vogue magazines plus Sears Roebuck catalogues to come up with clothing for American visitor Morris Weisman (Bob Balaban). “American clothing is a bit sharper and brighter,” notes Beavan. As a result, Weisman, a movie producer, wears brasher plaids and tweeds and a scene-stealing overcoat with an enormous fur collar (in reality, a woman’s fur stole attached to a stock overcoat). —Betty Goodwin