SOUTH BEND — “Did you see that dress?”

It’s a common question among “Downton Abbey” fans after catching the latest episode of the hit TV show.

Well, you’ll have a chance to see that dress in person in South Bend, when The History Museum opens the touring exhibit “Dressing Downton: Changing Fashion for Changing Times.”

The exhibit, featuring authentic costumes from the show, will be on display through Jan. 8, 2017, according to marketing director Marilyn Thompson. It will be the only stop for the exhibit in Indiana — and the nearest one to Michigan, where no stops are scheduled. In fact, it’s only one of nine museums where the exhibit is scheduled to stop.

Thompson expects crowds from surrounding states to travel here to see the outfits worn by the likes of Dame Maggie Smith, who plays Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, on the show.

Thirty-six costumes in all are featured in the exhibit, which is produced by Exhibits Development Group in collaboration with Cosprop. Will Peterson, director of marketing and special projects with EDG, said museums were picked on a first-come, first-served basis. The group did reach out to many of the historical mansions in the U.S., and even opened the show at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. The South Bend exhibit will include a tour of the Oliver Mansion.

The exhibit will tour the U.S. through 2018. It has set attendance records for many of the museums where it has been displayed — bringing, for example, two and a half times more visitors than usual to the Paine Arts Center and Gardens in Oshkosh, Wisc.

Source: South Bend Tribune