Forget Mad Men modernism. This season’s style is all about Downton Abbey’s Edwardian opulence. Millions around the world have been seduced by the straight-laced but stylish world of the British historical drama. Soon they’ll be able to take some of that style home, getting lips as soft as Lady Mary’s, wine inspired by Lord Grantham’s favourite tipple – and even walls as grey as Mrs Patmore’s kitchen.
Since it premiered in 2010, the series about the family and servants of a grand English house in the 1910s and 1920s has become a television juggernaut, sold to 220 territories around the world.
The programme’s makers have been slow to exploit the commercial potential of that popularity through merchandising, selling little more than DVD sets, wall calendars and desk diaries.
But that is about to change. With the fourth season starting on British TV next month, comes a range of merchandise that includes a board game, homeware, clothes, beauty products, and even Downton wine.
“We haven’t rushed into it,” executive producer Gareth Neame said. “We don’t want to carpet bomb the retail sector.”
In keeping with the programme’s posh-frothy image, the products being rolled out aim to be quirky rather than kitschy.
This autumn, Marks & Spencer will be selling a Downton Abbey beauty line, including soap, nail polish, lip gloss, lotion and candles.
The items are whimsically packaged and adorned with quotations from the series.
Downton merchandising in the US and Canada is handled by Knockout Licensing, which has struck deals for a jewellery range from Danbury Mint and Downton-themed Christmas ornaments from Kurt Adler.
It also has a licensing agreement with figurine manufacturer, Bradford Exchange.
North American fans can also soon drink Downton Abbey wine. The Downton red is a genteel departure for the firm, a French claret reminiscent of those favoured by the early 20th-century British aristocracy.
Cele Otnes, a professor of marketing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says the richly-detailed world of Downton Abbey is key to viewers’ bond with the show.
She likens it to Mad Men – “It’s not just a TV programme, it’s an aesthetic” – and cites reported rises in sales of cravats, waistcoats and sherry as evidence of a Downton-driven appetite for Edwardian elegance.
“It’s that whole thing about presenting a lifestyle,” she said. “We get in the house, we get inside these characters’ lives. We see inside their bedrooms, their bathrooms, their kitchens.”
No detail is too small for emulation – down to the paint on the abbey walls.
Mylands, the London paint company that supplies the show with historically accurate pigments, has begun marketing two of its Downton tones – Amber Grey, the colour of the downstairs kitchen overseen by cook Mrs Patmore, and Empire Grey, which adorns Mr Carson’s butler’s pantry.
These are not just any greys. They are Downton greys.
“On the sets, they look quite dark because they use them below stairs,” said Mylands spokeswoman, Simone Barker.
But in real life, “they do look extremely chic”.
Neame – who heads Downton production company Carnival Films, owned by NBC Universal – isn’t worried.
“I don’t have a nervous attitude about the idea of merchandising,” said Neame, who personally approves every item of merchandise. “When a show is this global and this loved, I don’t see any problem with offering products to hardened fans who want to extend their relationship with the show that they love.
“We are running a business, which is to create intellectual property and to monetise it.
“We sell as many DVDs as we can, and we sell the show in as many countries as we can, and you know what, by doing that, we get the money on the screen and it allows me to finance other shows we want to make and employ people.
“So I’m not coy about the merchandising and its purpose.” – Sapa-AP