As we all know, Downton Abbey focuses on the lives and times of the aristocratic Crawley family and their ‘down-stairs’ servants in the post-Edwardian era. That is, it follows a family’s fortunes as a snap-shot of the huge societal upheaval before and after the First World War, the end of the upper/lower class hierarchy and the emergence of a burgeoning middle class and the corrosion of long held values.
Now in its third series, Lily James debuts in the show as Lady Rose MacClare. She is a catalyst for change in the new society as the action moves away from the claustrophobic surrounds of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire and enters, for the first time London.
Rose MacClare is a shocking debut as she immediately challenges the social mores of the time by canoodling with a married man in a London nightclub. This is the emergence of the roaring 20s, Fitzgerald’s jazz age, a time when ‘anything goes’. We can’t underestimate the import of the cultural revolution at the heart of the post-war restructuring of society and Lily James is the perfect mix of class, elegance and sassy adventure that can carry off Lady Rose MacClare.
Arriving at the BAFTA Awards wearing a Dolce & Gabbana fall 2012 black embroidered lace dress, she is living proof that this English Rose is in full bloom.