COVER STORY | OCTOBER 2013 | MICHELLE DOCKERY

She's fierce, she's serious, she knows what she wants from life (and that's just the character of Lady Mary Crawley she plays on Downton Abbey). But beyond that Michelle is fashion fierce on the red carpet making spectators, fans, celebrities, and paparazzi stop and go 'wow'. "She deserves to be on the cover"; we thought so too.

Michelle plays the role of Lady Mary to a key, you can even see how the character has grown over the four series, particularly with the death of her on-screen husband Matthew Crawley lately (played by Dan Stephens) and how it changed her. It is fantastic to see how the lives and stories of on-screen characters you love, grow and change in time, if I'm honest I've never actually seen Michelle in any other production/film/TV series to date, but I have no objection to the idea of her running around with The Doctor through time and space with a Northern accent, or perhaps even solving riddles, puzzles, and murders in Sherlock Holmes? (But we'll leave that thought to the guys at the BBC). Her own personal style is something to marvel over too, with countless beautiful red carpet looks and dresses (my favourite being the white Alexandre Vauthier Couture), which she wore to the Golden Globes with its golden lace neckline detailing, it was perfection and a true statement and dedication to the character of Lady Mary Crawley she plays on Downton Abbey, sophisticated, classy, timeless and beautiful, all in one dress. I remember the feeling of seeing the very first episode of Downton Abbey that aired, I was excited, drawn in, mesmerized, and inspired by the clothes, the looks, the outfits, the stories of upstairs crossed over with downstairs. It was like nothing I'd seen before on T.V, and it was the first series to draw me into period drama (before that my Mum always tried to convince me to watch such series as Sense & Sensibility, among others). But Downton was different, I was so drawn in by the clothes, the characters, the storylines that it became law that every Sunday after eating my Mum's Sunday roast dinner we'd sit down with a nice cup of tea in front of the telly and watch the characters' stories unfold week by week for an hour as if nothing else in the world mattered (we're very typically British and Northern in our house). 

I found Lady Mary to be the most interesting character in the series by far. I was mesmerized by how strong, independent, and 'right' she always was, she was so controversial not just with her life but also with her clothes and style. I love how they reflected her mood, her story, and her personality so well. In the latest series, the character of  Lady Rose MacClare (played by Lily James) reflects that perfectly with her outspoken and 'in yer face' kind of character (outside the dining room and in what were dance clubs and cocktail bars in their early days of course). Her clothes and costumes are perfect, elegant, and sexy but very of their time, it's also interesting and amazing to go back to the start of the first series and see just how much the clothes, the hair, the style, and the personalities of every single woman has evolved, grown and changed from the beginning of 1912 not just in Downton but in real life too. Who knows what women will be wearing in another hundred years, but whatever it is, one thing is for sure, women will always be sexy, strong, bold, independent, and feminine in what they wear, who they are, and what they do in life as depicted brilliantly by Lady Mary and Michelle.

What do you think of Michelle's style, Downton Abbey, and the character of Lady Mary Crawley? Leave us a comment below or tweet us your thoughts: @TREND__FASHION