Making Over Michelle Dockery

I love anyone or anything that has even a remote connection to Downton Abbey.

1. In January 2012, Michelle Dockery sat front row at the Armani Prive couture show in Paris, affirming her status as a fashion person.

I know her outfit must be Armani Prive couture, but it looks like any old mediocre pantsuit.

Image by Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

2. And she got a ticket to the Met Gala! Which reeks of fashion industry acceptance.

But she showed up wearing this oddly dowdy half-metal dress. Why? With Vogue editors to dress her and everything?

Image by Larry Busacca / Getty Images

3. She enjoyed the backing of Burberry in June.

As a front-row guest at their menswear show, she got to wear one of their owl tees and be generally fawned over for for it.

Image by Jacopo Raule / Getty Images

4. But this dress, worn in July, is about as memorable as anything Lady Edith wears.

Which is to say, not memorable at all.

Image by Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

5. She used to dress a little more feminine.

She wore this quirky “Alexa Chung once removed” dress to a September event in West Hollywood.

Image by Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

6. She’s dabbled in statement prints.

At a September event, she showed up wearing a dress that looked like Anthropologie’s finest china.

Image by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

7. At the Emmys in September, she wore a muted blue column dress…

Image by Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/MCT

8. With a growth on the back that even she didn’t seem to understand.

Unless she was using it for storage.

Image by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

9. She went goth-femme for a “Downton” event in December in New York.

Why does this make me want to shove a tutu into her hands? Perhaps because you can see the severe direction she’s starting to take with her clothes.

Image by Craig Barritt / Getty Images

10. At the BAFTA tea party in L.A., she wore a plain dress that looked like an ink spill.

It’s a nice choice, but where’s the fun? The sideboob, even?

Image by David Livingston / Getty Images

11. This lace number was really nice on her.

Feminine and pretty, yet you can see her yearning to go dark and “edgy” coming out.

Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images

12. You get the sense that she likes to experiment.

She wore this dress, the print of which reminds me of Forever 21 bathing suits, to a SAG pre-party at the Chateau Marmont in L.A. Either she forgot her chunky diamond accessories or Lindsay Lohan stole them.

Image by Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

13. Even this was a fairly unique and feminine choice for the Golden Globes.

Most actresses are loathe to wear anything that isn’t solid-colored taffeta and mermaid-cut, and Michelle Dockery definitely thinks outside the box a little bit, daring to show up disguised as a Roman column.

Image by Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/MCT

14. And at the SAG Awards, this is where she ended up.

In a slim-fitting black dress that is for the most part fine, but not nearly as mind-blowing as her costumes on Downton. She probably wants to create a distinction between Michelle Dockery the person and Mary Crawley the character, which is why she’s leaning heavily into dark lipstick and severe black gowns with sideboob-revealing mesh insets.

Image by Adrees Latif / Reuters

15. But what I really want to do is dress her in Marion Cotillard’s clothes.

Something feminine yet simple, you know?

(This is a photo illustration of Michelle in Marion’s SAG dress.)

16. Can’t you see her in full skirts and florals?

Michelle’s head on Marion’s body again. Doesn’t it work?

17. Don’t you love her in a cheerful color?

Marion may have been the only person who looked amazing at the Golden Globes. If she ever felt like doing light charity work, she could host a sale of her used clothes for a bunch of other actresses, not just Michelle.