Image: Cosprop label detail from Mr Darcy's 'wet shirt', worn by Colin Firth in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice (1995), Bankfield Museum collection. Courtesy Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh
A costume made famous by Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy has gone on display in Edinburgh for the first time in Scotland. From 10 August 2026, Dovecot Studios is showing the so-called ‘wet shirt’ worn in the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ as part of its exhibition ‘Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop’. The garment is on loan from the Bankfield Museum collection in Yorkshire and joins a show that opened on 18 July 2026 and runs until 16 January 2027 in Dovecot’s North and South Galleries.
The arrival of the costume has been announced by Dovecot Studios alongside its summer programme around the exhibition. The institution says the piece is one of British television’s most memorable costumes, and its appearance in Edinburgh gives Scottish audiences a chance to see a screen object that has become a cultural reference point in its own right. According to Dovecot, the costume formed part of the lake scene in the 1995 series and later became associated with a major moment in British television history.
‘Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop’ focuses on six decades of costume design and making. The exhibition features more than 80 costumes, along with original designs, research material, mood boards, swatches and archive photography, tracing what Dovecot describes as the journey from script to screen. The show is presented as a look behind the scenes of Cosprop, the costume house founded in 1965 by Oscar- and BAFTA-winning costume designer John Bright OBE.
Cosprop’s work is represented in the exhibition through costumes linked to film, television and theatre. Dovecot highlights examples including Helena Bonham Carter’s 1906 ensemble from ‘A Room with a View’, Nicole Kidman’s 1880s evening gown from ‘The Portrait of a Lady’, Jenna Coleman’s wedding dress from ‘Victoria’, Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow costume from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’, and Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy outfit from ‘Pride and Prejudice’. The exhibition is organised by the Fashion and Textile Museum, London.
Dovecot describes the show as a celebration of Cosprop’s creativity and its role in shaping period costume for screen and stage. The accompanying exhibition text quotes Helena Bonham Carter on walking into Cosprop as herself and leaving as the character she was playing, and John Bright on how costume can help actors fully form a role through details such as a hat, coat fabric or shoes. The exhibition is also accompanied by a richly illustrated book, ‘The Costume House’, written by former V&A film curator Keith Lodwick with a foreword by Dame Judi Dench.
The ‘wet shirt’ display has been added to the existing exhibition at Dovecot’s North Gallery and South Gallery, with opening hours listed as Monday to Saturday, and Sundays during August. The costume is presented as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh Art Festival, while Dovecot’s wider blog and events material also references workshops, talks and studio tours running through the season. ‘Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop’ is at Dovecot Studios until 16 January 2027.
