From Monday 10th August 2026, we are delighted to bring one of British television’s most unforgettable costumes to Scotland for the first time. Mr Darcy’s famous ‘wet shirt’, worn by Colin Firth in the BBC’s acclaimed 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, joins our popular exhibition, Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop.
Presented as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh Art Festival, the costume featured in the legendary lake scene that transformed Firth into an international sex symbol and was later voted the UK’s most memorable television drama moment. Now part of the Bankfield Museum collection in Yorkshire, the iconic outfit gives visitors the chance to encounter a defining piece of British television history. Celebrating six decades of creativity across film, television and theatre, Costume Couture goes behind-the-seams of Cosprop, one of the world’s most celebrated costume houses. This world-famous garment will join the current display of over 80 costumes, original designs, research, mood boards, swatches and archive photography, tracing the intricate journey from script to screen and revealing the craftsmanship behind every character.
Founded in 1965 by Oscar and BAFTA-winning costume designer John Bright OBE, Cosprop has shaped the visual language of British film and television for sixty years. Highlights of the exhibition range from Helena Bonham Carter’s 1906 ensemble in A Room with a View and Nicole Kidman’s 1880s evening gown from The Portrait of a Lady to Jenna Coleman’s wedding dress from Victoria and Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow costume from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Colin Firth’s iconic ‘wet shirt’ costume will join this already remarkable collection, taking its place as perhaps the most famous costume in the history of period drama. This garment transformed a character first introduced in Jane Austen’s novel into a modern screen icon. Its arrival in Edinburgh gives Scottish audiences their first opportunity to see the costume that became a cultural phenomenon and changed period drama forever.
Costume Couture: Sixty Years of Cosprop
18 July 2026 – 16 January 2027
Monday – Saturday (and Sundays during August): 10am – 5pm
Credit: MERCHANT IVORY/GOLDCREST / Album