Victorian Dressing or Dior Spring 2026? Edward K. Gibbon on the 'House of Guinness'
Fashion
TSS Talent
Edward K. Gibbon
The BAFTA Award-winning costume designer talks to The Set Set about creating quiet luxury — Victorian style — and today’s no-rules approach to menswear.
Louis Partidge as Edward in "House of Guinness." Photo: Ben Blackall/Netflix.
In 1868 Dublin, amidst political turmoil and civil unrest, the Anglo-Irish Guinness scions gather for the funeral of their father, Sir Benjamin. Eldest son Arthur (Anthony Boyle) reluctantly returned from England, where he’s been revelling in freedom from duty, society’s scrutiny, and more than a little debauchery. He couldn’t be more different from his younger brother Edward (Louis Partridge), who’s been diligently running the brewery — a contrast captured as sharply in their bickering as in their tailored three-piece suits, debonair neckwear, and towering top hats, courtesy of costume designer Edward K. Gibbon.
“They’re so rich. They're ridiculously rich. They've got islands and so on,” says Gibbon. “So it was a challenge to push that richness without turning into ‘bling,’ which just wasn't really possible at the time.” Think of it as quiet luxury, Victorian style.
Arthur’s back in Dublin, but with a new accent and a cultivated wardrobe of patterned and embroidered vests, elegant accessories, and four-hand-ties that are edgy and fashion-forward for 1868. “He's got this more urbane, sophisticated, London-slick elegance,” says Gibbon. As the first-born son, Arthur inherits the family business and legacy seat in Parliament, but the heir apparent would rather be quaffing champagne at clandestine nightclubs than balancing the Guinness brewery books. In prepping for his role, Boyle found a photo of the real Sir Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, in a jaunty straw boater hat, with a wide band accessorizing a polished three-piece wool suit —a look that informed his character’s swagger from the start. “There’s something delightfully eccentric about it, which gave us a little nudge that we could push [Arthur’s style],” says Gibbon.
Arthur is so fashion-forward that he struts around Dublin in a pair of contemporary designer footwear — a happy accident from one of Boyle’s spirited fittings.“We found these very beautiful, really nicely-shaped Saint Laurent boots, with a slim Cuban heel. We tried them on for the hell of it and Anthony immediately loved it,” says Gibbon, who then discovered similar boot shapes in the late-1860s through his research.
Arthur’s affinity for sartorial flourishes also telegraph his emotional journey as a gay man, who embraces his sexuality in his private life but for his own safety — and the family business — he lives a lie through his public persona. “Arthur is so complicated and brilliant, and the way Anthony plays it is so heartbreaking at times,” says Gibbon. “So we wanted to give Arthur those little chances to be a bit more emotional and artistic in a way.”
Meanwhile, high-strung workaholic Edward lives for the office — expanding the Guinness empire, introducing pensions and healthcare benefits to his workers, and engaging in, erm, diplomacy, with influential Fenians striving for independence from Great Britain. A vintage photo of the real Edward, 1st Earl of Iveagh, also sparked clear character inspiration for Gibbon.
“He’s really young — about 16 — and he's dressed very formally with the most ridiculously big top hatSar,” says Gibbon. “It sent us off on a hilarious path of knowing almost immediately what to do with him. Edward is following very closely in the footsteps of his father. He’s a mini-dad.”
Edward spends the majority of his time at the Guinness HQ and factory, so his elegant office-wear conveys both a commanding tone and a connection with his Irish workers.“He has a special work coat when he's in the office, which is really cute and based on the workwear that all the other guys [in the factory] are wearing,” says Gibbon. “But his is made out of silk and a bit more beautiful.” Edward’s pristinely-knotted neckwear signals his focus on the business and continuation of the family legacy, as compared to unserious brother. “Edward’s neckties are a little bit meaner and thinner than Arthur's,” says Gibbon.
A look from JW Anderson's Dior Men's Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear Collection. Photo: Christian Dior.
Episode five marks a turning point for Arthur, who’s ready to assume his familial responsibilities and support Edward, in a work crisis of his own, at the opening ceremony for a new factory. “Has peace broken out on the Guinness battlefield?” asks an observer. Arthur celebrates the occasion in a particularly rakish mixed-print contrast of a houndstooth jacket, which Gibbon found at the legendary Cosprop period costume rental house, and a windowpane-check custom-designed waistcoat. “Arthur says he's ‘going to change,’” says Gibbon. “It felt like the showiest thing that he could wear.”
Gibbon explains the three-piece suit became en vogue around that time, so of course Arthur would be on the fashion pulse and experimental in his styling. “People did have the chance to be more expressive with their waistcoats and their ties,” says Gibbon, about his research findings. “That clash is maybe pushing it, but they had the chance to mix it up a little bit.”
The three-piece suits of the Victorian era thread directly through to 20th century silhouettes continually referenced and worn today. “That inverted triangle, with a narrow waist and wider shoulders and slim pants, which gives you that great shape,” says Gibbon. The costume designer even clocked a striking similarity between Jonathan Anderon’s buzzy runway debut for Dior and the immaculate neckwear worn by terrifying Guinness family consigliere Sean Rafferty’s (James Norton).
“The very big cravats on the guys in Anderson's spring 2026 collection, opens in new tab — it's almost exactly what James Norton wears in our show!” says Gibbon. “We called Rafferty having a clean white scarf every day ‘violent elegance.’ In those days, it was much harder to keep things clean, so that's a real sign that he's got money and power to have people to clean it for him.”
Notably, Jacob Elordi in Dior checks, a floral-embroidered vest, and billowing bow-tie cravat for a recent WSJ Magazine cover looks very Arthur-meets-Rafferty. Sam Nivola’s multi-color floral embroidered waistcoat with a cropped-jacket suit for the Emmy Awards feels very much like what Arthur would wear today. “Fashion is very weird at the minute,” says Gibbon, observing how today’s creative freedom results in something for everyone. “Which is fine, but for guys it's a little bit more scary, isn't it? Because there are no rules.”
Sartorially-minded Arthur would have a blast playing with current fashion options. But sweet, overextended Edward? “He wouldn't be able to cope,” says Gibbon.
