Ok ok I've actually thought a lot about this because I've spent so much time this year looking at the clothes of S1/S2 and thinking about the clothing choices and what they say about the characters. And I love that Edith's style evolution very much fits with her character evolution.
In Season 1, Edith often favors really pale, cool pinks and whites that wash her out and don't work for her coloring, but are also colors that are considered quite pure and feminine and conservative. (And I know the shift to pink being a 100% feminine color really happened in the 1940s, but I do think this is a deliberate choice on the part of the costume designers.) Her clothes, while they fit, are not really fitted to her silhouette and are often pretty heavy with ruffles and lace that means she tends to gets lost inside the clothes. And her hair features an abundance of intricate curls on the sides that don't work for her face but are nonetheless very girlish and feminine.
And throughout Season 1, Edith is the sister who is most trying to fit herself into this mold laid out for her. Her clothes and her life literally do not fit her at this stage. She is trying to earn her parents' affection and everyone's admiration by being The Best at being ladylike and demure. She wants to fit in, have suitors, get a husband and live this life that's been set out for her, and it literally doesn't fit her! A big part of why she writes the letter to the Turkish Embassy is she is trying to punish Mary for straying outside of the bounds of ladylike behavior (and therefore raise her own status). I also think that's why she latches onto Sir Anthony so quickly, because he's more or less who she's supposed to want.
I do think it's likely that Cora had a hand in her daughter's fashion (you see it in S1 when Sybil goes to the dressmaker), but I think that Edith of all the siblings is the most likely to allow Cora to have her way. Sybil obviously pushes back in a major way with the harem pants situation, but I also think that S1 Mary has taken charge of her personal style in a way that suits her as well, often favoring bold colors and jewel tones and highly fashionable silhouettes. Meanwhile I think that Edith would go along with the more conservative clothes her mother picks out, both out of a lack of a sense of personal style and to earn her mother's approval. Although if she did pick them for herself, I think it only goes to show that she is trying to fit herself into a life that doesn't suit her.
She slowly sheds this styling through Seasons 2 & 3, as she starts to build her sense of self, and then in Season 4 once she gives up on fitting this ladylike mold and throws herself into the magazine business. Compare the bolder and more flattering colors she wears with the very pale palette of S1, or the soft waves of her hair style versus the cocker spaniel look. All of this happens as she starts to know herself more and comes into her own and starts learning to trust her own judgment.
A similar thing happens with Mary, where we see her in this highly fashionable mode and as the seasons go on and she strives to be taken seriously as one of the owners of the estate her fashion choices become more serious and adult (while still highly fashionable). We don't get to see as much of this with Sybil, since in Season 2 she is so much in her nurse's uniform and then she exits Season 3 fairly quickly, but I do love the hints that we get in S3 with her shorter hair and less dressed up wardrobe. Cora, Isobel and Violet all have their own sense of style quite set, since they're all grown women, and unfortunately there's not much you can do with the men's fashion of the period as that was fairly set. So this deliberate evolution of character through fashion is most apparent in Mary and Edith.
Anyways I love the styling and costume design in this show, it's gorgeous and I think very deliberately thought through.
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