Window into the lives of our Victorian ancestors and what they would wear
If there’s one thing that visitors often remember from a wander around the streets of Blists Hill Victorian Town, it’s the outfits worn by the town’s resident Victorians.
Historically accurate and beautifully preserved, it’s a chance for people to see how those living in the Victorian era would have dressed.
But what people may not know is that the vast majority of the costumes worn by the town’s team of demonstrators are actually made on site, by a small team of dedicated costumiers whose aim is to make the visitor experience as authentic and immersive as possible.
Blists Hill Open Air Museum opened to the public on April 1 1973 and replicates life at the end of the Victorian era, where visitors can discover what it was like to live and work at the turn of the 20th century in Shropshire.
To celebrate its 50th year, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is running a competition for Star readers to win one of 50 Golden Tickets offering unlimited family entry to all 10 of its award-winning museums for a whole year.
At one of those museums – Enginuity – you’ll find The Costume Project, a treasure trove of a studio dedicated to creating the costumes you see not only on Blists Hill’s Victorian demonstrators but garments that are displayed at visitor attractions across the UK, including the National Trust, the SS Great Britain Trust and Tower Bridge London.
