Students from Liverpool Community College have designs on producing high fashion for aristocratsâ¦
Their work will be modelled by “Lord” and “Lady Sefton” at a special fashion show at Croxteth Hall.
And they have not forgotten the Hall’s downstairs staff as there will be special costume s for the cook and other servants.
The Production Arts Costume students design and produce the late Victorian period costumes for use in Croxteth’s ‘living history’ performances, especially the Park’s acclaimed education programme.
Now their work is to be highlighted at a fashion show at Croxteth Hall on 10 July when students, volunteers and staff will model the costumes.
The students’ work is the result of a collaboration between the Heritage Volunteers and Park staff, with the project being funded by the Friends of Croxteth Hall and Country Park.
The College has experience of designing and making costumes for the stage, including for the Empire Theatre and most recently for a design competition at the Royal Opera House so this step back in time was a familiar challenge. Students had to research costume history to make an accurate representation, yet make clothes that could accommodate different people – and be worn for extended periods when education programmes take place.
Jane King, costume lecturer at Liverpool Community College said: “This has been a fantastic, exciting and challenging project for our Level Three Costume students to work on. We incorporated this live working brief into the curriculum to ensure that students had enough time to dedicate to the project and really learn from it.
“Their hard work and dedication is evident from the range of high quality garments produced. I hope the College can develop further live working briefs with Croxteth Hall in the near future for the students to fulfil.”
Derrick Jones, Senior Ranger at Croxteth Hall, said: “We knew we had to do something when we noticed that children coming to our costumed education events were better dressed than we were!
“The support of our volunteers, the College and the Friends has been amazing and has allowed this invaluable work to continue. Croxteth Park’s reputation for its living history education programmes is second to none – and now our costumes will be of the highest quality too”
- The Croxteth Heritage Volunteers are recruiting for help in their work, which involves providing information and activities for visitors to the Hall, as well as the educational programmes.
