As West Kirby Light Operatic Society prepares to perform Titanic the Musical, Laura Davis meets the show’s costume designer

WELCOME to the glory hole,” announces costume designer Jean Taylor as she opens the door of her Hoylake home.

“Last time we did the show there were so many hats involved that I had them everywhere – even on top of every lamp.”

Inside, there are costumes hanging from the back of doors, laid over a chair and placed across the sofa. In the conservatory there is a wall of hand-sketched designs and a table filled with jewellery, feathers and sparkles.

Even the kitchen is not quite free of theatrical influence – leaning against the tiles is a board of fabric swatches, labelled “second class boarding”.

Jean has designed all costumes for the 97-strong cast, including 12 children, of West Kirby Light Operatic Society’s show Titanic the Musical, which opens at the Liverpool Empire next week.

In total there are 500-600 individual pieces, including wigs, hats, shoes, dresses and suits, which will all help take the audience back to 1912 – the year the ocean liner hit an iceberg and sank beneath the waves.

Determined that her designs would be historically accurate, Jean carefully researched the period – reading fashion books and clothing catalogues of the time.

“The musical is all about the three different classes and their ambitions and the differences in their lifestyles,” she says.

“That has to be reflected in the costumes. The audience needs to know each character’s background just by looking at them and seeing what they are wearing.”