FACILITIES FRIDAY: A peak inside the world of costume

After more than a decade working across film, television and music, costume designer Holly has dressed global music stars, worked on award-winning productions and built an impressive archive of costumes and creative resources. But it was Liverpool that finally gave her the space, both creatively and physically, to build something of her own.

That ‘something’ became Unit 27: a flexible costume archive, fitting space and creative work hub designed specifically for the realities of film and TV production.

“I moved to Liverpool six years ago from London,” Holly explains. “I’d been working in styling and costume design for years and was looking for somewhere to house my archive properly. In London, I had this tiny space that was completely at capacity. When I came here, I realised I could actually build something bigger and more useful.”

Holly originally moved to the city while working on Help, the acclaimed Channel 4 COVID drama starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham. What was meant to be a temporary production stay soon became permanent.

“I’d never been to Liverpool before,” she says. “But I had this really magical experience while working here. Even though the city was closed because of COVID, I just felt completely at home. As soon as the production wrapped, I decided not to go back to London.”

That sense of belonging now sits at the heart of Unit 27.

Created alongside longtime collaborator and friend Jane, who worked as Head Cutter on Help, and now runs the adjoining community space artefact, the space was designed to solve a practical problem Holly repeatedly encountered throughout her career: the lack of functional costume and fitting spaces for productions.

“You always end up in these swanky hotels with terrible lighting, no rail space, tiny lifts and rooms that just don’t function for fittings,” she says. “I thought, if I need this as a costume designer, surely other people do too.”

The result is a highly adaptable creative environment just outside Liverpool city centre. Downstairs houses Holly’s extensive costume archive, available to hire across film, television, music videos, press shoots and performance projects. Upstairs, movable spaces allow productions to create fitting rooms, workshops or desk areas depending on their needs, complete with industrial sewing machines, cutting tables and pressing equipment.

Everything is designed with collaboration and flexibility in mind.

“You can hire rooms individually, hire the whole upstairs, book for half a day or block it out for longer periods,” Holly explains.

“I’m really interested in keeping things accessible and affordable for creatives.”

That collaborative ethos is deeply connected to the way Holly works as a designer. Known for creating costumes with emotional texture and realism, she describes her style as “fantastical realism”, built for grounded, lived-in worlds with poetic visual detail.

“A lot of my work leans into realism,” she says. “Clothing that feels used, loved, naturally tired is everything. Showing a life lived before. Sharing costumes and archives is more sustainable too. You’re not constantly buying new things only to discard them.”

The idea for opening her archive to others was inspired partly by the creative community spirit that emerged during the pandemic, when designers began sharing resources to keep productions moving.

“It just made sense,” she says. “The more clothes are used, the more character they develop.”

Before moving into film and television, Holly spent years working as a stylist in the music industry, including long-term collaborations with Florence and the Machine, Solange, Ellie Goulding and the original Sugababes line-up, Mutya Keisha Siobhan.

“I basically learned everything through assisting Florence’s stylist,” she says. “It was incredibly fast-paced, long hours, huge creative pressure, but I loved it.”

Her transition into film happened unexpectedly after a director discovered her editorial work online and invited her to costume design a short film.

“I’d always adored film, but had no idea how you could ever actually get into the industry,” she says. “That short film ended up winning a BAFTA and things just grew from there.”

Since then, Holly has worked across internationally recognised projects including His House for Netflix, The Death of Bunny Munro, and the forthcoming musical horror Stuffed starring Jodie Comer.

Yet despite an increasingly global career, Liverpool remains central to her vision.

“I think Liverpool has so much to offer creatively,” she says. “What I really wanted to create with Unit 27 wasn’t just a practical space, but somewhere that supports community.”

That community aspect now includes welcoming interns and students from Liverpool John Moores University and LIPA into the space, helping emerging creatives gain hands-on experience within the industry.

“This industry can be really unpredictable,” Holly says. “Work comes and goes, and it can feel isolating. I think having spaces where people can come together, learn from each other and realise there’s a wider support network is really important.”

For Holly, Unit 27 is about much more than costume storage or workrooms. It’s about building infrastructure for Liverpool’s growing creative industries, shaped by the realities of production, sustainability and collaboration.

And for someone who arrived in the city by chance, it has become the perfect creative home.

For more information, get in touch with Holly here.