Discover Fashion

Discover Fashion is running at the Ulster Museum in Belfast from now until 3 January 2027, and it's an inclusive, sensory, play-based experience rather than a traditional exhibition. You'll find it in the museum's Discovery Centres, specifically in Discover Art on Level 5, where the whole thing is built around hands-on activities rather than just looking at things behind glass.

It takes its lead from Ashes to Fashion, the museum's exhibition marking fifty years of collecting fashion. That story is a heavy one: on 11 November 1976, two firebombs were planted at Malone House during the Troubles, and they wiped out around 10,000 garments and textiles. Among the losses was one of the world's best collections of linen damask and a rare Elizabethan embroidered jacket. The only thing that survived was the 18th-century Lennox Quilt. Over the next five decades, the collection was rebuilt through acquisitions, donations, and a future-proof collecting policy, and it's now one of the most important in Western Europe.

Discover Fashion turns that history into things you can actually do. There's a 'Touch Library' for exploring textiles by hand, a 'Dress the Decade' role play with costumes to get stuck into, and a station for making your own bespoke 'Swing Ticket'. There's also a 'Slow Stitch' station for a mindful moment and a designer catwalk to round it off. It's designed as a sensory, play-based way to engage with the collection, so it works as well for kids as it does for anyone who prefers doing over just reading.

It's free to visit, and it runs from 10:00 to 17:00 daily, though the museum is closed on Mondays. With the end date set for 3 January 2027, you've plenty of time to fit it in.