Emily Blunt on Her Wardrobe Pitfalls as the 'Young Victoria'

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Like a double-edged sword, playing royalty comes with its perks and its downfalls. When squeezing into the elaborate costumes for her award-winning period piece The Young Victoria actress Emily Blunt had her breath taken away –literally. “It was hell,” she said at Thursday’s 12th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards of the corsets she had to strap on for the film. While accepting the Swarovski Award for her film achievements, Blunt said, “When you’re playing a character like Queen Victoria it helps to have a visionary like Sandy Powell,” referring to the film’s legendary costumer. “She corset-ed me within an inch of my life,” added Blunt. “Thank god I did learn to work the corset.” For her part, Powell justified the tight-fitting wardrobe she designed for the star. “She said, ‘The shape needs to be right,’” recalls Blunt. “I said, ‘Well I can’t breathe, Sandy.’ And she said, ‘I don’t care.’ But it worked. It transported me to a whole other place so I have to be grateful, I think.” —Jessica Herndon