People have some strongly held convictions about corsets, and along with the many outright myths and misconceptions, I see a lot of sweeping generalizations. Most of these tend to fall under the categories of hearsay or limited experience applied across the entire craft. It’s unfair to judge the diverse range of handmade corsets based on poor experiences at, say, the Renaissance Fair, or if you’re already on the handmade bandwagon, […]
Last week, the only corset community went into a state of shock as it received news of the untimely passing of Christine Wickham. Christine Wickham was the designer for Ariadne’s Thread Corsetry: Elegant Creations by a Girl from Down Under, and her reach throughout corset world stretched far beyond her personal brand. She was a very active member throughout the corset community, bringing a thoughtful scientific perspective as well as […]
I first became aware of hip fins on corsets via Sparklewren, though there are quite a few couture corsets (particularly corset bodies) that feature them. Though “hip fins” has become the commonly accepted name for them, I like to think of them as miniature panniers; they could also be considered a sort of floating gore or a stiffened semi-peplum. This detail generally parallels the iliac crest and emphasizes the dramatized […]
Flossing is one of my favorite corset embellishments. Though it’s nothing new, it has incredible potential for variation, as you’ll see from the following images. Flossing is, in short, a particular type of embroidery on corsets, generally used at the ends of bone channels. Flossing can be used as a selective accent, as I once did on a client corset, where the flossing placements traced the hourglass shape of the […]
Jane Woolrich is a UK-based designer who started designing exquisite corsets 25 years ago. Since then her designs have evolved to include decadent silk gowns, robes, and chemises. Her recent collections are both theatrical and thoroughly romantic, with ruffles, sweeping trains, and enough appliqued lace to make a girl swoon. Corsets fan out at the hips into short flounced skirts with underlying tiers of tulle that would make any prima […]
