With the Oxford Conference of Corsetry coming up this weekend, England is flooded with corset makers and enthusiasts. Today I spent the day in Sparklewren’s studio, aka Corset Paradise, with Jenni “Wren” Hampshire, Lucy of Lucy’s Corsetry, and Lowana of Vanyanís. InaGlo Photography was also present to shoot a few styles for Vanyanís, and Sparklewren’s Jenni Hampshire got behind the camera for several impromptu photoshoots with me as I tried on […]
In corsetry, custom, bespoke, and made-to-measure all mean essentially the same thing, just as ready-to-wear, off-the-rack, and made-to-order have similar or overlapping definitions, depending on the maker. Which means they should all follow a similar process, right? Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. All too often, I hear sad tales of made-to-measure corsets that don’t fit because an essential step was skipped. Here’s what you should expect when ordering a […]
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 […]
Whenever a designer asks if they can send me an exclusive, the answer is almost always yes. And when that designer is Jenni Hampshire, of Sparklewren fame, the answer is most definitely yes. Many of you know that we really enjoy supporting independent designers here on TLA; I personally see it as part of our mission to feature talent that’s apart from the mainstream. But I won’t deny that mission […]
