Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Corsets

I've always been one for corsets, ever since I started buying my own clothes. Internet has made all types of clothing accesible, but back in the days I remember how I used to hunt through lingerie sales to find frilly bodys, basques and similar undergarments to use as part of my weekend ensemble (since I wore a uniform at school, Saturdays were my great dressing-up days). I used to spend my holidays in London rummaging through charity shops and M&S underwear sections looking for something even remotely similar to my fairytale dreams. I was the first girl I knew to wear suspenders, and the local expert on fishnets.


Throughout the years I've built up quite a collection of bustiers and a few decent corsets, even though I've never been able to afford the real made-to-measure wonders. I would waist-train if I had the money. Most of them I hardly wear anymore, being either too small or worn out to use anymore, but a few are still my all-time favourites. Recently my darling Mamen exerted her Sugar Mommy privileges (long story) and bought me a new one, which I am presently devoted to. The photos are crap but I think you can get an idea of my current relationship d'amour:




Which is all very well until I eventually get to the point of going mad and splashing out on something by Maya Hansen or Bibian Blue (might happen someday):



I'm not a huge fan of Victoria Francés as an illustrator but she is fantastic as a model and style icon in general. Her collaboration with Maya Hansen was great, as well as her vinculation with Bibian Blue. Here's a picture of Bibian's steampunk designs (Victoria is the model on the left):

  

I'm also a huge admirer of the very talented Muriel dal Bo, who has her own personal brand: Sublime. Muriel makes anything from goth gear to Versalles ballgowns, and also happens to be a delightful lady I have the honour of having met in person:



I think I'm just about ready for that guillotine...

Editing: I've been going through Maya Hansen's promos and website and though her corsets are brilliant I do NOT like her size zero models, clothes seem to fall off them. Pin up is always prettier with some flesh to match, methinks. Bibian's models are also petite but seem a bit chunkier, or have better fitted garments. One of the things I love about burlesque is the return of the heavier ladies, and Maya's stuff looks a lot livelier on Ivy Page then on other skeletal bodies:





10 comments:

  1. omg my best friend loves victoria Frances ^^

    I love ur hair ^^ how do u maintain the colour?
    I've used schwarzkopf and stargazer and got great results but they only lasted a couple of washes :(

    I would lvoe the waist train too :/
    I've seen plenty of beautiful corsets at WGW but frankly they r too expensive for me :(

    love your taste and style ^^

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  2. Hi Naka, I've spent years and years trying to get the red I wanted! The best result is L'Oreal's Majicontrast (if your hair is dark you'll need to bleach it as much as possible), in a 2/1 mixture of Red and Copper Red. Majicontrast is supposed to be just for streaks but I use it for all my hair.

    To maintain the colour I wash my hair with Revlon's Nutri Color Crème (it's a kind of instant dye-conditioner) once a week, and reapply Majicontrast every 6 weeks. It's a pretty expensive and tiresome hairdo, I'm afraid, and very bad for your hair (I'm constantly applying products but it's brittle as hell). I do all my colouring at home since hairdressers have always been one disaster after the other. I know it's just gonna get to the point where I cut it all off and dye it another colour but for now I'm sticking to it (I've kept the colour for the past two years).

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  3. Love that my presents fit your natural beauty sooo well. Sugar Mommy is so proud of her little girl...
    I want to see you live with that lovely corset. If my one fits me, I´m gonna get more soon :)

    PS: Revlon is the best hair products brand. Miss your hair so much...

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  4. What, you miss hours and hours of free hairdressing service? Oh, all that bleaching and brushing...

    I haven't tried on your corset but mine's a great fit (slightly large on the bust size, but that was expected). We should wear them to the Muse Lunch/Dinner :D

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  5. Good idea, but I haven´t got it, so it´s gonna be a bit hard for me to wear it :P
    I´ve got an idea for Muse Meeting: why don´t you draw some nice bookmarks with our muse names? it would be fantastic... :)

    PS: love brushing your hair, you know that. And our chats meanwhile :P

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  6. Bet the girls would love it, I might take some little earrings along with me or something of the kind.

    We could always meet up beforehand and get you changed in the Corte Ingles toilets XD

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  7. Brilliant idea :D
    BTW, I love Ivy´s models, they are more... Like me, what shows me I could imagine being a burlesque model on those clothes xD

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  8. Yep, Ivy is very you, same hair and skin tone! You should go for a gold corset, seems to be it'd be pretty flattering.

    I am SO gonna try on your corset before you do :P

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  9. You're so lucky cause you pull off a corset really well... I find it quite difficult to wear them but they devastatingly pretty...

    Love, love, love your blog! Am following you too!

    xx

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  10. Believe me, there's not a girl in the world who can't pull off a corset (that's the great thing about them), though of course it's a case of getting the right corset. They can be quite uncomfortable which I why I love this one so much, it's quite wearable.

    Thanks for following, I love your blog, too, you've got brilliant and original fashion sense!

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