These corseted art pieces became status symbols and collectors’ items: wearable art. The nature of corsetmaking is incredibly detail-oriented, tying it in perfectly with the 21st century fascination with ‘artisan,’ ‘craft,’ and ‘small batch’ goods. By investing in a handmade corset, the customer showcases their participation in movements like ‘Shop Small’ and ‘Slow Fashion’. In particular, corsets make an excellent foundation to show off specialty textiles, such as lace.
Chapter 6: The Corset As A Canvas, Part 2
'Vanyanís' Satin Overbust Corset By Vanyanís
Date: 2017
Origin: Australia
Fabric: Satin coutil with a cotton lining
Brand: Vanyanís
Designer: Lowana O’Shea
An overbust corset in a single layer of satin coutil with a floating cotton lining. It is sewn with internal bone channels and a 2cm wide waist tape, and structured with 5mm spiral steel bones throughout with flexible 8mm flat steel bones over the bust and at the centre back. The front busk fastening has a gold finish with engraved laurel motifs, an antique inspired technique that was revived by designer Lowana O’Shea with contemporary laser technology. After insertion with machine stitching, the fastening was further re-enforced with hand stitching to close the centre front fabric around the loops.
The corset is profusely hand embellished with multiple layers of lace appliqué, each piece of which was meticulously hand cut and stitched for an invisible finish. Two varieties of gold lace, and one black with pre-stitched sequins, were used. 5mm gold eyelets and satin ribbon lacing close the centre back.
Late in 2016, the Vanyanís label underwent a rebranding which resulted in a corset-themed monogram. Since that time it was designer Lowana’s mission to create a ‘real life’ corset version of the monogram. Her obsession with black and gold and recent ‘Corset Pilgrimage’ trips to the UK sparked an excuse to finally realize the design.
Vanyanís is a luxury clothing label based in Healesville, Australia, offering both ready-to-wear clothing, and made-to-measure couture. Corsetry is a specialty of the label, with an attention to detail and craftsmanship that is rare in the modern fashion industry. Designer Lowana O’Shea offers corsetry classes and is a mentor on Foundations Revealed, an online resource and community dedicated to foundationwear making and design.
Modern corsetry means being able to wear or make any style of corset. There are no limitations in how someone can wear or style a corset today and that results in some truly spectacular garments. They are underwear, outerwear and art. They are whatever the maker or wearer wants them to be. I especially love how there are so many ways to achieve these results today. With the knowledge of the past to draw from and the innovation of the current day new techniques are being rediscovered and discovered every day. It’s an exciting time to be a corsetiere.
– Lowana O’Shea, 2017
Silk And Lace Appliqué Trousseau Short Slip
Date: c. 1930s
Origin: Great Britain
Fabric: Silk georgette and leavers lace
Brand: Custom made
Rayon Satin & Lace Appliqué Full Sleeve Dressing Gown
Date: c. 1940s
Origin: Great Britain
Fabric: Rayon satin & lace
Brand: Unknown
'Tamara' Silk & Lace Appliqué Soft Bra & Briefs By Carine Gilson
'Amilee' Silk Gown With Lace Appliqué By Layneau
Lace appliqué as an embellishment remains a hallmark of luxury lingerie. The technique involves the careful cutting out of lace motifs, to then be sewn to a new base textile. It requires immense skill and attention to detail. Whilst lace appliqué in historical underwear was mostly hand sewn, contemporary lingerie relies on faster, but still relatively time consuming, machine stitching. The exception to this is modern corsetry. The structured nature of the corset means that embellishment often has to be applied by hand. It’s one of the few areas of fashion that has retained the craftsmanship of hand applied embellishment.
'Pearls Of Wisdom' Leather Overbust Corset By Julia Bremble
Date: 2014
Origin: United Kingdom
Fabric: Distressed leather, acrylic paint, gold leaf, lace, swarovski crystals, cotton coutil, cotton cording
Brand: Julia Bremble
The corset was made as a part of a project carried out by the facilitators of the Oxford Conference of Corsetry 2014, where each designer created a corset inspired by Jesus College, Oxford. The corsets were later used as teaching tools at the conference.
The ‘Pearls of Wisdom’ corset is inspired by the Fellows Library at Jesus College; specifically the old leatherbound books, gold leafed panels, ‘pearls of wisdom’ contained within the books and the flowers in the quadrangle outside. The garment shape was adapted from a basic corset pattern block and was used as the starting point for a talk about pattern manipulation.
The corset is made of distressed leather flatlined to plain coutil, painted with gold acrylic paint before assembly, corded at the front panels like the spines of books. The cording was later embellished with gold leaf. The gold lace represents both the gold leaf panels in the library and the flowers in the quad, it is stitched onto the corset and then embellished with tiny swarovski crystals representing the ‘sparks of inspiration’.
Corsetry to me, is simply is a very deep and boundless well of creative inspiration.
– Julia Bremble, 2017
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