All posts tagged: stays

In the dressing room

The photographs from the dressing room from Saturday’s Grandeur & Frivolity talk demonstrate more than ever how indebted I am to all my friends for their wonderful help and support with these events. Sarah of Capital Adventures (e.g. Diana Villiers) was the official photographer and took the photos. Mrs C of the Hectic Eclectic did the amazing hairdos. And the poor sweetie wasn’t feeling well, so she didn’t even stay for the performance. Joie de Vivre and Shell were super wonderful and did a bunch of evil, evil handsewing, which I ended up not even using because my lovely mother in law and my sister, the Naiad, showed up in time with the backup dress. And then my mother in law sewed the last of the buttons on my 18th century men’s breeches. I owe those four majorly! Madame Ornata let me use both her pet en l’aire and her (barely!) finished polonaise, which she had to hem in the dressing room. Bianca the mezzo-soprano let me put her in a scratchy wig and stays …

The Corset Model Class of 2011

Published by The Dreamstress

I got photographs of all the models wearing their corsets on Saturday against a plain cement wall. Every time I have looked at the photos since then, I have cracked up. They remind me of the kind of pictures you take in Elementary School for a ‘me, myself, and I’ project. You have the kid who can’t stop grinning, the kid who closes their eyes in every picture, the kid who won’t smile because they think they look better without one (that would have been me), the kid who won’t stand still for even a moment, and the kid who probably should have been a model. We all look ridiculous, and absolutely gorgeous, all at the same time. It’s a total celebration of personality, and all the different facets of beauty that exist. Without further ado, I present Ms Oakes’ Corset Model Class of 2011. And finally, the erstwhile instructress: Ladies, you can teach me anytime!

1840s stays

Published by The Dreamstress

Hana-Marmota asked to see 1840s corsets (or stays, as they were still called by all but the most genteel), so here are some I have found. It’s not quite the hundreds I mentioned, but that would make for a very long post! 1840s corsets/stays (see this post for more information on the history of the terms and what to call what when) are probably relatively hard to find in museum collections because the 1840s was a period of transition in styles in corsets. Many corsets that were made or worn in the 1840s are probably identified as earlier, if they follow earlier fashions and techniques, or slightly later, if they use just-introduced cuts and materials. The style of corsets that would have been on its way out in the 1840s is based on the so-called ‘longline’ corsets of the 1810s and 20s, with a solid front busk, bust gussets, hip gussets or princess seams (well, what we would come to call princess seams) and shoulder straps. The waist suppression for these corsets is fairly minimal, …