The Corset Crusaders take on London..........

‘The Corset Crusaders’ (Mandy, Charlie, George and I) headed to London today for our Arts Ed meeting and hopefully some museum seeing. Ase Afar the head of the costume wardrobe at Arts Ed had some initial ideas for what they wanted and thankfully we were all on the same wave length and had a clear idea to proceed. The corset structure we had chosen as a group matched the one Ase had chosen so the next step is pattern drafting.

Things we need to bear in mind –

- All bones will be enclosed expect the side seams for ease of access for future alterations.
- Backed in drill
- All corset to be different but need to work as a collection

Once we had finsed bombarding Ase with questions we loaded up on an ungodly amount of drill and headed into London.
To get inspiration and to broaden our cultural horizons we head to ‘The National Gallery.’ I’m a notorious Postcard fiend and here are some of my favourites from that day

The Tailor – Giovanni Battista Moroni 1520-1579
The title and subject matter made this a firm favourite of mine to begin. But with the added beauty of the Tudor men’s doublet and slashing embellishment it stood out without contest.




Mrs Siddon- Thomas Gainsborough 1727- 1788
A stunning example of one fashion phase from the 18th century. Mrs Siddon was one of the 18th century most famous actresses.



Marriage A-la-Mode: 2. The Tete a Tete- William Hogarth 1697- 1764
The lacks poses seem to bring a almost modern feel to the painting. Beautifully dysfunctional.



A girl with a kitten- Jean-Baptiste Perronneau 1717-1783
An interesting example of a children’s corset and the strange silhouette its give a young figure. A slight uncomfortable painting as there’s an aspect of sexualising a child. A slight dark undertone maybe, but covered with adolescent qualities like the rosy cheeks and kitten.