London Alternative Fashion Week

I have recently found out that my entry to submit my work for London Alternative Fashion week was successful, hurrah! AFW ( as I shall henceforth abbreviate it) runs between April 16-20th April 2012, takes place at Spitalfield Market in London and is free to view.

It sounds like a long time, but in terms of making and designing things it is but the mere blink of an eye! Part of my New Years Resolution list is to document my work, by blogging here, much more regularly so I will be attempting to do a post at least every other day to show you what I've been up to, and to show myself what I can actually do if I set all my energy upon the task.

I am giving myself the freedom of writing about my thoughts (work related) my challenges and giving you an insight into my creative process and vision and sometimes you may even find a tutorial.

I would be extremely happy to answer any queries on my work and creative process and just as happy to listen to your comments and suggestions.

So here goes:

Today I have been thinking so hard my eyes hurt. After yesterdays neck corset pattern cutting and construction I had to stop part way through due to lacking the materials necessary to finish it...which was downright infuriating! So today, once returned from the heaving town centre, I got round to finishing off the structure of the neck corset and am now in the process of deciding how to finish it off in terms of detail. I also blocked a high waisted knicker pattern ready to play with tomorrow and am still only half decided upon which corset to make in which particular fabric thus far....creating my own frustrated hindrance. Since my brother reminded me that I in fact have to make an outfit a week to get the catwalk outfits ready whilst also still have to do my regular work and look after my 13 month old son.  Drat his logic!

Corsets - the 18th Century

Marie Antoinette by Vigee-Lebrun 1778

So today's corset re-construction is all about the late 18th Century. The time of Madam de Pompadour, Madame du Barry and Marie Antoinette. The fashions of the court were expensive and extravagant. The ideal of the ultra feminine at this time was primarily about showing delicacy and yet contrastingly also fertility.

The corset of the period was the beginning of corset engineering as far as I am concerned. The use of boning started to become very sophisticated as it began to be used with a new understanding of it's influence on the body. Construction-wise the corset, or stays as they were called for this period, is made of stiffened buckram and whalebone that is steamed into the characteristic curved front, usually lined in linen and sometimes covered in beautiful fabrics. Interestingly, men used to make stays as it was thought that only men had strong enough hands to work the stiff materials, whilst women did the dressmaking. 

The shape characteristic for this era had the effect of elongating the front torso, pulling in the back until the shoulder blades would almost touch, which also thrust up the bosom to an almost indecent level and made the waist appear teeny tiny. The illusion of the tiny waist was ever more emphasised by extreme widening of the hips with paniers and voluminous skirts.

The particular corset I am recreating is held at the V&A Museum in London. The top layer is silk damask the inner structure is of stiffened buckram and lined with linen, it is bound with linen tape across the seams and is a fine example of half boned stays. The boning is 'whalebone', a bit of a wordie misnomer as it isn't bone it is the made of baleen the bit of the whales mouth that filters food.

Since I have not seen this corset in the flesh I am using a pattern which is supposed to be of this very corset from Corsets and Crinolines by Norah Waugh and using the visual references from the V&A publication Underwear Fashion in Detail by Eleri Lynn. I have super imposed the pattern onto my size 12 block to work out proportions and am making my mock up to see how the pattern works.

I've always loved the stay corsets, they have such romantic appeal.
It's amazing that these robust and beautiful garments are over 200 years old and made by hand! This is a good point to remember though, that most museum pieces in order to survive would have been worn infrequently or immaculately looked after and reflect mainly the creme de la creme of fashion at the time as working women and those of lesser status would have worn their corsets until they broke due to their expense. The pieces may also either have been ill fitting for the wearer hence their lack of wear, either way it is amazing that they have lasted so long.

More later on how I got on making this corset because I've run out of boning casing......

Madam De Pompadour by Boucher 1750