French Plunge corset 1905

Today I have finally got a day to think, and draw and paint. It is luxury to have a whole day to think things through.

Today I have been concentrating on things much neglected like research, inspiration and illustration. If the weather holds I'll also do a spot of gardening...

But, to more serious stuff. Today I am going to start on a new and challenging corset. I am going to re-make (or as close as I can approximate from photo's, my notes and my intuition) the C2 corset from the Symington collection. This corset is on almost permanent display so I have not had a chance to study it in hand so I am hoping my guesswork will surfice.

This the best picture of it I have found: 

The C2 is a museum reference number. It was designed and made in France around 1905 and has an atypical plunge front. It is made from black sateen, has a white cotton lining, a waist stay, inner bone casings and pushed the body into the fashionable s-bend shape required of the early Edwardian period.

So...my first step was to check over my notes and gain information about it's construction and put that into illustration:

Since the corset can only be viewed from the front I am going to hvae to guess at the back stylines by comparison with it's contemporaries. I am going to use this advert as a reference because I can compare front and back.

 

Well, that's it for now...better get started.