I did mail the corset to a model to get some better images, but I am not sure if it will arrive on time as postage from Norway is horrifically slow to anywhere else.
I also wanted to add more pictures than the 5 we are allowed in the main entry :)
Silhouette:
I'm really happy with the silhouette. It has a somewhat Edwardian feel from the back, with a modern twist from the front. I could have gone with an older style pattern, closer to the era La Sylphide and the Romantic ballet's were originally popular, but for me the Edwardian era has more of a romantic aesthetic than Victorian corsetry does.
Embellishment:
I'm really happy with the embellishment of this piece - It looked really nice plain, but I am honestly incredibly proud of how this has turned out. I really exceeded my expectations, and produced something I would never have imagined I was capable of.
I have found over the past year that I produce the things I am proudest of when I force myself to use colours and styles I would never automatically sway towards.
My first idea when I settled on the ballet theme was a Black Swan corset. I am 100% certain that at least one person will have produced a mind-blowingly gorgeous Black Swan themed corset/tutu for this competition, and I felt like if I were to run with this idea I would end up comparing my work to the other entry (entries?) that had used this as a basis.
I tend to beat myself up, so this was an astronomically bad idea.
So I started looking into ballets I could garner inspiration from, and I realized that I really loved the look of the romantic era, even though I wouldn't attempt something like this myself. I chose a pale colour palette for the original corset, but along with the pale pink coutil I had ordered a pale golden silk from my supplier.
I deliberately picked a colour I would never have chosen myself for a personal project, but something a little darker than the colours I used for my wedding dress because I didn't want to swing too close to a bridal corset.
This needed to be its own thing.
I was actually a little disappointed with the silk at first, it was darker than I had hoped and I just wasn't feeling it. I made an overbust from some of the fabric with lace, hand sewn beads, and handsewn pearls.It was alright, but nothing breathtaking. I wasn't convinced it would work for the competition after all.
But I had no other options, and I had proven that I was able to use satin without crying into a wrinkled mess at the end of the project.
The corset turned out really well - much better than I had hoped - and it made a really awesome base for embellishment.
I chose to use a gold lace because I wanted the embellishment to be understated. I liked the one I used because it has a lot of "tendrils" which can be used to wrap around curves, and create subtle embellishment rather than just large patches of lace.
It is inconspicuous, and very natural looking.
Corsets can be harsh garments - sharp curves and rigid construction make it very easy to create an item which is impossible to make delicate and feminine, but with the right fabric and embellishment they can also be the most feminine items.
I generally end up making the harsher looking pieces. There's nothing wrong with that, I really like bold colours and embellishments, and it is why I could easily have made something suitable for the Black Swan theme if I had no other ideas and was really desperate to enter something at the last minute.
However, the challenge I set myself with this project was to create something that is romantic. This is something I never normally achieve.
I think that, although the plain corset was beautiful, adding this lace is what made it a really spectacular piece, and is what took it from "pretty nice corset" to a piece which really is romantic and feminine in its styling.
I chose to place the lace symmetrically because the tendrils and motifs work really well for a piece inspired by nature, but La Sylphide is super natural, and as symmetry is not generally found within plants/trees in their natural habitats, it gave an "otherworldly" look to the piece - natural, but at the same time unnatural.
If I was able to do something different with the embellishment, I would have used some of the silk chiffon left from making my wedding dress to create flowing "wings" - either a cape, or a Watteau train attached to the back of the corset.
Again, I had made a silk chiffon cape with lace embellishment but it was left in England so I wasn't able to adapt it for this. (Lesson learned, don't leave important projects in another country in the future.)
I think that adding some semblance of wings would have made this more appropriate for the character of La Sylphide, rather than just being a piece inspired by Romantic Ballet in general with La Sylphide as a starting point.
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