..coming attractions

So I've been neglecting this for ages now, and a good friend of mine recently reminded me that I actually HAVE this blog!! Life got in the way, what can I say?
Woah...That ryhmed... :O

Well since my last post, a LOT has happened - I'm now in Merry Old England, conducting a bit of groundwork in preperation for my Master's Degree! I'm so excited to get to work on it...and yes, it will be focused on period corsetry - what else!!?
Oh and I totally saw Buckingham Palace. And Big Ben. And a Bruce Oldfield boutique!!!!!

I haven't been able to do much sewing (which has slowly been killing me) because my sewing goodies are still being shipped over...but just this week I decided to do something about it, and have ordered a bunch of supplies (metal busks, spring steel and spiral steel boning, coutil fabric..) to get cracking on another corset -- and I can't WAIT to get going with it because it'll be the first time ever that I get to use actual, authentic materials...!!!! I'm thinking of doing two - a Victorian one from the late 1800's and a long-line Edwardian one from about 1910, so pretty chuffed about my little project coming up.
I've decided to use this blog as a sortof "behind-the-scenes" look at how I'm going to put the corsets together.. I'll take lots of step-by-step photographs at each phase in the construction and explain my methods as I learn and experiment - it'll be fun! This could take some time, but at least I'm back on my little blog here, and now I'll probably start posting more often :)

These are examples of the kind of corsets I'll be working on.  Pictures are from http://www.agelesspatterns.com/, an amazing yet simple site that offers patterns for a HUGE variety of vintage garments and accesories, it's definately worth a look for all those fashion / costume enthusiasts out there!!!

Victorian corset

Edwardian corset (loving the suspenders!)

I'll be sure to post updates as I make some progress, this should be quite an interesting challenge ;P

This is the Fan-Boy in me ;)

It's always amazing and encouraging to hear of celebs who actually appreciate their fans, so I'm going to share my little experience with the beautiful and talented actress Rose McGowan, of whom I am a complete fan...I have been since I first saw Scream. I'm still irritated that Tatum went and got squished in the garage door because she was my fave...okay I'm rambling...

It all started with a bit of drama (for me at least!) on Twitter. As some of you may know, Rose is a pretty active Twitter user, and even occasionally responds to random tweets from her fans.
Now I love drawing and painting, and Rose has been the subject of much of my art for a while now, and most of these works were posted to my DeviantArt page - this is where the trouble began, as some French chap saved and STOLE one of my drawings of Rose, then had the audacity to tweet it to the lady herself with the comment:
"this is my latest drawing of you Rose, Took many hours to complete. What do you think?"
- so when I saw THAT I was immensely pissed off, but to add insult to injury Rose then replied back to his tweet, complimenting him on "his"work. (there's a happy ending, promise!)

As a counter-measure, I sent her a bunch of links to my other art online in an effort to somehow let her know that it was ME who did the drawing!
Well after about a day, I opened up my e-mails to see this: "Rose McGowan has sent you a Direct Message on Twitter." The message from Rose basically complimented me on the artworks, and she asked if she could somehow get a copy... all the while I'm thinking: "how awesome is this woman!?!"
So then she kindly started following me on Twitter (so I could arrange to get her agent's address).

I then packaged up the original artwork in question (which was just a simple black pencil crayon drawing of Rose, from a NY Times photoshoot with her made-up to look like 20's silent film starlet Clara Bow), along with a few 8x10 photos for her autograph - I thought it was definately worth a shot, asking for her autographs - I mean it's Rose McGowan!! SO in the little parcel I sent, I included a little letter to her, the artworks and photos, and off they went to the US.

About a month passed when I got this message from her:

"I got them! Amazing! Will sign all of your photos except one I don't like. Fat angle, hahaha. )). You are so talented, it's an honor to be drawn by you. All the best, Rose "

SO that was enough for me, that the drawings actually got to her intact - which is really all I was worried about..

THEN on Monday 06/12/2010 I checked the post and there it was - my original self-addressed envelope (of course with a few new US stamps attached), and inside were these!!!!

This is the actual drawing that all the drama was over...which Rose now (thankfully) has in her possession! Yay! :D



Okay well that concludes yet another of my loooong, drawn-out blog posts.
Until next time, cheers dears ;P

Casey's Birthday!

Hey all!
So this is a TAD late, but I've been busy recovering from my New Year's party...there may be a blog post about it later...but we'll see hahaha. So much drunk and (almost) nakedness, gosh!! ;P

Anyhoo I had the absolute privilege of being invited to my amazing, wonderful, talented friend Casey-Jeanne's 21st birthday party on the 28th, and what an emotional event it was. The speeches had everyone misty-eyed, the video presentation had everyone in stitches, and the food was just superb. And oh my soul, THE CAKE and CUPCAKES!!!! I was actually in heaven right then and there. yeah...

Casey is also a spectacular fashion designer, who has JUST completed her Diploma at DUT (Yay!!), so I've been lucky enough to see her work first-hand and get to know her not just as a friend, but as a talented professional.

As a special, unique gift I decide to do her portrait - just a little something personal, made with love!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Casey-Face!! ;P

My latest obsession...

Braces. Suspenders. Whatever you'd like to call them, I have two BRAND SPANKING new pairs (my first pairs ever) and I am obsessed with them!! I got a spiffy black leather pair with a Y-back, and a funky bright red pair with an X-back.
What can I say, I've embraced my quirky, nerdy, goofyness completely :)

So this is clearly NOT me in these pics - I choose not to have that much facial hair =) , but this is a general idea of what they look like..

I will bring them back into mainstream fashion, watch this space....

UPDATE!! (30/03/2011)
 ---------> CHECK IT OUT!!!

I Love my braces...suspenders...over-shoulder-trouser-holders... :D

Corsets galore!!!

For those of you who don't know, I have an unrelenting passion for corsets, especially those of the Victorian-inspired era -- I find their particular hourglass shapes incredibly feminine and beautiful, and the technical construction of these garments is so complex...and irresistable!!
I've been fascinated by corsets for a few years, and tried my hand at PROPER Victorian and Georgian corsets for my end of year Fashion Show at college last year, to great success :)
This facsination led me to work on my BTech report this year on Victorian corsets, experimenting with a number of different types of boning, fabrics, lacing and embellishing details. The most amazing thing about corsets is that, when designing them, one is truly only limited by your imagination and creativity!! Such a cliché, but it's been proven time and again...

These are a number of my corsets that I've designed and made this year, and I've been lucky enough to have featured them in quite a few fashion shows and events (I'll get into more detail about each one soon enough) -- just trying to spread the word about the awesomeness of corsets hahaha!!

Something pretty incredible, is that each of the lovely women who've worn these corsets for me at fashion shows have shown such enthusiasm for them, actually enjoying the "hug" of the garment around their torsos...which is something I wasn't really expecting at all - I was under the impression that they'd HATE wearing them, but I was pleasantly surprised :D
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Or maybe they were just being nice to me LOL! Well anyways, the girls do certainly look good =)

"changing the world, one corset at a time..."  -   :)

... hmm, what to say? well here goes...

Okay so this is me, sitting here entering my VERY first blog post...a tad late to be starting a blog at the END of the year - but I've never payed much attention to time anyway. So there!
Well a LOT has happened this year, 2010 has been an incredibly busy, emotionally and physically draining one...but it's not all doom and gloom, promise ;)  Some AMAZINg things have happened, I've met some incredible people and it just makes me more excited to LIVE life to the fullest -- I'm an optimist, can you tell?

I always seem to have a few different projects on the go at once, whether it be a wedding or evening dress for a client, an art piece (just for me, for fun!!), my college work...which was challenging and unbelievably satisfying at the same time - mmm corsets!! - or just working away on one of my mini movie costume replicas. yes, you read that correctly, it's my strange hobby... when I get inspired by something, I kinda HAVE to act on it, soo my latest obsession is the dress Kate Capshaw wears for the opening scenes of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - the red and gold 30's number with ALL of these beads!! Yeah so I've been slowly and patiently working on it, individually stitching each bead and sequin in place to try and replicate it as faithfully as possible. It's nearly finished, just a few more beads to go :D

Call me crazy, but it's actually fun!!! relaxing too....

Oh and I have a bit of a dramatic story to tell about Rose McGowan, one of my FAVOURITE actresses!! Hmm it's quite involved, so I'll talk about it later but it has a VERY happy ending indeed. She's amazingly kind to her fans, that's all I'm saying now ;)

One more thing - as I write about what I've done and what I will be getting up to next year (I'll be in the UK, doing my MA in Fashion - scary huh?) , I'll post a few of the corsets I have made over the last few years, plus some of my other noteworthy garments that may be of interest. Fashion design is a huge part of my life, it's incredibly time-consuming, sometimes frustrating but ultimately unbelievably rewarding and the bottom line is- IT'S FUN!!!!!
My most recent project was making a wedding dress for a lovely lady by the name of Chrizanne. She tied the knot last week Thursday and I JUST got the wedding pics today - what a stunner! It was such a privelage designing and making her dress as she wasn't the typical Bridezilla at ALL. On the contrary, she was the most chilled out bride-to-be in history I think. So lovely and gracious. Anyway she loved the satin and silk chiffon gown I made for her, and I'm pretty proud of it too ;)

Okay, that's it for me now, time to go do some last minute Christmas shopping!!