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!!