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1) How long have you been making corsets?
The business started in 2009, and I was privately studying corsetry for
a couple of years prior to that.
2) How
did you develop your corset making skills?
Self-directed study! I have a Fine Art degree from Leeds that didn't give
me much in the way of practical art/craft skills. So once I had a bit
of disposable income I began sewing properly having dabbled over the years.
By experimenting, reading, researching, talking to other corsetmakers
and (most importantly) looking, I was able to develop my skills very quickly.
I firmly believe that one's progress is directly related to how hard one
is prepared to work, and I have worked very long hard hours. One can either
make a hundred corsets and consider each one "good enough",
or one can strive to make each one more refined and of a higher quality
than the last. It's just a question of where you set your limits. I continue
to push myself, and my skills, and hope to one day be "very good"
as a result.
3) What
made you decide to specialise in corsets?
I've always had a passion for the hourglass figure, and was interested
in playful transformative costume during my time at university. Corsets
are endlessly interesting and once I began studying them I was hooked.
The corset pivots around dichotomies of hard/soft, exterior/interior,
revealed/concealed, and this makes them fascinating, especially for a
Fine Art graduate who was exposed to a good dose of gender studies at
university... Corsets are sculptural, but malleable, and can be very complicated.
No other garment interests me in the same way.
4) Where
do you get your inspiration from?
Gosh, everywhere. Anything and everything I've ever seen will have affected
my choices, whether I realize it or not. Consciously, I take inspiration
for a design from a particular fabric, trim, or client. If you're presented
with a beautiful iridescent silk satin, you may want to use it differently
to if you were working with plain cotton. Often, the fabric tells you
how it should be used. Likewise, when working with a particular client
or model (if given creative freedom), I start by considering their look.
What colours will work with their skin-tone, what details and style lines
will be most flattering, and so on.
I am also
increasingly developing my own aesthetic interests. I was discussing this
point with a friend recently, whilst working on her very sparkly corset...
My mother has always said to me, "don't gild the lily" as she
believes in natural beauty. I likewise appreciate natural beauty, but
also have a strong desire for artifice and sparkle! Even shaping the waist
with a corset is a form of "gilding"… taking a lovely natural
thing (the female body) and making it somehow unnatural and extraordinary.
When you see a Sparklewren corset with strong waist shaping, surface embellishment,
or metallic/sparkly fabrication, it's my love of "gilding" shining
through. Directly feeding that aesthetic is a love of Klimt patterning
and Lalique lines, with a lot of my work featuring shades of gold and
beautiful proportion being always at the front of my mind.
5) Do
you have any fabrics or techniques that you like working with most?
One of my favourite tasks is hand-applying lace appliqués. I just
find it so restful. By contrast, one of my favourite aesthetics (but possibly
least favourite task) is cording. Corded gussets can look amazing in a
high-shine fabric, but it is a very time-consuming repetitive process
and requires a lot of concentration. I love texture, gloss and sparkle,
so duchesse satins, metallic leathers, and silk lames are a lot of fun
to work with, whilst lapped seam construction adds a level of texture
that I adore to use on certain designs.
6) When
designing for bespoke customers what process do you go through?
Most of my clients are at a distance, so we begin by finalising the design
within a contract. They will usually refer to one of my existing pieces
and say, "I would like this, but with X instead of Y" and so
on. For this reason, I am currently working on a 2011 Look Book that will
outline my aesthetic interests more clearly and present more design inspiration
to new clients. A lot of the work I am asked to do is based on my early
experimentation (lots of over-excited use of bright dupioni silks, inexpensive
ribbons and so on!), and therefore doesn't truly reflect my deeper aesthetic
interests.
7)Who
is your favourite designer and why?
Probably Gaultier, Mugler or McQueen. Though my favourite corsetmaker
is Mr Pearl. I also love the work of my corsetmaking peers Wilde Hunt
Corsetry, Skeletons in the Closet, Crikey Aphrodite, and many others.
They all make garments that are somehow transformative, making you really
notice the wearer. I'm trying to find the right word for this and struggling!
Not "individuality", but "presence" maybe. A way of
saying, "here I am". Rather than controlling or negating the
body, these corseted pieces actually make the body more visible. Wearing
a contemporary corset is very bold.
8) What
did you want to be when you were younger?
I'm not sure… I always thought I didn't have the confidence to pursue
something creative, but everyone around me assumed that I would be an
artist. I used to paint and I still try to find the time to draw. My mother
thought I would be a writer, and writing is something I get to explore
both on my blog and by providing articles for corsetmaking e-zine Foundations
Revealed. If chemistry A-level hadn't proven so uninteresting for me,
I may have followed my 16 year old intention of becoming a vet or zoologist!
Discovering a love of corsetry felt like coming home, and I'm happy for
the accidents and wrong turns that have lead me to this place.
9) After
a stressful day how do you relax?
I'm not a very serious or stressed person so I can usually shake off a
stressful day pretty easily, but if not I'll read a book or watch a movie.
Distraction is key. Other people's stories (whether fact or fiction) are
also a reminder that my problems are no big deal, and that I have a lot
to be thankful for.
10) Lastly
we at Lulu and Lush love cupcakes, what is your naughty treat?
Chocolate. I am an (overly) curvy girl as a result!
www.sparklewren.co.uk
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