Susanna Sews: Corset Review: What Katie Did

I love corsets. My love of a vintage silhouette pre-dates my change of style as a wannabe pin-up girl aged 17 when I first experimented with victory rolls, faux Bettie Bangs and vintage-style clothing. I remember seeing those glamorous Hollywood starlets as a kid on TV and being mesmerised by their other worldly beauty, grace, demeanour and of course, their figures.

I purchased the Morticia corset in June this year, lusting after it for ages and ages before finally biting the bullet and buying it. This structural masterpiece is one of several corsets available by What Katie Did (WKD) but is the most popular, and I'm not surprised! Here's some images from the WKD website:

Before making such a huge investment, I did a LOT of research - not just making sure I found the physically right corset, but one that I felt emotionally attached to aswell. I resolved to have that click, that real energy, enthusiasm and excitement about it before I bought one, and all those feelings came thick and fast when I set eyes upon the Morticia. Here is some information from the WKD website:

Our longer line steel boned Morticia Corset gives a dramatic 1950s wasp-waisted silhouette.

"Morticia is an ultra-curvy underbust corset. It features our trademark goring at the hips which ensure that the waist can be pulled in as tightly as desired, without putting undue pressure on the hips. The longer line ensures that tummies are nicely flattened. It is, of course, named after the beautifully macabre and wasp-waisted Morticia Addams, and is as utterly bewitching as its namesake.

Morticia was launched in 2008, originally intended as a fashion corset, one to be worn for special occasions. However, it's come our attention that several of you use it daily as a waist training corset. Having had a few amendments over the years, we're now happy to class it as a 'day training' corset, suitable for daily wear for up to 8-10 hours. Please ensure you click on the Sizing tab to decide if Mortica is right for you.

Its extreme cut makes Morticia only suitable for those with vintage figures: a 10 inch or greater difference between waist and hip measurements.

The sizes below are reduced waist sizes (ie, the corset size when it is closed). You will need to deduct 4-5 inches from your waist to determine your corset size. Please see our Sizing Notes for more information"

I was after a dramatic alteration and envisioned myself in gorgeous pencil skirts and beautiful blouses with this baby giving me that classic 1950s wasp-waisted silhouette. I am lucky enough to be blessed with hourglass proportions, the difference between my waist (24in) and hips (34in) meaning that I have that 10 inch difference required for this particular corset. I bought it in Size 20, having deducted 4 inches from my natural waist measurements.

I haven't been wearing it religiously since June, but I did wear it a lot in the first few weeks after I bought it. This was in order to 'season' the corset, which basically means breaking the corset in and giving it time to mould to the shape and contours of my body. Seasoning a corset is extremely important. If I had just rushed in and expected to lace down to a 20 inch waist after the first few days of buying it (which is a very silly and naive assumption to make in itself), I would have stressed the fabric channels holding the steel boning which could have resulted in the boning tearing through the black satin and ruining the entire corset, as well as potentially damaging one of my ribs. I did a lot of research before deciding on a set method of seasoning my corset, which was an amalgamation of blogs, websites, books and YouTube videos.

(Excuse the lint and foundation mark on my leggings! Too focused on the corset that I didn't notice this)

As you can see from the previous picture as well as this one, I still have a little bit to go until it is fully moulded to my shape, evident by the slightly raised boning at the hip

There's an amazing YouTube vlogger called Lucy, and I'd come across her channel a few years ago and was instantly in awe of her knowledge of corsetry. I've been a fan of hers for a while, but my admiration of her has naturally increased now that I own a corset. She did a great mini-series for beginners a while ago, and has added another video as an addendum to that series. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience and I'd really recommend her videos to anyone considering buying a corset. She also has a great website, and discusses the physical, mental/emotional and social/societal benefits of buying/wearing corsets here, which makes for a really interesting and enlightening read. She considers a wide range of aspects of wearing/buying a corset that you would even consider (okay, I'll stop fan-girling now and get back to my Morticia corset!)

Seasoning a corset is also important for the body to be able to feel accustomed to it. When I first tried it on, it was a surprising sensation and like none I've ever experienced before in terms of wearing an article of clothing (obviously a corset is more than an item of clothing - it's really a piece of historical costume, but hopefully you understand my meaning). Of course it felt restrictive initially, but this wasn't uncomfortable - it was more due to the fabric panels being stiff because it was brand new, which repeated wearing would soften down. I noticed a change in the shape of the corset and my levels of comfort with each day I wore it, and this was down to it being seasoned correctly - my natural body heat was working to soften the rigid nature of its construction.

See that raised part of the boning near the edge? Still need to season it a bit more until that finally lies flat

After each period of wearing it, I took it off, allowed it to cool down in order to retain the new shape it was forming by small increments with each passing day, and folded it up again, storing it in its original packaging in my wardrobe. Laying it flat on my bed to cool down helped the fabric panelling to adopt the shape it had been laced to that day. If I had just folded it up and stored it whilst it was still warm from my body heat, I would have been essentially spoiling the effort of putting it on in the first place, as this would have disrupted the newly acquired shape that the fabric panels were forming themselves into.

Here I am pretending to look wistfully into the distance...okay, okay, I know I'm fooling no-one. Excuse my exhausted face!

I stopped wearing it by early July, as we had an incredibly hot summer this year and who would be crazy enough to wear a corset in the summer, no matter how gorgeous it is?! Then the second year of uni arrived and I was caught up in a whirlwind of reading and essays and more reading and even more essays...and it sat, neglected (but not forgotten I hasten to add!) in my wardrobe. As we're in the thick of winter now, with the low temperatures being much more forgiving, and as I have some time to relax over the Christmas holidays, I've started wearing it again. I didn't realise how much I missed wearing it! Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

My commitment to seasoning it properly and patiently has proved well, as putting it on again after many months of not wearing it felt like a hand slipping into a glove - it has retained its shape and my body has got so used to wearing it that I sometimes forgot I even have it on. It feels like a warm hug across my torso. I have rather bad posture so it supports my spine, which is particularly at its worst when I am hunched over at my desk doing work, for example. Also, I've noticed that when I've worn it for a few hours and then take it off, my muscles feel like they still have its structural support, which I guess must be some sort of muscle memory. So my posture improves even when I'm not wearing it!

One thing I would say to anyone thinking of buying a corset is to be patient! It's all to easy to want to rush in and lace down tightly, but it takes time to adjust both mentally and physically to a corset. This is really important in the long run, for both the corset and more importantly, your body.

The hooks don't look as straight as I'd like them to be...most likely due to me twisting over my left shoulder to look in the mirror behind me whilst lacing up, grrr

This is the first corset I've ever bought and I know it won't be the last. I love it so much! That said, I'm already looking forward and have my eye on this beauty, also by What Katie Did (but only when I eventually manage to lace up more tightly with my current one). Just look at that reduction!

If you're interested in the history of the corset, here is some further reading I'd recommend:

The Corset: A Cultural History by Valerie Steele

Bound to Please: A History of the Victorian Corset (Dress, Body, Culture) by Leigh Summers

Fashion and Fetishism: Corsets, Tight-Lacing and Other Forms of Body-Sculpture by David Kunzle.

I've read a few more, but these are the best of what I've read so far. Being now halfway through my degree, the third-year dissertation looms ever closer, and I'm seriously considering writing about Victorian dress, differences between the sexes and gender politics. I read about it enough for fun so I may as well do something useful with it.