Corsets...

How many times this year have you seen magazines and articles accompanying images of celebrities
and vox pop interviewees wearing their underwear as outerwear? Corsets have increasingly been
seen on the outside, from Burberry face Emma Watson at Glastonbury Festival wearing a Burberry
(of course) camouflage corset next to some denim hot pants, to Carol Vorderman in an amazing pink
waist-nipping corset dress by Suzanne Neville (usually sought after for her bridal finesse) at the glamorous Television Rose d’Or Awards in Switzerland this month.

Corseting is not by any means a new concept, only previously it was more about ‘training’ the torso
to get used to being a smaller size. This was a practice through history which quoted broken ribs and
fainting episodes more so than any real benefit; it goes to show that suffering for your art has always
been important to the fashion conscious – just look at Lady Gaga...

Looking to more recent histories though, corsets are worn for elegance and beauty. An art form
in fashion, the corset has been rediscovered and reinvented and we find them adorning women
worldwide. These style decisions have been on a rollercoaster this year, and not surprisingly either,
as the beautiful and intricacy of an age old design are still very much at the forefront of art and
fashion.

From Milan Fashion Week this month, with designers showing their collections for SS11, we saw
Dolce and Gabbana promising the continuation of this trend with body contouring black corsets
carefully placed next to the virginal white lace and floral pieces. The longevity of the corset trend
seems to know no bounds, with tweets coming in from women all over telling me how sexy and
feminine the corset makes them feel. No matter what the style of the season, this perfection of
shape and silhouette will always be a feature.