A Letter From Marie
2007 was a great year at the Fitting Room! I made more corsets and sold more supplies than ever before. Thanks to all of you – our favorite customers – who ordered amazing creative corsets – and brought me great ideas and fabulous vintage fabrics and really made my work interesting – in a good way!
And thanks to those of you who just stop by to look at the pictures and dream a little bit. For all of you I’m changing all the pictures in the Gallery – most are from this year’s orders (and a few old favorites). Also, there are new pictures in the ‘How to Select a Corset” section. Remember that these are just suggestions. Custom ordering means that you can choose the shape and details that suit you. The fabric options are endless – even polka dots – I didn’t think I could do it, but have a look in the Gallery. Polka dots can be amazing! I have many suggested fabrics, but feel free to offer choices of your own – even polka dots! I’ll let you know if they won’t work – and those are few and far between. New Projects: A thought keeps nagging at me that I should put together a book on corset making – at least describing my method and what I have learned over the years. And to this end, I will soon be offering an expanded Corset Fitting Kit – with more detailed instructions. If this interests you – let me know – It will get the project done faster. I can also use your feedback. There many more corset makers now than when we started The Fitting Room 6 years ago.
This is much more than just a passing fashion fad.
Also, I would like to include in the book a collection of answers to the question “Why do I wear a corset?” Maybe we can dispel some of those old myths and get some insight into the real and diverse world of corset wearers of 2006. So write to me and let me know why you wear a corset. (As always, we are very sensitive to your privacy and will only reprint your response with permission.)
Thank you all again for your support, and I hope to talk to you all soon.
Marie Cooley
The Fitting Room
PS – I should answer my own question! Silly me.
“Why I wear a corset”. I started wearing corsets as part of historical recreation costumes – Renaissance, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian. If you put all that work into a great costume – it should fit and look right and that can’t be accomplished without a corset. It was wearing a costume with all the underpinnings that I discovered that corsets can be comfortable and functional and that you can move and work and dance and do everything that women have done for centuries in a corset. I discovered that to really enjoy history – I needed to make and wear the costume. (see picture of me at Williamsburg – a week in the 18th century – what fun!). Then I discovered the creativity of designing original costumes that included a corset – many of my favorite designs include a corset. Why? Because they smooth out the figure, support other features – heavy skirts, sleeves, and even wings, and they make you feel sexy and attractive. And isn’t that what fashion is all about.
There is also the ‘wow’ factor – a corset will get you a lot of attention – it is unusual and provocative – and I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoyed that.
So there is my answer – let me know what you think, and I’ll compile the answers for the book
