Category: Blog

I promised to write a blog post about this coutil corset. I have decided to call this corset Xiamara. Yes this is a book reference. 10 points to the person who knows what book series I am currently reading 😉

 

This is a black coutil corset, made out of rosebud coutil. It has a heavy duty zipper at the front. It has internal boning casings. This corset I made as a strong yet light daily wear corset. Something basic to tightlace in.

The most fun part of this corset is that it has 2 hip gussets. These are little triangle like parts sewn into the corset. The triangle parts make sure that the hips are wide, and if you cut them right they make for a smooth hip curve.

The pattern of this corset is based on a patent from 1900. The 1900’s have given us great patterns. Usually the front of those corsets were quite flat, something we modern day corset wearers love too. As you can see when you follow the link to the patent, most of the curve of the pattern comes from the side and the back. Thus creating this great curve.

This corset has a total of 22 steel bones, plus a wide under busk underneath the zipper.

 

As with all my corsets I have taken inspiration and techniques from a historical example and used modern day parts to put it together. Always learn from the past!

If you would like to order a similar corset in coutil, with either a zipper or a busk. This corset is available as a made to measure corset starting at €295

The couture curve collection.

These handmade couture corsets are made out of lovely silks, coutil, cotton and steel. A couture curve corset is a corset made to your measurements. Smooth curves and lots of steel boning highlight these corsets. Since we love dupion and taffeta silk, we make our corsets in those fabrics. (ofcourse we can make you a silk satin or coutil version if you want)

Expertly cut patterning is our thing and this collection shows you the sweeping lines and epic plunges that really draws in the eye. You can choose for a couture lace finish on your corset or just keep the clean lines.

Here are some examples of our collection. As Always our work is constantly in progress so more corsets will be added at a later date.

The Vampire Vixen corset combines two amazing features. The plunging neckline and the low hip curve. This corset has a wide steel busk and lots of boning. It is hand finished and has optional fine French lace.

The Lady Aistikas corset is one of our favorite underbust corsets. 28 cm long at the front this corset is made out of just 4 pannels per side, but can still give an amazing curve! Check out the video at the bottom of this blog post!

The Vixen corset is a short hip version of the vampire vixen corset. It has the same amazing plunge neckline but with its shorter hips is great to wear with a wide skirt or paniers. Listed in the webshop as a dupioni silk version with couture lace, it can ofcourse also be made out of satin with spikes.

 

The Annabelle corset is a great sweethart neckline corset made out of silk with external boning casings. The external casings give the corset a great structural look.

And oldy but still a favorite. The Alathea Victorian Underbust corset. Made with external boning casings and flossing this corset celebrates all kinds of historical influences in modern day Corsetry.

 

 

Every year we (my husband and I) go to several costume events. We love to have a place to wear our pretty frocks and doll up completely.

 

Last Christmas (2015) Maarten said that he wanted a new military inspired costume. So there we were, at our Christmas brunch firing up Pinterest to see what we both would like. Maarten decided on a costume worn by The Duke of Cambridge, Lord Nelson. A Royal Navy uniform from about 1795-1812.

About this costume I will write a full article later in the year when it is completely finished. Because it is a super interesting costume.

 

When we go to an event, Maarten and I always try to somewhat match our costumes. Be it the same colours, or the same period, or the same style.

 

However, as you may have noticed, my main inspiration comes for the Victorian age. Hoop skirts, bustles, corsets I love it. The end of the 18^th century is not my comfort zone. So I started doing some pinterest searches for myself.

There were two paintings I found that drew me. The unknown lady in a blue riding habit.  and this 1748 painting of Sophie Marie Gräfin Voss by Antoine Pesne

As you can see both inspirations are mid 18^th century. They both have lovely colours and lots of lace and trimmings. If you have followed my work for quite some time you know I love elegant clean lines. I am not one to use a ton of lace, or lots of different colours. This time however I decided to get out of my comfort zone. I did not want to make a late 18^th century ladies costume, because I could not find a example I truly loved. Except for the sleepy hollow gown, but that would not match with Maarten.

But there was a bit of a time limit. Maarten’s costume took quite some time to finish and I had to make 2 wedding dresses. So I could not make a complete outfit. I had to scavenge and be creative. Luckely it so happens that I am quite creative.

 

So I needed to be creative. I decided to wear a hoop skirt and a Victorian corset underneath the new gown. This because I just love that silhouette. A friend of mine gifted me with a lovely gold and blue silk, that matched amazing with my blue skirt. And I set out to make a 18^th century style dress / jacket I could wear with this hoop skirt. As a base I used this  pattern, and drafted a dress I would wear over my Victorian corset.

 

 

I finished it up with lace, and made a hat to match the pirate feel of the dress. The reason I wanted a big hat, is because a big dress makes your head look small and you need something to balance it out.

 

Now this outfit is by no means historical correct. In the future I shall make the right underpinnings and underskirt to go with the outfit for a more historical look.

 

But to be honest, I love it like this. I make historical inspired costumes. And although my strength is being able to interpret historical shapes and draft good patterns, I do not always make something 100% historical correct. I do love using modern techniques to put a costume together, and I really enjoy using history as an inspiration making something new. But I also enjoy making something completely historical accurate, like a replica of a museum corset.

If you want to have something unique, and you have a painting or historical figure that truly inspired you and you would like a costume to match, contact me. You do not need to have a cristal clear idea of what you want exactly. As you can see we can just use it as an inspiration and go from there!

History is a great place for inspiration, go to a museum, see the old example and use that inspiration for something new.

 

 

 

The Beautiful Basic collection show you the essential corsets for any corset wearer. Made out of cotton, satin or brocade coutil these corsets are made for daily wear. The corsets are available as standard size items or as made to measure. The corsets start at basic price point and have optional extra’s. All Beautiful Basic corsets are hand made to order. They are handmade corset is our own atelier in the Netherlands. So if there is anything we need to adjust you can always ask!

 

The Beautiful Basic corsets are:

The Honoria Waspie: A great starter corset, or a corset for the more active days. This short corset is still extremely curvy. It took us a while but we have not made a pattern we are happy with! The wide underbust allows for a nice chinch while keeping the spillage to a minimum.

The Victorian Underbust: The Victorian underbust is a versatile basic corset. It is longer than our waspie with it 28 cm front busk. It has 5 panels per side, and is very suitable for daily wear. As you can see there is no picture yet. That is because I have made this corset a portfolio deal. I have made Victorian underbust corset before, but only in fancy fabrics. Now I could make a sample, or I could have any of you guys get an amazing deal on a corset.

The Ribbon Corset: The ribbon corset is an Edwardian classic with a modern twist. The only beautiful basic corset that comes standard with a zipper. This corset is made out of ribbon and pieces of coutil. Great for active days or as lounge wear.

The Heather Longline Underbust: A tightlacers special. This longline underbust is made with curve in mind! The corset has a wide busk and external boning casings. This longline corset is curvier than any of the Beautiful Basics, and therefore more suitable for experience corset wearers. This corset is one of our favourites as it covers the tummy and is low over the hips.

The Victorian Half Bust: This corset is made as a base foundation for any gothic outfit. The half bust corset is based off a Victorian pattern and also extremely suitable to wear underneath your Victorian costumes.

The Overbust: The Victorian overbust corset is a modern classic. With its sweetheart neckline and it gentle curves it is great for evening wear or even a wedding! The corset is high underneath the arms to avoid spillage, and has steel boning to keep the ladies up. It also gently curves in at the bottom to keep your tummy in.

 

Extra’s: There are optional extra’s you can add to your corset. We wanted to make handmade corsets for a basic price, and have you decide what you want to add to it, depending on your needs and budget. You can add extra steel boning, or have the corset made to your measurements.

In the future we might add to this collection or have a stock ready to ship, but for now it is all made to order.

The corsets have some colours listed as base colour. However, our favourite coutil, the rosebud, is available in lots of different colours. If you want to have another colour you can always ask! There is no surcharge if you with to have another rosebud or satin coutil colour. And if you want to go all basic and have the corset made out of cotton coutil, you can even get a small discount.

 

 

We at Skeletons in the Closet make corset, but we do not only specialize in corsets. We started out making gothic gowns and we still love the dark side.

Therefore, we have put together a collection in our web shop for all you dark ladies. This collection contains both old and new items. Some have been on our website for ages, some are new. Some have been gone for a while and are now back. There is a bit for everyone.

Here are some of the main pieces in this collection. Available from the 1rst of September in our webshop. Like with every collection of Skeletons in the Closet, there will be pieces added to it through the year. After all, Gothic Fashion does not follow any fashionable seasons.

The Viola top and Florance Fan skirt A lovely chiffon top great to wear with your corsets, and a classic Victorian skirt.

The Hazel Bustle dress. Again a new item, because we love the bustle period.

 

The Verna Victorian gown, for the more dramatic look.

The Raven Queen

The Lady Aistikas Gown, an old favourite of mine.

If you have browsed the website. You might have come across a new section! The Ante Mundane Accessories. Now you might wonder what on earth are those!

These are little bits of historical inspired items that can bring your outfit to the new level! These are always ready to ship items. So what you see is what you can buy at that time.

My inspiration is both Victorian and historical fashions as well fetish fashion oriented. So pretty much everything is possible in this section.

From faux leather collars to victorian capes. Anything to make your outfit more than average. Or to take your photoshoot up to the next level! Please check back regularly for new items. Or follow our Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr.

 

 

Photocredits: Xanthy by Josefien Hoekstra, Muah Dominique visagiste.

Seductively Sheer.

 

As you may have noticed we are working on new items. As a general rule I do not work in collections. The number of corsets I make per year are not enough to have a new collection every six months. However, I can divide my work in several styles. My work is eclectic but there is always a theme. So I decided to call those collections. The beasties need a name after all.

 

So may I introduce to you my first collection. The Seductively Sheer Collection.

 

There are four corsets in this collection at the moment.

First, the Gilded Waspie. This lovely piece is made with white sheer fabric, crème/gold silk and delicate gold lace at the front.

Although it can give you a lovely shape it does not have a waist tape. This corset is not made for tight lacing.

 

Second is the Lady Aistikas sheer corset. This corset is made out of black sheer fabric with black satin coutil. The corset has a waist tape and gives an amazing shape. For example, this model (Nevia Navine) reduces her waist with more than 15 cm with this corset.

 

Third is the Nix Sheer overbust corset. This dark overbust corset is in sync with our gothic soul. It is made out of corsetry mesh with boning casings covered in velvet ribbon. It has a waist tape and the front panel is covered in lace.

Paired with stockings and a set of pocket hoops it makes you look like a dark ballerina.

 

And last but not least, our personal favourite the Sophia Eden Girdle. This Girdle you have seen before I am sure! This girdle is great to wear underneath your pencil dresses. It is a lightly boned piece with a waist tape, that gives you smooth hips and a smooth tummy.

 

 

All these corsets will be available as made to order items from the 1st of September in the webshop. Of course you can always contact me for a custom version, if you want something similar but in a different colour, different size, extra boning, different fabric.

The samples shown here will also be added to the webshop shortly so you can buy them. 🙂

More sheers corset will be added in the years to come.

 

Photocredits:

Photo 1: Model: Bunny Glittergun Photographer: Josefien Hoekstra Muah: Ashley Make-up Design and Artistry.

Photo 2: Model, muah and photographer: Necia Navine/Josefien Hoekstra

Photo 3: Model: Bunny Glittergun Photographer: Josefien HoekstraMuah: Ashley Make-up Design and Artistry.

Photo 4: Selfie by Sannie, owner of Skeletons in the Closet.

 

 

First of all, I would like to say that I do not believe in rules of fashion. You should wear what you feel comfortable with not what you are dictated to wear. If you like to wear skintight clothes, wear it. Like a baggy shirt, go with it. So if you ask me: “can I wear it?” my answer will be: “Why not!”

As a plus size girl myself I do love to wear a waspie on occasion. Some outfits just look better with a belt like corset, and sometimes I just need to be a bit more flexible that I can be with a longline corset. Having the hips free allows me more room to move.

And yet when a plus size girl asks if she can wear a waspie corset, usually the advice is to go for a longline.

Like I said before you should wear what you feel comfortable with. And therein lies the heart of the problem. Most waspies are not cut for the plus size woman. We larger women have more flesh to move around. And because of that one of the things that a plus size woman can have is overspill at the edges of the corset. This is caused by an underbust and hip size that is simply too small. General aesthetics tell us to not want overspill. Aesthetics might be one part of the reason not to wear a waspie when you have more to love, but the other part is comfort. Having a garment digging into you body is not exactly comfortable. And a corset should be comfortable.

One way to cover that problem is to wear a longline corset. Corsets with a high back are quite popular with a lot of people. However, as a corsetmaker I can tell you that just raising the back of a corset does not help to get rid of the overspill. Having enough room at the back of the corset does!

Your corset just needs to make room for the change in your body. The same goes for the hips. Is the hip too small the corset will dig into your belly/hips/bottom. Having enough room there, problem solved!

Now if you want smoothed out hips, a flat tummy and a completely enclosed feel of the corset a waspie might not be for you. After all a waspie only shapes the waist, not the hips. It is simply too short for anything else. It is all about what you feel comfortable wearing.

Here are some styling tips. As I said before, I do not believe in rules of fashion, but I can tell you how I am wearing my waspie today:

I am wearing a black long shirt with bell sleeves, Black Milk transparent pants and underneath it all I wear a shapewear bodystocking. To give my body a smooth line. Also I am wearing a bra with a large band size. After all what is the point of making sure your corset does not dig into your back, only to have a bra digging into it.

Over this outfit I am wearing my waspie. As you can see I have added more boning on the panels of the corset (the Skeletons in the Closet waspie usually has 14 bones, this one has 20) This to avoid wrinkling of the corset on the panels

Front:

Side: As you can see I have a tummy, a waspie does not cover your tummy. After all it is a short corset.

Back: Sorry for the dark picture, it is hard to take a shot like this with the selftimer.

It took us a while, but finally we are now making waspies available for sizes 30-36 inch too. I do recommend to choose the optional extra of getting a bit more boning in the corset, but it is not obligated.

As you may know, we are currently booked with custom orders until the 1st of September. The only exception being the waspies! So if you want a waspie now, please go to the webshop!

(spell-check by Lady Dinah;-))