I wanted to play a bit with the figure, to really sculpt a new shape. This corset doesn't look unusual from the three quarter angle, above.
But from head on you can see the two halves are not symmetrical. I wanted to create a female torso as sculpted by Hans Arp, or painted by John Currin. I don't form clay, or paint canvases, but I can shape a figure with a corset so I started playing with numbers and came up with a pattern.
The curves are quite pleasing, and a little disturbing.
It was lots of patterning fun drafting a pattern where every single piece is different, but other than that this corset is like any other. Same materials and construction methods. I did dye the coutil and managed to get the color very even. Yea. I really like this corset. There is a sense of movement at the fabric wraps around the imaginary body that isn't present normally when you look at a corset. It's a shame it will never be worn.
This is really interesting. Beautiful, yet strange.
ReplyDeleteThat corset would probably fit me...my left boob is miles bigger than my right!
ReplyDeleteIt is stunning. The imperfection makes it strangely perfect.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful yet strange was what I was after after Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteLadywihemine, I kept thinking what it? What if a corset were made that highlighted the irregularities of a figure? Could I make one that exaggerated the imperfections and still have it be beautiful? I like to think that I did.
Ingrid, I was going to title this post jolie laide. Not that I read your comment perfect/imperfect would have worked too.
It must be mesmorising to view in real life, (like a painting where the eyes follow you around the room)- I would anticipate it would also look as equally normal from the other 3/4 view - and so becomes an optical illusion - very thought provoking, Jo, and beautifully executed!
ReplyDeleteI love it! A commentary on the changing ideal form?
ReplyDeleteYour right Erin, it does look normal from the other 3/4 angle. I found myself circling it and watching the curves change, mesmerizing is a good description.
ReplyDeleteThanks Summer! I can certainly see how this could be read as a commentary on the constant changing of the ideal form. I had been looking at images from the Mutter Museum and the Burns Archive. There is often a dignity in those images of bodies gone wrong and I wanted to capture that, to make something off that you wanted to keep looking at.
It is absolutly lovely! The symetry of the stitched chevron combines really well with the asymetry of the figure. Well done for making a corset art.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kat!
ReplyDeleteWhat did you dye the cortil with?
ReplyDeleteTwinnings English Breakfast tea!
ReplyDeleteWhat are the measurements or proportions of this ghost client?
ReplyDeleteIt's not for a real body. I just took a pattern and started playing with it, exaggerating some curves and reducing others to see what would happen,
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to me to wonder . . . what did women with, say, severe scoliosis do, especially if they couldn't afford custom-made?
ReplyDeleteThere's a high probability that bodices (sorry, "bodies) in the early 16th century were neither boned nor tight-laced, as the fashionable silhouette seems to have been to flatten the bosom, but as soon as whalebone started to be used - !!
There was a time when everything was technically custom made for the individual. I've dressed very well constructed period garments that have one shoulder quite a bit higher than the other so they were fit to an irregular figure. Padding would have disguised asymmetry too.
DeleteI was thinking the same....asymmetrical corset for an asymmetrical body-->scoliosis---> perfect!!
DeleteI dunno in the 16th c., but nowadays if you have scoliosis you just cannot wear a corset if it's not custom made (it's quite painful)so you can pay for a 'tailored' corset if u have the money, or you just try to sew it yourself (so that it's not symmetrical but it looks symmetrical on one's body).