November 22, 2011

a corset that will never be worn 2



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.

16 comments:

  1. This is really interesting. Beautiful, yet strange.

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  2. That corset would probably fit me...my left boob is miles bigger than my right!

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  3. It is stunning. The imperfection makes it strangely perfect.

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  4. Beautiful yet strange was what I was after after Anonymous.

    Ladywihemine, 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.

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  5. 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!

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  6. I love it! A commentary on the changing ideal form?

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  7. Your 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.

    Thanks 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.

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  8. 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.

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  9. What did you dye the cortil with?

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  10. Twinnings English Breakfast tea!

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  11. What are the measurements or proportions of this ghost client?

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  12. It'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,

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  13. It occurs to me to wonder . . . what did women with, say, severe scoliosis do, especially if they couldn't afford custom-made?
    There'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 - !!

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    1. 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.

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    2. I was thinking the same....asymmetrical corset for an asymmetrical body-->scoliosis---> perfect!!
      I 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).

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