2 New Corset designs

Thought I would update my blog about some corsets I have been working on. The first one is a Purple silk Corset that was a custom-made order from a man for his wife in Munich for Christmas. She also requested some chinese-style fabrics buttons that covered over the metal claps of the busk. (I believe the correct name for this style button is a Frog.)

The second corset I just finished today is a beautiful white silk and cotton mix fabric, with black satin channels and black cotton lace trim. I'm hoping to fix a photo shoot for this corset and some other designs for next week.

All Corsets are available to order from me. If you see something you like or would like something extra special made for your exact taste then please get in touch with me on my email address: gem@missmosscorsets.com

Happy New Year! I think this one will be a good one!

So I have a lot planned for the new year!! A lot of exciting ideas and new projects lined up!

First off, next week I will be selling my designs at Japan Festival Berlin. The event is being held at Urania on Saturday 15th - Sunday 16th January 2011. 10am-6pm both days! I am really looking forward to it because it will be the first big event I will be selling my designs at! So I am pretty busy at the moment, working on stuff for that!

In February I have been asked to make a pin up style Valentines day collection for an exhibition called SemiDomesticated where it will be an opportunity for me to show my designs and hopefully get some buyers interested. Each piece has to be made with something vintage or an up-cycled fabric, which is really interesting. I went shopping for fabrics in England a few weeks back. I was looking for some power mesh to start making a girdle, and the shop assistant pulled out some very vintage power mesh that she said was from around the 1950s which was fabulous! Exactly what I was looking for!

Anyway before I exhibit any work, plans are being made to do a huge photo-shoot with Berlin based Photographer Markus Esser. I have a few models already lined up but still searching for some more. I really need models that have larger bra cup sizes, like E onwards because I am making bras for ladies who have a fuller chest. I want to show the different shapes and sizes that I can work with!

The collection will also show a variety of new Corsets as well as new items of Lingerie for my Spring / Summer Collection 2011!

Also have plans in February to start teaching a new Costume Course at Linkle Stitch 'N' Bitch sewing cafe. I plan to teach students how to make a female Costume from 4 different century's, starting from the 1600's. I had a lot of experience working on these kinds of costumes from this period when I was working in Italy! The next course will look into making a costume from around 1770, something you would imagine Marie Antoinette to of worn. Then a costume from the Victorian period to a very simple "Flapper" dress from the 1920s. However I am still researching all the details before I set a date! I will be back soon with more information!

Opened my online shop!

I recently opened my new online shop where I will be selling my Corsets, dresses, jewellery and fascinators!

http://en.dawanda.com/shop/MissMoss

I also did a new photo shoot with gorgeous model and photographer of Ayrias Arts and here are the results:

New Burlesque party tonight!

Tonight I am going to check out a new Burlesque party in Berlin! It looks like it will be fun with some really stunning performers! Its called Salon Kokett and its being held a CCCP Club!


The line up will be: 
La Veuve Noire, Marlene Von Steenvag and DJane Tiga Lily playing music from Swing to Electronica.


I'm really looking forward to it and hoping it will be as fabulous as Boheme Sauvage which is a 1920's party that I went to recently and it was like stepping into a time machine! The people really dressed up for this occasion! The music, bands, performers and venue were fantastic!



I am sponsoring another burlesque party that will be held in Hamburg and Berlin called La Fete Fatale. There are prizes for the best dressed and the theme is Candyland of sweet temptation. With another variety of performers! It will be on 8th October in Hamburg and 15th October in Berlin! I can't wait!

Latest photo shoot..

I did a photo shoot recently of a few corsets and some dresses that I have been making for my website. The photography was by Steve Braun, Model: Lydia Venthur, feather fascinator by Jeonga Choi and Costume and styling done by moi!

Recreating the past

Years ago when my Corset obsession was beginning to really take off I went to the Victoria and Albert museum in London and I saw a beautiful fuchsia pink Corset with a black lace trim and a pink ribbon finishing. On a more recent visit to the V&A museum I unfortunately did not see the corset as the exhibitions change frequently but I re-looked it up in a book I bought from the Museum and I found it again. I decided to recreate this corset but with my own modern flair!

Above is the image of the Corset that is part of the fascinating historical costume collection at the V&A. Its dated from about 1885-1895. It is French and the shape is classic for the end of the 19th century. The steel busk which fasten the corset at the centre front came into popular use around the 1850's making it much easier for the wearer to get herself into her own corset without as much assistance of others, but help was still needed.

Before the 1880s white cotton or linen were used for "respectable women". The corsets of this period didn't have much decoration to them as they were used as a tool to mould the female body to the desired ideal at the time. Bolder colours were used by prostitutes and women of "looser morals" However after the 1880s, thanks to the industrial revolution the corset trade really began to change and develop and more materials were starting to become available and a larger range of fabrics such as coloured silks, satin or silk broche so the colour of the Corset above was typical towards the end of the century with lots of decoration and elegant laces.

With this elegant historical design as my inspiration and after researching fabrics I found some beautifully bright fuchsia pink silk from a my local little fabric shop in Italy, I had some black lace sent from England and I started working on my own design. However the lining I made from black and white polka dot fabric, just to add a more modern feel to the design! I organised a photo shoot with the photographer Steve Braun and the fabulous model Lydia. It was Lydia's first time at modelling but she was a complete natural and the photos turned out really nice! Although Lydia does not have a super tiny waist of the women from the Victorian era, I am still happy with the results of a modern day corset for a modern woman. We do not need to lace up super tight like the corsets of the past. The women we see in the old images who have super tiny waists are showing off their social status and their husbands wealth and role in society. The smaller the woman's waist showed that she simply could not do much and this helped the image men saw women as the "weaker sex". It was not up until the end of the first world war in 1918 that women were really showing they had a voice, they had proven they could take over the men's jobs in the factories to help with the war effort and to be seen as equals.

I am glad that today we have a right to choose what we wear and if we want to wear a corset or not. I think, even now, it is still seen as a sexual symbol and I think it will always stay that way but it is our choice to show ourselves in whatever way we please, tight laced or not and not just to satisfy the taste of a possible future husband!

Berlin, fashion, magazine articles & new corset course!!

Finally I have moved back to Berlin after living in Italy for almost a year! The experience of Bella Italia was wonderful and managed to travel quite a lot around the country and soak in as much of the art, architecture and culture as possible. I have to say that the Fashion, especially in Rome was a lot different to the fashion in Berlin (as I am sure everyone is aware of!) Everything here is so much more relaxed,  with people's attitudes and the way they want to represent themselves by their clothes and hair styles. In Italy I found at times people would stop with mouths wide open, staring and pointing at me because of my pink hair and way I dress but in Berlin I am just one among the many individuals who come to Berlin to get involved in this thriving city! I have to say...I am happy to be home!

Above is a photograph of the 5 dresses that I made for Atelier Pietro Longhi...they took me a long time to complete as there were a lot of small details and I had to work on 5 all in one go, but I finished them!  I am only just seeing the image for the first time now and it is from a performance at a masked ball in Venice last February.

I recently had an article written about my work in a Berlin magazine called Exberliner by journalist Jessica Saltz, which I was very happy with! It is the first article written about my label Miss Moss.

"Gemma's bright pink hair suggests modern sartorial influences, but her devotion to corsetry was born from a love of historical fashion, from Marie Antoinette to the Victorian corset to Christians Dior's "New Look" in the 1950's..."
"Her passion for the craft recently led her to Italy. Where she worked on historical costumes for Venice's Atelier Pietro Longhi for four months. The corsets that Gemma creates are not meant to be worn under anything but are timeless, beautifully constructed pieces that will last forever. So why not make your own?"

I have been doing some more research on Vivienne Westwood as I visited London a few months ago and ventured into a regular haunt for me when I am in "The old smoke"...The Victoria and Albert museum. What I love about Vivienne Westwood's work is that she is so inspired by historical costume and tailoring but she came up with a completely new fashion "Punk" which paved the way for her fantastic career in fashion! To come up with an new fabulous, unique idea is hard but I believe if you have the right creativeness in your spirt you can be your own pioneer!

She was also the first to bring to corset as "outer wear". Usually when we think of the corset in the 80's or 90's Jean Paul Gautier's corset for Madonna's Blonde Ambition tour springs to mind but it was actually Viv who revived this restrictive piece from the bottom of the dusty corners in your Grandmothers wardrobe and gave it a new life.

I have a new corset course planned for Saturday 14th August and will last for 6 saturdays, 10am-1pm each session...but unfortunately I think this will be the last one for a while. Now I want to focus on building up my label and try and find more work working within costume design for theatre, television and film. However I am sure I will run another one at some point but I now have other projects I am working on that I am hoping will take off very soon!

Also have a photo shoot booked for this weekend so I can finally get my catalogue of work up online! I will keep my blog updated!!