Spotlight Trend: Beaded Corsets

 

Recently, in a post on The Lingerie Addict, Marianne Faulkner wrote:

“What I think is next for corset embellishment is beading. Not just occasional beaded accents but full-blown, crazy beading.”

I was excited to read this for several reasons. It’s pretty clear if you look at my gallery of past work that I absolutely adore beading and I definitely love to receive requests from my clients for beaded corsets, but it’s perhaps less widely known that I have a very strong background in couture-style beading. I’ve been beading for over 20 years and I worked for over a decade in the beading industry teaching courses and also repairing antique beaded garments and jewelry before establishing my own label, Wilde Hunt Corsetry, in 2007. And I still occasionally teach courses on Couture Beading and Embroidery at the Columbus College of Art and Design and also at my own studio, when time permits.

From the very beginning, intricate beadwork has always been an important part of the aesthetic of Wilde Hunt Corsetry. In fact, my very first collection included many detailed beaded elements utilizing vintage Swarovski Crystal, glass seed beads, and even genuine fresh water pearls. It was in 2009 with this initial mini-group of three pieces that I developed one of my signature design elements – Beaded Piping. Opulent techniques like this are the essence of what Wilde Hunt Corsetry is all about.

 

 

I particularly enjoy adding beadwork to bridal corsets as I did with the pieces below:

 

 

But my favorite beaded corset I have ever created would probably have to be the Semper Eadem Corset. This was my most ambitious corset to date featuring glass seed beads, metal threads, genuine beetle wings, and countless hours of beading and embroidery. You can read more about this work here.

 

I think that the opportunities for adding beadwork to a corset are endlessly inspiring. However, adding beadwork to garments is a very precise and exacting artform. As you can imagine, one can not simply tack beads to fabric haphazardly if you expect them to endure. There’s a whole art to properly beading fashion, and a lot of industry tricks involved. If your designer wants to use general purpose sewing thread, cotton, or even dental floss (yes, those are all examples I have heard of personally) – that is a huge red flag you have the wrong person for the job. I can not stress enough how important it is to choose a very experienced maker for this sort of garment. Fortunately, if you reading this – you are in the right place. And if you are looking for a unique and expertly crafted beaded corset I am currently accepting commissions for this type of work, send me an email to discuss the possibilities.