Mother Glasgow, Dear Green Place, No Mean City - all names evocative of the good and the bad
sides of a city that certainly has its flaws but is also a place of warmth (not
in temperature granted) and beauty. At
the heart of Glasgow’s story, good and bad, are some very strong women; campaigners,
philanthropists, rebels, workers and even accused murderesses. Aristocrat or
stairheid harridan, they’ve all left their mark. It’s to those women that this
project is dedicated, to those women and to the very bones and structure of the
city itself.
Image uploaded to wikicommons by Postdlf
Bones and structure bring me to the point of all this. I
make corsets, steel boned corsets that modify, exaggerate and support the body.
The most important element of a corset is strength, to do their job they must
be, in this case quite literally, Clyde Built*, yet they are also things of
beauty in form and often in embellishment and style. It was considering this
joining of beauty and strength that sowed the seed of this project. In addition
as this city is, like our other national drink, ‘made from girders**’ there
seemed obvious parallels with a garment supported by steel.
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As we pass through history fashions change considerably but
the one constant until modern times is an underpinning of some sort of
corsetry. As I read about some of the
notable women in Glasgow’s history it occurred to me that I could divide them
up by the changing styles of support, and that’s support that these women would
have worn. I do run into a hiccup in the latter 19th century, but
more on that later.
Now corsetry can be a bone (pardon the pun, there will be
many!) of contention with many feminists and as I’m no scholar I’m not getting
into an in depth study of that (although I’d be happy to see discussion thrive
in the comments) however stays and corsets were near universal garments. Outer
clothing differed substantially between upper and lower classes but the corset
was worn by everyone from the housemaid to the duchess.
The other structures of the city are its buildings, bridges
and the general cityscape. I’ll also be referencing them in my inspiration and
details. That structure is worth
celebrating and preserving.
So the plan is this; over the next few months to a year I’ll
be researching, designing and constructing corsets related to various points in
Glasgow’s history. As I go I’ll be blogging the process of their creation and
also the history, the elements of the city and above all the women. I’ll be
using the corset styles contemporary with the period as a basis but developed
through modern eyes. The intention here is not to create a string of
reproductions but fashionable modern corsets which celebrate the past. At the
end of the project I should have a collection of pieces that I then hope to
show. I really hope you’ll join me for the journey, offer me your input,
discuss the inspiration and help me over the hurdles I’m sure to
encounter.
