What is a good shop for cotton corsets for work?

March 6, 2008 9:42 PM

Where can a girl find a good cotton corset? Looking for a white one to wear under my work shirts without all the frills and junk.

I keep trying to look online for a relatively low cost cotton corset, preferably white, to wear under my work shirts. I would like one that is fairly long, reaching to the lower pelvic area, rather than cutting off at the stomach and leaving a nice little pouch. I am not picky about under or over bust. I don't mind shopping online, but if I could find a shop in MN, that would be even more spectacular! Any opinions on good shops?

posted by LittleNami to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (7 answers total)

H'm, I can't help with the inexpensive part, but there are some wonderful corsetry places out there. Here in the Bay area is the internationally renowned Dark Garden- they make gorgeous custom corsets that you'll see on stages (or at the Folsom Street fair) and sell two "ready to wear" corsets. Looks like the sweetheart victorian is most what you're looking for, with the pelvic coverage. I saw their fair at Folsom last year and they really do high quality work.

If you're looking for something cheaper, there are 1300 results on etsy for corsets, 1157 of which cost less than $150, which is on the cheap side for a decent corset (I think! Please correct me if I'm wrong, people who have more experience with corsets, but I think decent handmade ones cost around $300 at the bottom end)

Male friend with experience buying and wearing adds: If you really want a corset, rather than a merry widow such as you might buy at Victoria's Secret or some similar place with low prices and low quality to match, I think it is worth getting a quality one, and one made by professionals. You really get what you pay for with corsets. I like Dark Garden too, as well as Madame S in SF- both do mail order. If you can't find a local store, try to choose a mail order store that will do a muslin mock-up (that means you send them your measurements and they send you a trial corset in plain cloth so you can see if it fits). That way you can be assured that the corset that you buy will fit you perfectly, so you don't regret a dime of what you spent on it.
posted by arnicae at 10:25 PM on March 6, 2008

Dark Garden is in San Francisco rather than MN, but they're serious pros and artists who do top notch handiwork.
posted by nadise at 10:27 PM on March 6, 2008

You beat me to it, arnicae!
posted by nadise at 10:28 PM on March 6, 2008

lol- aren't they great? I met them at Folsom last year and they're nice, experienced, and so gorgeous that I hung around their booth for at least half an hour, just looking.

LN, here's a few that might work. Here's a cotton/silk blend for $145 on etsy, here's one more colorful than you wanted (though I bet they'd make it in plain cotton) for $135 from a seller with awesome feedback, this $150 underbust from the same seller looks like it might be perfect as far as the lower pelvic coverage if it were less colorful (but heck, how can you dislike the candy red fabric?) as does this and this at just $115. There are cheaper corsets on etsy, but none that look like the same quality. . .
posted by arnicae at 10:46 PM on March 6, 2008

Meschantes offers a custom made cotton training corset for $195 that's designed for daily wear. Not necessarily inexpensive, but they look to be very high quality and long-lasting, so the extra money spent should be well worth it in the long run. I've been wanting one of these for the longest time!
posted by platinum at 1:03 AM on March 7, 2008

Yosa at silks and velvets is an excellent seamstress who I have always found to be extremely easy to work with. Her corsets are mostly $250, extremely well constructed and she does custom work. If you talk to her about wanting a foundational, rather than over-my-dress-show corset, I'm sure she could work out something perfect for you.

Lots of places on the internet recommend period corsets, but I have no personal experience with their work.
posted by crush-onastick at 5:14 AM on March 7, 2008

Oh wow o_O ^^ Thank you so much everyone! The prices are actually around what I was hoping to spend, since I have seen many corsets that I would be willing to spend 200+ on easily. Meschantes and the user arnicae tagged on etsy seem to be the hopefuls at this point, I especially love the little training corset that Meschantes has ^^ Thank you so much!
posted by LittleNami at 8:43 PM on March 7, 2008