Performance Costume Corset

In the first term of our HNC we were given a project to design a 16th - 17th century corset as a performance costume piece. We were given the Commedia D'ell Arte as a theme and asked to research this along with historic corsets.

I looked into the costumes, characters and the principles behind this theatrical art movement. Although you might not realise it you will probably have heard of many of the characters from the Commedia D'ell Arte. I remember a story I used to be told when I was small about Harlequin and Columbine which included the character of Scaramouch.  



http://www.swide.com/binaries/content/gallery/swide2/article-inside/2013/02/09/italian-folk-traditions-of-carnival-with-masks-and-the-commedia-dell-arte-italian-comedy/italian-masks-from-commedia-dell-arte.jpg

 I did find it a litte difficult at first to come up with corset designs which were obvious and uninteresting (well in my mind anyways) But I got a bit of a break when I discovered that the video for "It's a Hard Life" by Queen took its influence from the Commedia D'ell Arte.


http://www.brianmay.com/queen/queennews/queennewssep11.html

 So this is my finished corset, this design was actually hashed out in about 30 seconds, and honestly didn't think it would be the one that would get picked. But I am really happy with the way it turned out.