Hitchcock Heroine

 Suit: The Pumping Station Antiques Centre, Shoes: Clarks, Brooch: Art Deco, Bag: Car boot sale, Corset: Corset Story, Blouse: Peacock's, Hat: Llandaff Antique's Fair, Gloves: inherited from my Grandmother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm very excited to share this photoshoot with you, I'm really pleased with the results!  I am a huge fan of Hitchcock films, and an even bigger fan of the fashions that the leading ladies sported.  In more than one film, the heroine wore a grey suit.  This became fixed into my imagination!  The only thing we were missing on this shoot were the gulls!!  Usually there are a lot of birds around the pier, which would have been very Hitchock-esque, but alas, they were absent for our photos.  I was delighted to pick up a second hand grey suit in a local antiques centre, but there was something lacking, it didn't quite have that Dior 'New Look' silhouette.  What I was missing was a corset, and I was delighted to receive a corset from Corset Story for review. 

I am around a 28" waist and was initally sent the 'Viola', a waist-training jacquard corset (£55), in the 24" size.  If you're new to corsets, then you need to know that a corset will give you a potential waist-reduction of 2" to 4" generally, so you should order by the size that you hope to get to.  Unfortunately, the Viola Jacquard in that size was too small to be able to comfortably get the garment on, and I had to send it back.  As an alternative, I was sent the Viola in Brocade (£59), in a 26", and hurrah, it was a perfect fit!  The delivery was speedy on both occasions, and the customer service was good.  The only bit that could be a bit of a faff is that for returns you have to login to fill in an online form, and quote your return tracking number.

I should say that I already own a custom-made underbust corset by Kitty's Corsets, and I'm using that as my point of reference in this review.

The quality of the Viola corset is undeniable - perfectly well made, especially for the bargain price.  It's heavy - a good sign that there are enough layers of fabric, and steel boning to pull you in.  There are a few teeny-tiny issues - a busk that is misaligned by a matter of millimetres, lacing that doesn't pull through quite as well as it should (I needed help from the OH to get in and out!).  I also found that I couldn't get the level of waist reduction that I do on my existing corset.   I think this is because this corset is taller, covering more of my hip bones and rib cage, so that the reduction isn't concentrated on the squidgy waistline in between.  For that reason, for me, this isn't a heavy-duty waist-reducing corset.  I was very pleased with the look it gave me under my Hitchock Heroine suit though, and it felt fabulous to wear!

If you're purchasing a corset for the first time I'd urge you to try on a few styles in local shops if that's at all possible, before ordering, just so you can get an idea of what styles suit you, and what you're aiming to achieve.  I have to say though, that Corset Story have a massive range of styles, colours, fabrics and accessories, so they're well worth considering if you too are hankering after the feel of breathlessness and the inability to bend down to pick things up!  I really don't think their prices can be beaten for comparable quality.

It's another #PassionForFashion linkup today - please head to hostesses Rachel the Hat or Lena B to see what other lovely bloggers have posted today.

I'm also linking for the first time to #Stylesessions with the lovely Lauren from Style Elixir.  Her blog is about modern fashion, and I was impressed with how in her latest outfit post, she's chosen her workout gear!  Now we all love to show off our Sunday best, our amazing vintage finds, or that up-to-the-minute fashion buy, but workout gear is neglected by bloggers!  But I suspect we all have those kind of clothes (perhaps some of us don't wear them as often as we should).  I'm inspired to post a pic in my running gear for an outfit post at a future date.

Huge thanks to Corset Story for sending me the corset for review.  As always, views are my own!

I’d like to say thank you also to my Baby for putting up with another one of my hare-brained schemes and agreeing to come out and take photos of me while other people stared – your patience and devotion is wonderful!  We don’t have a fancy SLR, and it’s down to his eye for composition and use of lighting that we were able to get such good results on my cheap compact camera.