A Sparkle of Legacy: My Journey with Velda Lauder

In the previous blog post, I mentioned making a corset using the midnight blue glitter fabric that I inherited from the late, great corsetiere Velda Lauder. So it seems appropriate to expand a bit more on my connection to Velda and why I'm so passionate about making corsets.

I met Velda Lauder in February 1994 when I was the "plus one" of a friend of hers at her 30th birthday party in South London. Within a few weeks, I was firmly under Velda's wing - helping out part-time in her shop, Pagan Metal, on Brewer Street in Soho, and modelling her designs at clubs like Torture Garden, and Club Fantastic, which Velda ran with her partner, Claude. Modelling Velda's designs was great fun - I got to hang out with fabulous and glamorous people on the London club scene and I didn't have to think about what to wear! But, when it came to working in the shop, it soon became evident that I wasn't best suited to sales, and Velda pulled me into the workshop and started training me to be her production assistant.

I worked alongside Velda for about 3 years. It's how I met Elaine, Velda's machinist, who also became chief machinist for my own brand a few years later. I'd cut and finish the corsets, jackets, and accessories and Elaine would stitch them, all under the watchful eye of Velda. Working behind-the-scenes, and with my hands, was definitely my happy place. I still modelled for Velda, but now that I was involved in making the outfits that everyone wore, I had more of an understanding as to what went into the shows. I was so in awe of how Velda lived, ate and breathed her creativity and ambition.

I remember when Velda was using the glitter fabric quite vividly because it led to me having to go under the knife... and with no general anaesthetic! Having spent the day at Velda's cutting glitter panels for the corsets and accessories she had in her collection at the time, I'd often get home to find small pieces of glitter covering my face. Some of these inevitably got into my eyes and, over time, I developed small lumps on each eyelid which needed to be removed! This wasn't the last time that I ended up having surgery to extract something related to creativity from my body, but that's a story for another time…

Working with, and modelling for, Velda was a huge privilege - I honestly don't know that I'd have ended up finding my passion for making without her. We shared the machinist talents of Elaine, often negotiating where she'd work when either of us needed to switch the regular days when Elaine would normally work with us. When we were both trading at Erotica, I'd often send my customers to Velda's stand if they needed a corset to go with their pinstripe skirt, and Velda would send customers to me, too. In February 2013, Velda came to visit me at the London Fetish Fair to discuss an outfit for her partner, which felt like a true honour for me. Sadly, and very unexpectedly, however, Velda died the following month, a couple of weeks after her 49th birthday. I went to her birthday party and she was so full of life, energy and positivity about the future. Her sudden death hit a lot of people hard. 

I wore one of Velda's Warrior corsets, along with some of my own designs, to her interment ceremony in Highgate. A few people asked if I'd started making corsets. Given that I could no longer send my customers to Velda anymore, and given that I was now Elaine's only source of work, it seemed very appropriate to start to add them to the Jed Phoenix of London range.

Fast forward 13 years and I'm now about to make the third glitter corset from a limited edition of 25. (I say “I” because, after 17 years of loyal service as my machinist, Elaine was diagnosed with cancer, and after a few years of treatment, died in 2021. I can imagine what Elaine would say about me making glitter corsets, though, and that always makes me chuckle). 

Making corsets is a joy for many reasons - they feel like a comforting hug when they are worn, and they remind me so much of both Velda and Elaine, without whom, my business probably wouldn't exist. To me, they are a meditation on beauty and connection. The ones made from the glitter fabric that I inherited from Velda Lauder just add a little extra sparkle…