From Concept to Club: Designing a Torture Garden outfit
It might sound strange, but I often struggle to call myself a fashion designer. After all, I spend the majority of my time making things that I already know how to make and that tend to become classics in the JPoL range, so I feel more like a seamster than a designer. Coming up with a whole new collection every season has never been part of my strategy; rather new designs happen mainly because someone has suggested something that I'm very inspired to create. Or, in this case, my partner bought tickets to Torture Garden for my birthday and, because it was the first time in a decade that I'd been to TG, I didn't have anything suitable to wear.
The theme was Haunted Hospital, and my partner was going to wear a snake dress by Carapace. So the inspiration that I started from was that of a green cross, like you find outside a pharmacy. I worked with Fred, who I talked about in my previous blog post, to create a modular outfit based around a corset and a neck corset.
I already had some black mesh, which we used on the sides of the corset and the neck corset, and I bought a side of green garment leather from my usual supplier. It was then a case of buying some green webbing and thread and figuring out how to put all the components together into a cohesive, striking, and functional outfit - the fun and challenging part!
With the last of the Torture Garden's Halloween club nights as our ultimate deadline, and having to fit design and making time around both Fred's availability and my order production commitments, we didn't have time to make a sample outfit. The first incarnation of this new outfit had to be right... or right enough... to be worn for a few hours at a major fetish event. Thank goodness for over two decades of design and sewing experience then!
Using a corset and a neck corset as a base for the outfit gave us a head start. I've been making both pieces for a few years now, so I know their construction quirks. They were relatively easy to think through and adapt for the new design elements. Fred and I then moved on to the front and back skirt panels that could either attach to the corset or be worn separately. Thinking of the practicalities of wearing the outfit to a nightclub meant that we also needed a couple of pockets. So we made a slightly adapted version of the black leather utility pouch to add to each side of the panel skirt.
The most difficult part of the outfit was the bra top. I've never made one before, so I had to do some research and buy a base pattern. I transferred the pattern to some Swedish tracing paper and made just the left hand side by sticking the paper together. I could then see the basic shape and what tweaks I needed to make to it, before drafting the new pattern onto my more hard-wearing pattern paper and cutting out the soft cotton drill lining fabric. I stitched this lining fabric together and checked the shape and fit one more time before cutting and sewing the green leather.
The whole outfit came together really well and attracted a lot of compliments at Torture Garden. Over the following few weeks, I worked on a very special version of the corset - a Christmas present for my partner made using some midnight blue glitter fabric that I inherited from the late, great corsetiere Velda Lauder. My partner's reaction was one of pure delight (a feeling I felt when I was making the corset!), so I took photos of the glitter and mesh corset to see what reaction it would get on my socials. I now have a list of people wanting one! The glitter and mesh corset will be a limited edition, with just 25 being made. Let me know if you want to be added to the list.
