Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

Charmaine Brown (right) of Albuquerque checks the fit of a corset for Barbara Grothus while doing a fitting in her office.

Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

Charmaine Brown ties a corset for Barbara Grothus while doing a fitting in her office.

More Local Business

• Mineral leases concern residents in eastern New Mexico
• PNM: Power Saver plan would reduce electricity use in peak demand cycle
• Air-bag waiver brings Tesla car plant one step closer to Albuquerque

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

The sewing machine hums rhythmically, the silky oriental fabric sliding between Charmaine Brown's fingers as she demonstrates her secret to making perfectly crafted corsets.

"It's like a religious experience," Brown said, her voice deepening with excitement.

It is a skill that Brown learned from reading and watching instructional videos about corsets, but it is a secret that she knows not every seamstress is privy to.

"I've been sewing my entire life," Brown, 44, said. "I didn't realize women didn't love to sew. I was amazed."

A blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked woman with a chic, Betty Boop haircut that curls around her youthful face, Brown is a lifelong artist who has turned her talents toward a passion for making corsets - and they're not the kind you're going to find at Fredrick's of Hollywood.

"The corset is like a 3-dimensional piece of art," Brown said. "It's like a cake. You make the cake and then you decorate it and that's kind of how the corset is for me. You make your corset and then you decorate it however the client wants it decorated. And it's fabulous."

Brown works out of a workshop in her home. The walls are decorated with beautiful oriental fans and glossy photos of corsets. A vintage leopard-print luggage set sits on a shelf overhead.

The 1992 University of New Mexico graduate with a degree in studio arts has achieved considerable recognition for her work.

Brown, who has used a wheelchair since a car accident at the age of 22, has focused much of her sculpture and installation art on disabled issues, earning her a grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

She first became interested in corseting when she found herself admiring the garments in a magazine. Then, she did what most people do these days when they have an interest - she did an Internet search. The inspiration grew from there.

Suited for everyone

Among Brown's clientele are burlesque dancers, cross dressers, belly dancers and of course, the princesses of the fashion world: brides.

Corsets can be worn for weddings, costumes, lingerie or club wear, but Brown said that as an artist, she enjoys the unique clientele that corsets tend to draw.

"They're just a little bit more adventurous and flamboyant," Brown said. "They're interesting."

Sophia Matthews is one of Brown's customers.

"I'm a belly dancer, and belly-dancing costumes are very expensive," said Matthews. "I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to get something very unique and very elaborate.

"I was able to tell her where a belly dancer should have beads on a garment and exactly what I needed."

Brown's custom touch went from finding the fabric that Matthews wanted to putting wide removable chiffon halter straps on the corset to ease Matthews' fear of being exposed while she performs. Brown also added removable embellishments to the corset so that Matthews can wear the garment for everyday occasions.

"Never has anybody made something this nice for me," Matthews said of her brown, turquoise and purple corset.

Brown is currently working with a bride to design a wedding corset that the bride calls "Oriental Goth."

"I think for brides, if you want that one special thing, this is it," Matthews said. "The men of Albuquerque need to open their eyes and listen up. If they haven't done something like this for their wives or girlfriends, then they need to. It's so special."

And not just for women, either.

Albuquerque corset-makers Ynhared and husband Daniel Erickson, both 45, have been operating their corset-making business, Xcentricities, for nearly 10 years. About 20 percent of their sales are to non-cross-dressing men.

Erickson said he is one of three men selling corsets in the United States and may be the only one of them who wears one on a regular basis.

"I wear a corset about three or four times a week because of a back injury and to make my formal clothing look better," said Erickson. "It immediately gives me credibility in that sales area because it proves to the client that I can help them decide what they want."

Ynhared and Erickson travel around the country to trunk shows and conventions. It is a routine carried over from their former career selling handmade medieval reproduction and fantasy jewelry.

"We like Albuquerque for raising children, but we are comfortable traveling," Ynhared said.

The couple has established clientele in cities across the United States, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Atlanta.

The intricacy of design

Brown said she gets her inspiration from admiring the work of other corset-makers as well as pin-up-girl-turned-fashion icon Dita Von Teese.

Besides a selection of beautiful imported fabrics that are buffered by layers of quality cotton lining, corsets are made with real steel boning and a tough cord or flat lacing that optimize a woman's curves.

Corset customers must decide how they want the corset to shape their bodies. They can decide whether they like the high cleavage that a corset traditionally produces or whether they would prefer the rounder result of a bust gore, which shapes breasts similar to the way a bra does.

"Tight lacers" are women who focus on shrinking their waists by wearing tightly laced heavy-duty corsets nearly all the time. This allows them to change the shape of their bodies primarily by changing the way the fat on their bodies is spread out.

"I have one woman who has 54- 28-56 (inch) measurements," Ynhared said.

However, the majority of clients are women of all sizes interested in wearing corsets as a fashion item for formal wear, costuming or even with blue jeans.

Wearing a properly fitted corset is like being held up by a comfortable shell that supports your back, creating good posture and promoting upper-respiratory breathing, corset wearers say.

The effect on a woman's silhouette can be breathtaking.

"Typically, depending on your comfort level, a corset is going to take two to three inches off the waist," Erickson said.

There are options such as a sweetheart top for more coverage, a drawstring for enhancing cleavage and detachable garters.

A stiff ribbon-like reinforcement called twill tape protects the waist of the corset from tearing. The back panels of a corset are usually about three to four inches apart when laced to account for breathability and weight fluctuation.

However, clients can choose how restrictive they would like their garment to be and have an option of either white steel boning for maximum push-up or flexible spiral steel boning, which can be beneficial for dancers.

Both types of boning create long-term wearability and support, whereas plastic boning found in cheaper corsets change shape with body heat and become uncomfortably kinked after just two to three wears.

There is also a choice between a zipper front or traditional busk closure, which consists of metal clasps that close the center front of a corset.

Corset-makers also help customers decide where they would like the fabric on dual-toned corsets placed. For example, a corset with dark fabric down the front or on the sides can create an illusion of thinness.

Brown can also personalize corsets with embellishments, handmade appliqu‚s and the customer's name or wedding date.

"She (Brown) is so serious about what she does and she just pours her heart and soul into it," Matthews said. "Now I understand why it's called couture."

Past and present appeal

Corsets developed in the late 19th century and saw a series of evolutions in their styles and the way they shaped the figure.

Women did not start to discard corsets until World War I when it became patriotic to give up the steel boning in corsets to support the war. This era saw the beginning of the Roaring 20s, and the phrases "loose woman" and "straight laced" - terms used to define whether a woman was corseted.

Corsets saw a comeback in the late '40s and early '50s for special-occasion formal wear. Then, in the '60s and '70s, they went out of style again as the women's rights movement gained momentum.

In the late 1980s, pop icons like Madonna made corsets popular again, both for sex appeal and empowerment for women.

"Corsets have really never gone away," Jones said. "They are thought of as Victorian, old dusty kind of relics but there's always been a particular kind of fascination with them. Many corsets today are built into formal dresses, especially in what you think of as dresses for the Oscars. It gives that beautiful silhouette in fashion."

Whether in Hollywood or the Duke City, corsets get noticed.

"The response that I get when I wear it is phenomenal," Matthews said. "Women go, `Oh my God, where did you get that!' "

And the men aren't oblivious of her corset either.

"One night I wore it out to dinner with my husband and I needed a chair so I walked over to a table to get one and there were these four young men sitting there and they were just speechless," Matthews said. "It was because of the corset. I can't explain it - it's just so feminine. It's like they were mesmerized by it.

"I thought it was hilarious," Matthews said. "I mean, I'm a 44-year-old woman with salt-and-pepper hair!"