Florian Meacci’s Illustrations Sizzle in Immoral Views

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There’s been a lot on the blog lately about the new Swetmeats Press anthology, Immoral Views, partly because I have a story in it, but partly because it’s just fabulous. And it’s unique in that, like all Sweetmeats Press publications, it is gorgeously and sexily illustrated. I’m lucky enough to have the fabulous illustrator who did the illustrations for Immoral Views, with me today. Please welcome, the amazing Florian Meacci.

KD: I’ve been looking at your website, Florian and in the ‘about’ section, it simply says, ‘Florian Meacci is a French freelance illustrator based in London.’ I suppose that’s the difference between a ‘word smith’ and an artist/illustrator. If your art speaks of who you are, then I can only say that you are a man of many facets. What do you want your art to say about you? Or do you consider yourself just a conduit for what you’re commissioned to create?

FM: I think my art speaks for itself. It’s me, it’s what I like, what’s in my head. And even if it’s a commission you can find something of me in it. To be honest this part on my blog is something I forgot to complete. Most of the time people are just interested in the art. They don’t read. But maybe I’m wrong, so I will do something more exiting about it.

KD: How did you end up scheming and planning with KoJo Black to do the illustrations for his wonderfully smutty anthology? Had you done anything like Immoral Views before?

FM: I found an ad on the university of art website a couple of months ago where Kojo Black was looking for an illustrator for erotic illustrations. I saw the ad, and I said, ‘oh my God, I need to do this job.’ I’ve never done anything like this before but I love to do unusual stuff. And I said I HAVE to do that. I sent him my portfolio, but he’d already picked someone to do the job. But he asked me if I wanted to do three illustrations for his website, and I said yes. He was so happy with it, he asked me to work on Immoral Views. I was so happy.

KD: I have to admit, I’m quite prejudiced, and I love the illustrations you did for my story, Allotted Views, but were there any particular illustrations you enjoyed more than others?

FM: Allotted Views was the first story I worked on. It’s always hard to start a project. You feel more comfortable with it after a few illustrations. It was a challenge to do the image where you see the girl at the window, but I think it’s one of my favourite images I’ve done for the book. I love Painted pussy; especially the second image with the two girls. I found the position really sexy.

KD: Were there any unexpected surprises along the way in illustrating Immoral Views?

FM: The first thing I had to do was to translate the brief into French to make sure I understood everything. That was the least fun part. The drawing part was great. Some pictures I thought would be difficult to realise (angle of camera shot, etc.) but in the end it was easier to do, and I was really happy with what I had done. Some stories required me to go on really strange websites to find reference but I love challenges. But the thing which surprised me the most was to discover all the authors were women.

KD: What is the most exciting project you’ve ever illustrated?

FM: It’s the project I’ve just finish. I can’t really speak about it but it’s a visual for a t-shirt company. It’s the most complex illustration I’ve done, drawn with biro. It took me one month to do, working on it non-stop. I Can’t wait to see that out!

KD: Is there a project you’d love to do, sort of your ideal project, if you will, if you could choose?

FM: I would love to work for a fashion magazine. It’s the aim of 2012!

KD: What is Florian Meacci up to now? And what does 2012 hold in store?

FM: I’m currently working on a poster for an event in four cities in France for the third year. Like I said above, I’d really love to do an illustration for a fashion magazine. Fashion is something I love to draw and it would be amazing to see my work published in a magazine like WAD or Dazed and Confused.

Florian Meacci
Graphic Designer & Illustrator
florian.meacci@live.fr
http://florianmeacci.blogspot.com/

 

The Initiate: Hot New Read by Miranda Lake

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Blurb:

The Lady Hysena Macarydias, teenage daughter of the most noble house of Qalle, finds her illusion of how life will be as an Initiate at the formidable Citadel utterly shattered.

The excesses of Father Tarrip, High Priest of the Holy Prophet , would be beyond the endurance of the terrified girls in his charge were it not for the efforts of Sister Maria, who as an Adept of the secretive and forbidden Society of T’arn, is able to control him – but only to a degree.

But Maria has concerns beyond the fate of the pampered young ladies of Qalle aristocracy; the delicately balanced peace between the warring nations is under threat, and the very future of the planet may be in her hands.

The struggle for control of Qalle is a secret one, known to only a few. Caught between the opposing factions are the innocent Initiates: Hysena, the beautiful, intelligent yet naive Lady; Jagdig, the formidable warrior girl of Kallinia; plump Princess Leel of Calith; tiny, demure Silka of Sis Narash and the others.

And, somewhere within the sprawling walls and forbidding towers of the ancient Citadel, are the Acolytes, male counterparts to the Initiates, who in the timeless manner of young men everywhere will undertake any risk if it may result in the chance to meet young women, even if that risk may result in disaster…

The world of Qalle is a world of cruelty, of pain, of punishment. A world of plot, counter-plot and intrigue, but which still allows time enough for love, tenderness and yearning desire.

First published some years ago, The Initiate by Miranda Lake is now available in downloadable form for the first time – one of the most erotic novels to be published this century.

Buy links:

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theinitiate-600031-144.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005LPVL9I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=lucyfelthouse-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B005LPVL9I

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005LPVL9I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=lucyfelt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005LPVL9I

Excerpt:

Xarrith was right, he reflected. Risk did make the blood sing, but what risk! He did not know what punishment would follow discovery on such an adventure, but had not been joking when he suggested to Xarrith that he feared for their very survival. His researches into the Citadel had offered hints of people entering the forbidding walls never to be seen or heard of again. Was a few hours of ecstasy worth possible death? As he watched the taller of the two naked girls, now lying on her back with her legs held high and wide by the one with the magnificent breasts and the holy sister bringing the tokan down directly on her spread vagina, he almost thought that it was.

 

As she plied the tokan between the open legs of Nephraan and heard her shrill scream as the whippy leather bit into her swollen labia, Sister Colya was wondering whether to order one (or both!) of the Initiates to lick her soaking cunt. With a grimace, she decided against this, knowing from experience that, while all of them would do this delightful service for each other, they hated to do it for their sister elder. Or at least this sister elder. She suspected that they showed no such reticence with Maria and felt a bitter pang of envy at the thought, bringing the tokan down with all her strength in her frustration.

Nephraan screamed even louder as the cruel device once again bit into her exposed sex.

The sound of the scream came clearly through the wall to the ears of the fascinated Tasnar. Unlike Xarrith who had seen punishments carried out on his people at home, in Sis Narash the though of treating another person in such a barbaric manner was anathema. He found the sight deeply shocking but even more exciting. Once again he applied his eye to the small hole in the ancient wall.

Gaie Sebold Talks Swords and Sex and the Story Behind Babylon Steel

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I’m very excited to have Gaie Sebold on SBTS today, and I’m especially excited because I got to read her fabulous  new novel, Babylon Steel, in its infancy when it was work-shopped in the well-known London genre writing group, the T Party. It was amazing then. It’s stunning now. Definitely one for the ‘must read’ list. Welcome Gaie!

It’s difficult to say where exactly the story of Babylon Steel started, except that years ago, and two novels back, I had a vague idea about a brothel that existed in a place that got a lot of very odd travellers passing through. I had some idea that it would be a sort of noirish comedy with the clients based on certain recognisable fantasy heroes; though with their names changed to protect the not-very-innocent. If I remember rightly, it started with the madam describing the house rules, which included such things as ‘No-one gets turned into anything without prior arrangement,’ and ‘Any payment that turns into leaves the next day will result in bits being broken off. Yes, those bits.’

This went into the ‘ideas I might do something with one day’ file, and is one of the very few things ever to come back out. There was already a trace of Babylon’s voice in the voice of the madam, but several more things had to happen before I could actually write the book.

I had to write a lot more first; and become more confident in what I was doing. Producing a novel that was good enough to get me an agent, although that one still hasn’t been picked up by a publisher, was a great help in boosting my confidence. But equally importantly, I had to develop my own ideas and emotions around sexuality. I was brought up in a fairly straightlaced household; my parents were very much of their era. Now, since they were both born in the 19-teens (I was a late baby) that era was about five minutes past Edwardian. They were good people, but it took me many, many years and some interesting and enjoyable experiences to shake off their ideas about sex and develop my own. Which, needless to say, ended up rather different. I moved from thinking of sex as something scary, and shameful, and done by women only under duress or in return for some form of social acceptance, into thinking of it as something that should be healthy, and celebrated, and done by women because they like it and they damn well want to.

Along the way, I took longsword lessons. I never got very good at it, but I did learn quite a lot about the realities of fighting with blades from people who knew a great deal more than I did, and it helped to give me some of the real physical feel of fighting. I also got into live action role play (for those who don’t know, LARPing is basically dressing up as fantasy characters and running around in a wood hitting people with latex weapons. Or shouting spells at them if you’re playing a wizard). It’s immense fun, and even though, of course, it’s nothing like being in a real battle (the point is not to actually injure people, which is why the weapons are latex) it can be amazingly emotionally intense. I’ve been in tears; not just when a friend’s character ‘dies’ but when somebody does something noble and self-sacrificing. That probably sounds unhealthy! But it’s powerful. You can get a sense of emotional intensity, of clear right and wrong, which can be hard to come by in our often mundane and muddled lives. Also, of course, you get to hit people with stuff, indulge in the filthiest double-entendres in the history of language, and laugh yourself sick. At least you do with the bunch I play with.

All of these experiences contributed to the character and voice of Babylon. Then I read about the Sumerian goddess of sexuality, Inanna. I’d heard of sacred prostitution, and legends of temples where the women had to give up their virginity to strangers in the name of the goddess, but I didn’t know much more. The fact that Inanna was also a goddess of war helped push the vague ideas I had into shape, and the book began to coalesce. Of course, it went through a lot of changes. At one point I thought of basing the plot around Inanna’s descent to the underworld, one of the few written legends of Inanna that survives, but that got abandoned, as I was having too much fun with my own ideas. There are a few shadows of it that remain in Babylon Steel but you’d have to know where to look, I think.

And that, as best I remember, is it. Of course there was, undoubtedly, a lot of subconscious stuff that fed in from years of reading, and watching films, and being around people. And a lot of boring stuff where I wrote several scenes, hated them, kept one character and three paragraphs and trashed the rest, and so on and so forth. And the odd stuff that happens when characters you thought were minor turn out not to be, and characters you thought were the bad guys are, at most, morally ambiguous. But that is not so much about the genesis of a story as its maturing. Not sex, but pregnancy. And that’s a whole other subject.

Excerpt:

We girls, sprawled on cushions in a silk-hung room. Shakanti seated in the corner, impatient. And our new trainer, a graceful and soft-voiced woman in linen the clean blue of a spring sky. She had assistants with her, two young men, two young women, in loose white robes.

“My name is Livaia,” she told us. “I am here to teach you how to give pleasure, and how to receive it. It is something that almost anyone can learn to do with some degree of craft, and that is well enough. However, it is the subtleties which transform craft into art. Subtlety, the capacity to take that extra care, is the mark of the true artist.”

She beckoned forward one of the young men. He was very handsome, with the sculpted body of an athlete and a gentle smile.

“First,” Livaia said, “is anyone here still virgin? Come, there’s no need to be ashamed.”

I happened to glance at Shakanti, who was glaring, and looked away fast.

Renavir’s hand went up, spearing the air. She, too, glanced at Shakanti – seeking approval, poor child. Then, after a moment, Velance’s hand went up, too. Neither of them surprised me.

“Then we shall start with the basics.” She gestured the young man to take off his robe. There were gasps and giggles – most of us had, of course, at least seen a cock before, but not in such circumstances. “Now,” she said, “I will show you how things work, and then, we shall move on to making them work better. Jalis here is in no need of encouragement, as you can see. I think being in the presence of so many pretty young ladies has had an effect on him. But sometimes encouragement is required.”

She took him in hand, so to speak, and so our first lesson in the heart of the seductive arts began.

Growing up as I had, crammed in among the other servants, and later out with the caravans, I’d had neither the time nor the inclination to be especially modest, though with Sesh and Kyrl watching over me like a pair of mother hawks, I’d remained virgin until Hap-Canae. I enjoyed the lessons. When it moved from demonstration by Livaia to the point when we had to take part, I was more than ready. Watching people seduce each other did nothing to damp my own fires, and when it was my turn to sink into the cushions with Jalis, Livaia had to coach me not to take things too quickly.

Jalis. My second lover. Gentle, adept – not, perhaps, overburdened with brains but exquisitely good at what he did. My own responses surprised me: I had thought things with Hap-Canae were marvellous, and was surprised to discover that they could be much more so.

I began to realise that Hap-Canae’s bedroom techniques lacked a certain something. I tried not to think about it. Of course, I wouldn’t dream of telling him, or suggesting that he pay a little attention to my own pleasure as well as his. After all I was, still, so grateful.

Where to find Gaie Sebold:

Gaie’s website: http://www.gaiesebold.com

Twitter: @Babylon_ Steel and @GaieSebold

Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10999941-babylon-steel

Where to buy Babylon Steel:

Two Helpings of Nasty Readings with a Side of Spanking, Please

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Kay Jaybee enthralls her audience

What’s better than going to London for one exciting reading event at Sh!? Going to London for TWO exciting reading events at Sh! And even better still, going to London for two exciting reading events at Sh! AND a spanking class.

I’ve been looking forward to this big event for weeks now. The first event was at Sh! Hoxton. There’s no way I was going to miss the launch party for Kay Jaybee’s fantastic novella, Not Her Type, from Oysters and Chocolate press. I’ve read it and reviewed it and loved it. But it’s another thing entirely to

Kay Jaybee practicing her technique

watch the lovely booted, bespectacled, Lady in Red sit right in front of you and read all manner of nastiness to a packed house. If anyone can keep an audience squirming in their seats, Kay Jaybee can. And for those who wanted to squirm even more, there was a good spanking to be had. And I can tell you from first-hand experience, Kay Jaybee gives a mean spanking.

Janine Ashbless, Kay Jaybee, KD Grace, Rebecca BondThe Pet Shop, book of the month at Sh! Hoxton!

Having experienced one of Sh!’s yummy spanking classes before, I had some idea what the audience was up for, not the least of which was fondling the lovely handmade spankers and floggers and crops and cat-o-nine-tails and … Breathe, KD, breathe!

Kay Jaybe read, and Sh!’s fabulous manager, Renee, spanked and gave instructions on technique and implements. And I enjoyed the fabulous company of such delicious smutters as Janine Ashbless, escorted by the charming Mr Ashbless, Rebecca Bond, Lexie Bay, escorted by Mr. Bay and an international crowd from Italy, the UK, Sweden, Kazakhstan, and the States. Sexy stories and spanking — loved the world over.

The Pet Shop is the book of the month at Sh! Hoxton!

The evening ended at the local Moroccan restaurant talking writing and sex and eating couscous chicken. There was a quick drink at the hotel bar, then off to bed to rest up for day two.

Day two began with breakfast amid the tourists all bundled up for a day of sightseeing in London. And since we had nothing to do before the Immoral Views reading at Sh! Portobello that night, Kay Jaybe, Raymond and I all descended on the National Gallery. Sadly we weren’t able to get tickets for the Da Vinci exhibit, but still a day at the National Gallery is always well worth the effort. A visit

KD Grace and Kay Jaybee at Piccadilly Circus

can’t end without me standing, mouth agape, totally in awe in front of Botticelli’s painting of Venus and Mars. Both moving and sexy, it’s one of my favourite paintings of all times. This painting is the perfect Renaissance version of ‘make love not war,’ and it’s the inspiration for one of the scenes in The Initiation of Ms Holly. I love mythology, don’t you?

Prowling the National makes for some serious hunger, so we had Chinese buffet in Soho before spending some time in the Tudor hall of the National Portrait Gallery, then back over to the hotel to have a quick kip and before we got ready for the night’s reading naughtiness.

Lexie Bay and me

You can’t have visited my site in the past few months without reading about the hot new Sweetmeats Press anthology, Immoral Views, which contains my story, Allotted Views. The anthology has a soft spot in my heart for several reasons. Firstly, there are only five authors in it, and I am in the company of four of my very favourite writerly folks, Kay Jaybee, Lucy Felthouse, Rebecca Bond, and Lexie Bay. It’s great to be between the covers with such exquisite company. Secondly it’s amazing to see one’s work illustrated. (Incidentally, I’m

It takes a lot of bubbly and a lot of cupcakes to power a hot Sh! reading event.

interviewing the fabulous illustrator of Immoral Views, Florian Meacci, on Sunday. You won’t want to miss it.) And finally, the stories are delicious, and so varied that they contain something for everyone.

The Immoral Views reading at Sh!Portobello was a gathering of authors and of the mastermind and editor, KoJo Black, who I had the pleasure of interviewing two weeks ago on my site. Sadly, Lucy Felthouse wasn’t able to join us, but we all agreed her work should be represented, so Kay Jaybee pretended to be Lucy Felthouse and read a very nasty bit from her story. When we weren’t reading, we were enjoying, along with the audience, pink bubbly and gorgeous cupcakes provided by KoJo.

The readings were hot, the audience was appreciative, and as always, the lovely Sh! Ladiez were the very bests hostesses.

At the end of the evening, it was back over to the Hoxton area for pizza and debriefing and lots of laughter. There were already murmurs about the next time. And I’ll be having details on that very soon.A double portion of Sh!, complete with readings and a spanking class and fabulous friends was another fantastic reminder of why I do what I do. We writers will always write. Not to would be like not breathing. But when such fantastic friends and so much fun happen to be the fringe benefits, well, I reckon I feel very lucky, indeed, that writing chose me.

 

The Fabulous Delores Deluxe Talks Burlesque

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KD: I’m very excited to have the fabulous Delores Deluxe on A Hopeful Romantic today. Delores is the best person I know to reveal to us a little of the delicious mystery that is burlesque.

Welcome Delores! I’m absolutely thrilled to have you as my guest. I have a confession to make; you’re one of my fantasy guestsJ I’m dying to know how did you get into burlesque, how did you get to be Mummy Kitten of the Kitten Club?

DD: I originally trained as an actor and was working as such for about 7 years. I was offered an audition to be part of a cabaret burlesque troupe that was about to be set up. I didn’t really know what burlesque was but I had a feeling I would like it!

I did the audition and was totally hooked – it offered so much of what I really enjoyed doing and obviously the opportunity to wear corsets for a living! I took a decision to turn down a much bigger theatre contract and do the pilot of the burlesque show which I ended up co-running with Kitten Blue and was named The Kitten Club.

Kitten Blue eventually moved to Vancouver with her Canadian Tomcat and I took over the business and show in London and haven’t looked back!

KD: I attended a burlesque teaser taught by one of your kittens, Tempest Rose, over at Sh! Women’s Emporium close to a year ago now, and one of the ideas that I found most striking, that made me want to learn more about burlesque, was the idea of women, not only in control of, but celebrating their femininity and their sexuality. What happens on stage at a burlesque performance seems so much different from what happens at a strip club. Could I ask you to address the differences and your views of those differences?

DD: Burlesque shows and strip clubs, as far as I’m concerned, have very little, if any, common ground.  Striptease is only a small element of what burlesque is but I think many people associate that with stripping and strippers.

Burlesque is an art form which is as wide and varied as any other, while there is an element of striptease,  there is also great emphasis on skill, storyline, costuming,  comedy, message and spectacle. The point of a burlesque act is not how much clothing is removed but rather to entertain, tittilate and even educate!

Strip clubs are traditionally for men. Burlesque clubs are frequented by everyone ; couples, groups, hen parties, celebrations and a large percentage of our audiences tend to be women.

The performers are all in control of their acts which they will have created themselves and are being specifically booked and paid for. Although burlesque is sexy, it is not designed to ‘arouse’ men, nor is it gratuitous or sleazy.

KD: Perhaps this is a good place to ask for Delores Deluxe’s definition of burlesque.

DD: Burlesque is a sexy, sassy and skilled theatrical performance.  Its roots are in variety and music

KD: I’ve only read sketchy histories of burlesque, which I’ve found totally fascinating, but I’m very interested to know what you see as the major differences between early burlesque and the recent revival of burlesque?

DD: There are many different types and styles of burlesque.  British burlesque (traditional burlesque), American burlesque (classic burlesque), neo burlesque – also  there is the Berlin cabaret and even Moulin Rouge. We are very lucky in London to have one of the most thriving scenes in the world at the moment.

Modern burlesque is amazing and unique in that we have so much history to look at and take inspiration from and you will see an astounding diversity of style at any one show, coupled with performers putting their own stamp and creating modern routines with contemporary music and style with ideas inspired by our burlesque ancestors.  Burlesque is very specific to the time it’s created. Traditionally, it would send up high art or make a political statement or commentary which you can definitely see on our scene.  I think the major difference would be the position of women in society now – many of our shows and venues are produced and run by women so it’s a very feminine strain of show business.

KD: What makes the Kitten Club brand of burlesque unique?

DD: The Kitten Club has a very ‘tongue in cheek’ style and the show is fairly quirky – I guess that comes from me and the type of act I find funny! We often describe ourselves as ‘Carry on Burlesque’ in style in that we really like to use parody, send things up and definitely don’t take ourselves too seriously!

KD: As well as performing at Madame JoJo’s and Volupte, you and the Kittens also offer burlesque courses through The House of Burlesque, and one of those course which I’d like to talk more about is a course to boost women’s body confidence. I don’t know many women who couldn’t use a bit of body confidence boosting. Could you share with us how that course came about?

DD: It came out of many things, firstly burlesque made me realise there is no one ideal. Having been an actor for years and often being made to feel like a freak of nature for not being a 5’4’’ size 8, chorus line blondie or just not being seen for certain jobs at all because I was the wrong size or shape. Finding burlesque was a massive confidence boost at the time and gave me the opportunity to challenge what pigeon hole people might put you in.

I found that many of the women who came to our shows would often approach us afterwards to tell us how much they enjoyed the show and seeing a variety of  women with different body shapes. They would often want to talk about themselves and their hang ups ,  ask us about costuming, corsets etc and ask for advice on how they could buy similar. I also found this in the burlesque classes I was teaching – women wanted something more so I set up a body confidence class, which challenges women to look at themselves differently and focus on positive body image.

KD: If you could give women one piece of advice that would help them boost their confidence about their bodies, what would it be?

DD: Ignore the media  – abandon celebrity magazines!

KD: I think that may be the best advice EVER, Delores! Thanks! That leads me to my next question. The gorgeous costumes aside, what has always struck me most about my limited encounters with burlesque is the unabashed, downright joyous celebration of feminine beauty. Is there something in the psychology of burlesque that just brings out the inner feminine?

DD: Burlesque is very elegant, sensuous and voluptuous. Curves are greatly revered and the syle of performance means that parts of our bodies we are conditioned to dislike are portrayed as sexy, beautiful and perfect.

KD: Burlesque has an amazing history, and is enjoying an exciting revival. Where do you see that revival leading?

DD: Long may it continue! Cabaret is fast becoming a number one night out. Time Out now has its own cabaret section with many people choosing a night out at a burlesque show rather than the theatre. There are so many clever shows on the scene with performers and producers really looking at new, exciting ways to interpret the style

I can only see it going from strength to strength with the wealth of talent and vibrance we have in the cabaret community.

KD: As the New Year begins, what does the future hold for Delores Deluxe and the Kitten Club?

DD: The Kittens are raring to go for 2012. The Kittens themselves, Vixen de Ville, Tempest Rose, Vicious Delicious and Tomcat, Christian Lee, are all also well established, successful solo performers on the scene as well as being part of the troupe. We will be continuing our residencies at Volupte and Madame Jojo’s and are looking at hopefully taking the show further afield later this year for a few one-off dates.

KD: Where can we see the Kitten Club perform?

DD: We work at Volupte – a fabulous dinner cabaret club just off Chancery Lane with an amazing cocktail bar and kitchen. We perform here twice a month – you can see full details of dates and book a delicious night out at www.volupte-lounge.com. We also perform at one of the oldest and most established cabaret clubs, Madame Jojo’s.  We perform here on the second Sunday of every month and details are on our own website www.thekittenclub.com.

Come and join us!

KD: At my request, Delores has added a special bonus to this post, an introduction to that most mysterious and intimidating of all garments, the one that awes and terrifies. Yep, that’s right, the corset.

Corsets for the faint hearted!

There are two main styles of corset – overbust and underbust. They do pretty
much what they say on the tin!
Over bust covers your boobs
Underbust sits just under your boobs (can be worn with a dress, bra etc on
top)

Corsets come in various lengths  – depending on your preference, you can
have a longline which will cover yout hips or a regular length that will sit
just on or above your hips (depending on your height, build and shape)

They are measured by your waist – always read the information from whichever
paricular corsetier you are buying from but as general rule, you would buy
one 4 – 5 inches smaller than your natural waist measurement.

The corset has a front fastening known as busks – these are little steel
clips and the back of the corset is laced with the loops in the middle.

To put a corset on, you loosen the laces at the back and fasten the clips at
the front (I find top clip, bottom clip then the middle ones the easiest
sequence, but again, up to the individual)
The corset is then tightened by pulling on the laces at the back to get the
desired hourglass shape!
You can buy a steel boned or soft boned corset. The soft boned ones will not
give the same shape and waist reduction as the steel ones but are more
comfortable to wear as the boning is made of a firm rubber rather than spun
steel rods.

With the current trend for burlesque, you can now buy corsets in many high
street stores, however most of these are not of very good quality. Never buy
a plastic boned corset unless you are only planning to wear it once  or
twice as the bones will bend out of shape very quickly and ruin the look of
the corset.

I recommend investing in a steel boned one. Wear it at home for a few hours
to get used to it and it will start to mould to your own shape. Never lend
it to anyone else!
Once you get used to them, they are real fun to wear, can totally transform
an outfit and will maximise your shape, regardless of your natural figure to
make you look super feminine and curvy!

KD: Thanks, Delores! It’s been an absolute pleasure having you on A Hopeful Romantic. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing you and the Kittens perform again soon!