How To Wear A Corset

Hi, I am a fashion stylist. I'm here in the heart of East London at the Pattern Market. This area is one of Britain's trendiest areas, there are a lot of fashion designers and people who are heavily industry related.

So let's go inside and I'll show you some things on how to dress. Corsets used to be a staple of women's undergarments at the turn of the century. Now, they are very popular items to wear as outerwear and especially for going out to parties and especially for kind of formal occasions.

I'm wearing a vintage one, Belvoir Sassin, which has a military inspired theme to it, but there are many different types of corsets, and this particular one completely nips me in at the waist, it's quite tight and gives a great cleavage. This particular one I show you is by Velda Lauder and it's what we call a waspy. At the back, it kind of nips at the waist, gives you a sort of waspish waist and you use the straps to pull tightly.

I've used that over a shirt because as you can see with the waspy, you are completely revealed on these particular parts. This is a great look if you're actually going out, you know, you can wear it to the office with a pencil skirt, a white shirt, etc., or a blouse and then you can add the waspy over to it.

Once you've tied the corset, always make sure that you tuck in the strings at the back. This obviously, being a mannequin, has no give but you'll be looking to kind of get a completely flat scene at the back like here. With this particular style, we have an added collar which is fantastic to be able to wear and accessorize a white shirt.

It fastens with a simple clip here, and you have a completely new outfit. We also have cuffs which you can get with it, too. Both are clipped on to the white shirt like this.

You have a completely different look all in one go on accessorizing a white shirt. So those are just a few suggestions on how to wear a corset.