Bordelle and The Ribbon Corset
By Layla L’Obatti
I remember one of the most thrilling moments I had as a student at FIT was when we got to visit the museum and view selected pieces from their archives. If we were lucky we’d get to put on white gloves and handle the garments, and to a designer that ability to turn something inside and out and understand its construction is as priceless as the historical value of many of those pieces. A crowning achievement in my skills as a patternmaker, designer, and seamstress came during my corsetry elective – where I not only got to view and touch but spec a 18th century corset for a historical recreation.
So I was very much in awe when several years ago I saw the first images of Bordelle, and my mind immediately thought of its vintage source – the ribbon corset. Corsets are usually quite intricate patterns and multiple pieces and layers, but the ribbon corset is a simplified concept where several ribbons in a simple series of measurements is sewn to a busque to create the same effect. It allowed women of the period to make their own corsets without patternmaking skills. Off the body it looks a bit of a mess, but it is on the form that you see those measurements reshape the body, and clearly Bordelle had the lightbulb genius to apply this concept to elastic.
The even richer design challenge to a Bordelle’s piece is clearly the fit, and here they have an edge on the 18th century because of a modern invention of “stretch”. Whether its lycra or rubber or engineered knits; this changed clothing and intimates design forever. Their garments benefit from the stretch of elastic and a clever series of adjusters, in order to fit the body in a modern way, as opposed to the cinch of traditional corset. This style’s twists and turns, adapted from the concept of the ribbon corset, have brought its design origins forward into the modern woman’s world. The average customer may not realize upon seeing these intricate works of art how far back their source lies, but that is the true genius of design, the ability to pull what was an antique into modernity.
