Overbusts

Sophia is the most popular of What Katie Did’s corsets, with a gently curved silhouette that’s neither too extreme-looking or constricting to put off corset newcomers; but with just the right amount of cinching to satisfy experienced wearers. Its curved cups ensure that A-E-cup breasts are pushed delicately upwards and together. Those who are considerably more endowed needn’t despair though, because decadent Dolly combines the same classic cut with slightly more room in the bust; perfect for those lucky ladies whose D+ cups runneth over.

These two have a naughty big sister, Laurie - an overbust style with real va-va-voom. It features the same shaped cups for perfect uplift, but with WKD’s signature gored hips, Laurie gives a fantastically well-defined waistline. It’s enough to make even Jessica Rabbit jealous!

The 18th Century-inspired Antoinette is the WKD’s newest overbust style. Its balconette bustline and innovative pointed sides mean that even the most well-upholstered needn’t fear an overspill of fulsome flesh – simply a ravishing pair of (well-supported!) heaving bosoms. With gored hips for a truly ravishing silhouette, it’s just like its antique counterpart, but considerably more comfortable.

Underbusts

Gina was the very first corset that What Katie Did designed, and it’s still a firm favourite amongst their customers. It gives a smooth and defined shape, but, like Sophia, not one that’s too extreme. The addition of the signature gores to this basic underbust created Mae. The beauty of the goring is that hips are not compressed, and waists can therefore be cinched down even further, for a very pronounced hourglass shape. Those with a large waist-hip ratio look particularly spectacular in the gored hip versions of What Katie Did’s corsets for this reason!

Wickedly tempting, Morticia is a slightly longer-line style based on the Mae shape, and the latest version to incorporate goring. The longer busk and lower hip-line ensure that shapely derrieres are shown off to their full advantage, while the waist is pulled in as tightly as desired. Morticia is so well cut and designed, that many customers find they can actually go down a size!

The newest underbust style, Baby, is a little 7” waist cincher designed to be worn under clothes. It’s directly inspired by Christian Dior’s post-war New Look fashions, and the boned waist-nippers that his models were tightly laced into to achieve that incredibly dramatic silhouette. Baby’s clever cut allows the waist to be substantially reduced, but its small size makes it incredibly comfortable.

As always – more info on whatkatiedid.com!

Remember, if you’re ever looking for hard-to-find What Katie Did styles, or are just bargain hunting, keep What Katie Did’s ebay shop bookmarked! End-of-the-line and other merchandise can be found in the ebay shop, often at discounted prices.

At What Katie Did we’ve always worked from vintage patterns (40s to early 60s) but bras were causing us a problem as most women today prefer an underwired bra as they believe they give more support (tell that to our 38DD bullet bra customer who wears hers to her step class as it’s better than a sports bra – luckily she hasn’t had anyone’s eye out yet!) By keeping to soft cup bras we really were limiting our customer base.

Over the years we had tried to do underwired bras, but they just looked to modern: What Katie Did customers really do like things to be authentically correct and there’s no way we could present them with a underwired bra that looked the same as any other on the high street. The problem we had was that underwired bras were very rare in the 1940s and 1950s. The only wiring bras seemed to have were ‘overwires’ which were commonly used in strapless bras, or boning vertically over the breast for bustiers.

It wasn’t until last year that I found a couple of 1950s underwired bras in Portobello Road’s market. They were made in France and date back to the 1950s. Perfect!

Of course, some amendments had to be made. In the 1950s the shoulder straps of bras were positioned much further in towards the body (which can be seen clearly in the photograph), we positioned them an inch further out so they’re more aesthetically pleasing. The second main amendment was the underwiring. I wish I could show you this: the whole of the front of the bra’s underwiring is welded together in one piece! Sure, it does bend to mold to the body, but you could inflict serious damage on someone with it if you so desired! We plumped for modern underwiring, although the underwiring used is generally used for basques and comes up higher in the centre of the bust. Finally, the original version had non stretch straps: we’ve changed these to modern adjustable straps to make the bra more wearable.

So now we have to wait and see what happens. Our underwired bra, as part of our Cabaret lingerie range, will be launched in mid September (rrp £32.50).

What Katie Did haven’t designed an underwired bra before as they were very rare in the 1940s and 1950s, however, Katie Halford found a couture sample dating back to the 1950s and couldn’t help but be inspired… The extremely burlesque-like (I’m saying this in a good way) pieces we’re seeing today are called Cabaret Lingerie by Katie. I can see why.

Very classy, very retro — I’m sure the vintage lovers will eat the What Katie Did AW07 alive. Make sure to check out the What Katie Did website — and the What Katie Did products on our shopping backend (we’ll soon have the AW07 pieces added, I’m sure!)