For me, finding inspiration is probably one of the most difficult parts of being a designer. What do you do when you find yourself experiencing a writer's block of sorts?
Sometimes this happens when one has so many ideas in her head that she can't focus on any one thing. If you're like me, though, what really happens is you set up your sewing machine, look at it, and then wonder what to do next.
The first place I go is.... *drum roll* the internet! In particular there is a wonderful livejournal community called corsetmakers where sometimes people post pictures of the corsets they've made and discuss how they've put them together. Just looking at the wonderful work these people do is usually enough to get me inspired. Overall I recommend looking at things that other designers have made because there's nothing quite like seeing someone else's work to get your own creative thought processes going.
The second place I usually go is my friends. Phenomena like Facebook are wonderful in that you can look at your friends' pictures and become inspired. For example, I have one friend who owns beautiful corsets, so whenever I feel stuck I look through her pictures. It's a little creepy I know, but ya do whatcha gotta do and hope that they never realize that you're being creepy ;)
Other places to look for inspiration: books, movies, tv, and video games. I know what you're probably thinking: "I knew about books and movies and I can kind of see tv but video games? What can I possibly get from them?" In my humble opinion, video games tend to have some of the most intricate and interesting costume designs. I guess this is because they don't have to worry about reality. Anyway, the result is that it's really fun and quite a challenge to try and make those designs come to life, and you'll be inspired to make your own unique designs.
What if you have a concept in mind but don't know how to implement it? That's where resources like this blog and corsetmakers community on livejournal come in handy. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Look for what others have done and try to put your own spin on it. For example, I'm planning on putting together a fiery fae costume using a corset I bought at Anime Central like 5 years ago (long before I knew I wanted to make my own corsets). I spent a good chunk of time researching what a fiery fae was to get an idea of what it might look like, which helped me create my own ideas. This involved looking at drawings that other people have done.
The last thing I recommend if you decide to try and make your own corset is to buy one for yourself first. I highly recommend doing this because then you'll get a better idea of how it should fit and what other people who make corsets professionally use. The people who sell corsets generally like to tell you what's in them and what kind of materials they use, which is an invaluable resource when you're starting out.
Anyway, that's all for today! I don't think I'll be able to post every day (because by day I am actually a mild mannered law student) but I will try to at least post weekly.
As always, if you have comments or if there is a topic you would like to see me write about please leave a comment.
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