t-shirts| STAMP does breakfast| launch party| how to buy tickets

a short reflection on consumerism| where to get STAMP| SUSI SAYS continued...| fully fashioned

Following on from our chat with Susi Henson on page 21 of STAMP fashion tabloid...

I wanted to ask you actually, corsetry is all about women with curves – what’s your opinion on the Size 0 hoo ha?

‘I think the size 0 debate is a huge issue and I hope that now the British Fashion Council goes against what’s happening. It really is down to them in representing British designers, they are the ones who will have a major influence and a lot of countries are now banning Size 0 models. That is the big issue in terms of fashion but I think the biggest issue is obviously with celebrities, people like Lindsey Lohan and Nicole Richie and I believe it was all started by their stylist. It’s just such a shame because it promotes eating disorders, a member of my family actually had anorexia and because she had weakened the bones so much, she had a fall and now she’s paralysed. Also being a lecturer, you can see it and it’s so tragic that it’s even an issue - I just think our society is so celebrity obsessed as well as following the fashions and of course that’s the industry that we are in.

It’s just completely wrong and I think that women need to realise that it’s not sexy and you know, men like curves! My philosophy is that Eternal Spirits is a hybrid of all these thoughts and influences because my passion has always been in historical costume but obviously it’s got bondage and gothic influence in there as well and then also the girly sexy erotic. It’s kind of mixing all these things but it’s also got this belief in old fashioned traditional service which I was brought up with. My dad ran a haulage firm with an emphasis on service and then my grandma was the 40s style twin sets, pearls, the bright red lipstick, the Chanel No.5, matching handbag you know and that’s how she was right up until the day she died. But then also I can remember being 16, going to a school ball and I had gone in Cruise Flannels [Flannels now] with my mum and I loved this dress but it was only out in a size 8. So my mum asked if they had a size 12 and the lady said no, it would be out the back because the size 8 looks better on the hanger. My mum went ballistic at the women, "you cant say that in front of a 16 year old girl, what the hell kind of message are you giving people?" and on the whole its not 16 year old girls or young women shopping there as its too bloody expensive, they need to put out sizes that reflect their market.

There’s very little out there for big women; we make to measure and I was really upset the other week as I had an email from a women saying she would love to come to the shop but was too afraid to come in case we didn’t cater for her size 20 frame. I was absolutely mortified and I emailed her was like "come in, of course we do, you would look amazing in one of our corsets!" It’s brilliant because we get women of all shapes and sizes who come in, get in front of the mirror, put a corset on and they see their curves and embrace them. The men love it, they are seeing their girlfriends and wives feeling confident in themselves because there is this whole thing about meeting up to societies standards but with a corset, it just puts everything in the right place and they think, fuck it – check me out!’