*Depending on how conservative your work place is, this post may be considered NSFW*
Having a really good secret is a sure fire way to put a smile on your face. And you know what they say about people who are always smiling don’t you.. So what’s my secret? My super swanky, super sexy suspenders.
When I first started wearing vintage, I was far too young to even consider this sort of thing, and no one I knew wore stockings. The day came that I was to graduate from those nasty ribbed navy school tights and I didn’t know what my options were. I drew up my courage and made my first foray into a lingerie shop, cheeks blushing and full of teenage bravado. I remember the sales assistant giving my this black lacy ensemble of bra, garter belt and teeny tiny knickers, while I smiled in what I thought was a very mature fashion and proceeded to the changing room. After about a good ten minutes she came back to enquire on my progress, with me fobbing her off with an “oh I wear these all the time” as the garter strap flicked up and hit me in my breathless face for the fifth time. I thought there was some big secret I hadn’t been let in on about how to wear these contraptions, and it was all so illicit that no one could tell me as I didn’t dare ask. But it wasn’t what I thought.
Now, with the benefit of years and hindsight, I realize that the myths surrounding garter belts come from two places. Our grandmothers who hated them and the advertising agencies and movie moguls who’ve conned us into their fantasies. I can only speak for myself, but my ‘suspending’ experiences have been far from torturous…. except for this one.
Lesson 1.
There are suspender belts for life and suspender belts for posing in only. Do not confuse the two.
The very first time I wore my ‘fancy’ new suspender belt from the mall, I experienced a number of unwanted sensations. That strung Christmas ham feeling as the thin, cheap lace of the waist band cut me two. That scratchy sensation from rough, badly trimmed edges; and worst of all, that horrible feeling when you feel a ‘snap’ and notice your stockings are now pooled around your ankles in a very unglamorous fashion.
Luckily, my love of vintage pushed me in the right direction. But rather than getting studious and doing my research, I took my young self out to the local op shop where I discovered my very first 1960’s girdle and suspenders. It wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t really care; after all this was a ‘scientific’ experiment! Here is what I learnt.
A girdle under a pencil skirt is better than any ‘suck you in’ bikini brief on the market.
A girdle (when the correct size) feels like a hug, all day long.
Those industrial strength metal suspender clips are the ONLY way to wear stockings!
Of course, filling my wardrobe with these beige, rubberized numbers was a very unattractive option; so over the years I searched high and low to find pretty vintage pieces with the same functionality.
A friend here in Melbourne with a well known Vintage emporium, heard me rummaging about in the pile of lingerie in her shop one day, bemoaning the lack of available and well fitting vintage styled lingerie. And it was that day she introduced me to Kiss Me Deadly. To make this long story short, once I had my hands on some Kiss Me Deadly suspender sets, I’ve never looked back. These take me from my everyday, to my dance floor attire, to my super fancy occasions. I’ve never lost a stocking, had seam creep or had any unfortunate dance floor incidents. In fact the only dance floor incident I can relate, is being stopped by a group of ladies as I finished a particularly acrobatic number and being asked all about where I bought my fabulous underwear!
Of all the Kiss Me Deadly pieces, the Vargas dress and strapless Vargas dress get the most day to day wear in my ensembles. They are just so darned comfortable and secure, and I know that should I end up in an ambulance with very handsome paramedics, I won’t have a single worry about the state of my underwear.
As you may know, I’ve been honoured to have Kiss Me Deadly as a lovely sponsor of this blog for a while now and I shot this set of images for them last year. But of course, never resting on their laurels they are always out to improve and create new pieces of fabulous frippery… which I had the pleasure of shooting just the other week!
And here they are, shot by pinup photographer extrordinare Helen McLean- the marvellous, pretty and practical pieces from Kiss Me Deadly!
(If you’re wondering why these are so strongly watermarked it is because these pics tend to get pinched and spread around all over the place without credits. So if you do want to use them, please just email for permission first.)
Because I’m so passionate about what goes on under your clothes to make them look even better on the outside, I’m always on the look out for the best and brightest in the underwear department. Not everything that is marketed as fabulous is really all it’s cracked up to be, and quite often it is the smaller, boutique players that really come up with the goods. So I’m literally ‘putting my butt’ on the line in the aid of research at the moment, and have written a whole series of posts about ‘unmentionables’ for you. The good, the bad, the pinchy, the perfect. So if you have any particular questions, problems or are just curious as to what all the fuss is about; please do leave me a comment and I’ll do my very best to help you solve your dilemma.
