The Lion The Witch and the Levi Jeans

Corset and Costume design for the "White Witch" by Lyndsey Sketchley

The 2004 Theatre Design Exhibiton at the Nottingham Trent School of Art and Design was a-wash with a corsets, undergarments and costume. Two designs well worth looking at were the “White Witch” by Lyndsay Sketchley and Kate Vickers “Denim Corset”

“Levi Corset”

Levi Corset design by Kate Vickers

My design was inspired by the idea of combining denim with the traditional style of corsetry. I constructed a 19th century corset with a contemporary feel by incorporating the denim as part of the detailing. My idea was to use actual jeans, utilising the pockets, fastenings and the seams.

I inquired to several companies about my design and was successfully sponsored by Levi Strauss & Co. who provided me with the opportunity of incorporating branded jeans into my costume. I used the denim as a skeleton framework over the corset and then continued the denim theme into the skirt. – Kate Vickers

“The White Witch”

With the brief requiring a “complete look”, I wanted to base my corsetry project around a character with many different facets. The “White Witch” from C.S.Lewis’ “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”, provided me with endless material and scope.

The character has been portrayed in various forms over the years, many of them fairly traditional for example with a crown of icicles and dresses dripping with jewels. I wanted to get away from this and create a more contemporary “White Witch”.

The White Witch corset by Lyndsey Sketchley

For me the character conjures up images of sharp, stark, crisp lines, with acute angles and diagonals. One of the pivotal images for my design was cracked and shattering ice. A stylised version of this effect later became the textured and decorative design that stretched its way across the corset and skirt.

Hair, make-up and accessories were just as vital as the garment itself, and so I continued the sharp, angular lines throughout these elements. As my ideas combined, a design emerged that fulfilled my original objective and attempted to bring “White Witch” into the 21st Century. – Lyndsey Sketchley