What Katie Did Laurie Corset Review

Today’s post is a little different from our usual bra reviews! In the past we have done a couple of reviews that aren’t the generic bra sets, including my Masquerade Hestia Basque and Charley’s F&F Valentine’s Babydoll, so we thought we’d get onto doing a few more. Personally, being in the small band, large cup range, there aren’t a huge amount of lingerie items (top parts specifically, bottom halves I’m fine with!) that I can feasibly wear without alterations, so I’m a little lacking in that department currently, but it’s not that I haven’t tried. I’m constantly adding beautiful pieces to our ever-growing Lingerie Pinterest board that I know will never fit me, but are just SO PRETTY – but then again, I know there are a number of brands starting to delve more into properly fitting garments for my small band, large cup size, so hopefully it shouldn’t be far away that I can wear more pieces like those.
Speaking of ill-fitting pieces, you should be glad I posed strategically and chose photos that didn’t show off the uber-cleavage this corset gives me, if you can even call what it does to me that! You can see that a bit more clearly in my quickly snapped Instagram photo, but honestly? I also strategically placed my hair and the phone in that picture too to cover that up too, because the amount of breast squish going on is really just not appropriate!

 

So, this is the Laurie corset from What Katie Did in baby pink in a size 22. I’m planning to do more corset wearing posts at a later date when I’ve managed to get some proper corset wearing done – this isn’t currently very feasible at the moment because this one is (as you’ve already heard!) far too small in the breast area, so is definitely not everyday wear (that is, unless you want to be able to rest your chin on your cleavage and not be able to put your arms by your side as there’s even too much boob going on to the side there too #awkward…). But I feel like I can’t do a corset review without a few words of “warning” and advice first: it’s important that if you’re wearing a proper corset designed for waist training to ensure that you season it (or “break it in” first), which means wearing it laced only snugly to begin with for a couple of hours at a time before increasing the tightness and length of wear slowly over time. Not only is this better for your body, but also for the corset – you risk damaging yourself and the corset if you lace it very tightly immediately. I should also add that, yes, I can breathe! And no, it’s not uncomfortable. I’ve only worn it for a couple of hours, plus I didn’t lace this as tightly as I possibly could do, mostly because there’s not enough breast space – the back should always be parallel so you don’t damage the corset, and if I tightened the waist further, the section of lacing at the back for my breasts would be more in this shape, which isn’t correct: \/.
So this is a size 22 corset – that means that once it’s fully laced shut, it would measure 22in at the waist. You’re advised to choose a size around 4-5in smaller than your normal waist measurement – mine is currently around 27in, but when I also tried the Vamp corset in store (amazing by the way!!) I was told I was about in between a 20 and 22, but I think I’d stick to a 22 since I don’t want to do huge amounts of tightlacing with it, just smooth out my fairly extreme silhouette a bit more.
The Laurie corset is designed for a figure like mine, where there is a 10in or more difference between the waist and hips – unfortunately, it’s not designed for a bra size like mine! I bought this corset off eBay because I’d been dying to try a proper What Katie Did corset, and I knew the Laurie would be perfect for my waist-hip ratio, so I decided to go for it anyway. The previous owner had only worn it for a photoshoot apparently, so it was in very good condition still, although there were a couple of catches in the satin material – fortunately I got it quite cheap (in comparison to full price), and I decided to go for that simply because I wanted to try out a proper corset to fit my curves without committing fully to it. I now know that this style of corset, but underbust rather than overbust, is what I definitely need, and I can’t go for anything that has less of a hip spring than this.

So I’m not hugely experienced in corsets (yet!), but I can tell you that I love this one, despite its not-perfect fit on me! The boning is very sturdy but moulds to your body over time with wear, becoming more and more comfortable every time. The busk especially is very sturdy. I’m impressed by the quality of the laces too, which can easily withstand being tugged around a bit while lacing. I find it fairly easily to lace this one myself too, at least in comparison to a cheaper underbust one I had previously. The colour is very pretty too, but I’d ideally like a more sensible black or beige one to blend in under clothes, since this one feels slightly more for show.
As I said, the only issue I have with this corset is the bust. The boning continues over the bust in a fairly odd line that comes out and inwards in a slightly pointed (perhaps vintagey bullet bra style) look. I’m sure this works for many people, but for my 28GG bust, it’s not happening! There’s definitely not enough room for me in there, and the boning doesn’t give much room for manoeuvre either. I’ve spotted on the site that they offer a “fuller bust” version, which probably would work for me, as it apparently goes from 32DD-G, so I might be able to get away with the volume of that – this though, being from eBay, is just a standard size, which fits a 32B-DD better, hence the squish!
Overall though, this corset is beautiful. I can’t help but love it when I wear it, despite its squishing faults! I’ve got an underbust corset on its way soon from Orchard Corset, so I’ll hopefully be doing a review of that once I’ve had a chance to try it out properly, and I’m also saving my pennies to get the Vamp corset that I tried on in store and which fitted me perfectly – it’s quite expensive, but I do love it. I’m also on the way to making my own corset, designed to fit my own personal measurements – Ben bought me a kit with my own pattern for my birthday, but I’ve been hesitant to get started as it was expensive and I don’t want to mess it up. I’ve got the pieces cut out for a practice one, to be made with cable ties as stand in boning! Don’t worry, it’s only to check on fit and give me some practice at putting it together so I don’t ruin the real one, but hopefully the finished piece will fit me even more perfectly than the Vamp since it’s designed for me specifically – I can’t wait!
Have you worn a corset before? Which is your favourite brand?