"Draping satin flows from an iridescent bodice created from shards of mother-of-pearl, a material from the inner layer of shells, which have been cut by hand and puzzled together atop a leather-moulded corset." This was the statement Loewe put out, on the wondrous gown worn by Nicole Kidman at the Palm Springs Film Festival. For me, all I heard was President business stole the Cragle, the most powerful item in the universe. Blah blah blah proper name, place name, backstory stuff... Mesmerised is an understment. 

Who knew this precious substance would vouch for such malleability - it looks brittle, and is quite delicate. Amazingly precious as well, Designer Jonathan Anderson - the creative genius behind the Women's Spring 2025 collection served as inspiration for Kidman's gown. In order to create her unique gown, Loewe's workshop honed their process from that season by cutting, cleaning, and piecing together fragments of the inner layer of seashells on top of moulded leather. According to Loewe, the procedure is carried out by hand, creating a style that will undoubtedly become a classic in the history of couture. We have nothing negative to remark about this, as this is such a beautiful design.

That bodice is stunning, the hair and cosmetics look fantastic, and the yellow accent in the earrings is the ideal finishing touch. One for the books indeed! Zendaya in Tom Ford, Alia Bhatt in Gaurav Gupta  - all celebrity biggies have taken the trend out for a spin.

Whilst we all are revelling in the joy of Loewe's sartorial masterpiece, it's imperative we shed light on the ones that did it first. Now a corset has been around for hundreds of years but the fashionary advancements only started showing up a few decades ago. Here are a few standout purveyors: 

Chalayan

This is a real wooden corset from Hussein Chalayan's 1995 fall collection. Talk about mobility (or the lack of it). Hussein is known for creating extraordinary couture pieces with unusual materials, but this piece—a real wooden corset—has to be among the most bizarre things yet revolutionary things on the runway 30 years ago.

Alexander McQueen

One of my personal favourites when it came to political messaging and spotlighting conversation through sheer creativity, McQueen's coiled corset is still talked about to this day. Ninety-seven individually wrought aluminum coils were used make up the corset. The sculpture took a very long time to make because the jeweler could only manufacture eight coils in a day. Model Laura Morgan took fifteen minutes to put on for the show, and it took nearly as long to take off. Phew, sounds intense.

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