The Man
A fashion trend is a fickle thing, garments go in and out of fashion from one season to the next but in the last decade corsets have really been going strong as numerous iconic designers have reinvented it and made it their own. Designers including names as big as Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton, and Alexander McQueen have sent their reworks of the boned bodice strutting down the catwalk. Stars such as Rihanna, Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Beyonce have all been snapped in corsets too. But who makes the designers visions come to life? Well one man stands above all others as the couture houses corsetiere of choice. That man is Mr Pearl who is himself a tight-lacer with an incredible 18 inch waist. Mr Pearl, originally Mark Pullin, was born in Africa and moved to England before going to live in Paris, France where he serves the top couture houses.
In his forties now Mr Pearl can be considered the worlds top corset maker. He has several people working on each corset and has created such masterpieces for Gaultier as the SS 2010 Sophie Dahl dress followed by the AW 2010 corset ensemble work by Dita Von Teese with its black skeletal structure over flesh colored fabric. The famous fashion houses he has turned his hand to include Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Chloe, McQueen, Christian Lacroix, Vera Wang, Antonio Berardi and Thierry Mugler. This list is in no way complete. Wearers of his work include Madonna, Beyonce, Dita Von Teese, Jerry Hall and he personally laced Victoria Beckham into her wedding dress. For more information on the man himself, check out my Mr Pearl Blog Post.
Some of Mr Pearls Most Iconic Corsets
An exquisite example of Mr Pearl’s hand sewn sequinned corsets
Mr Pearl’s Metal ‘Biker’ Corsets for Thierry Mugler, later worn by Beyonce (see image below)
“Corsetry is the deepest, most intimate, most enhancing possibility physically and I’m fascinated by this. Corsetry presents endless, almost unobtainable, possibilities, it could always be tighter, more beautiful, longer in the front. The limit is physical – outward appearances are endless.”
Mr Pearl
The Sophie Dahl Gaultier dress spring/summer 2010 made by Mr Pearl
Dita at Gaultier’s a/w 2010 catwalk
And Finally, Dita Von Tease in one of her personal Mr Pearl corsets (and I think we all agree she’s a lucky lucky girl):
