Society's Corset. Hints to a Fashionable Lady by Stone, Tamar - 2006

New York, 2006. One-of-a-kind artist's book, antique salesman sample girdle with net trim, satin ribbon and vintage corset lace; machine stitched, cotton embroidered text, inside corset lined with jacquard flowered patterned corseting material. Size: 7-1/2 H x 6-1/2 W x 13L inches; page size: 5 x 3-1/4 inches; 20 page book (10 sheer pages, 10 silk satin pages), including covers. Bound: grommet binding tied with vintage dyed baby shoelace; housed in custom-made plum cloth clamshell box with title and author and date machine stitched in plum on flesh-colored label set into front cover, fine. The project was built around a vintage Salesman's Pamphlet for Binner Corsets. Illustrated with images taken from the Binner Corsets Salesman's Pamphlet in the form of digital ink jet prints on 19mm satin and 10mm silk chiffon Color Plus Fabrics, machine and hand-stitched pages. The advertising text from the Binner Salesman's Pamphlet is interspersed with quotations from women writers, selected by the artist, to juxtapose the demeaning and objectifying text of the corset manufacturer. For example, "[Any woman can step up the attractive magnetism of her figure, with one of these new, really glamourizing foundations.]" is juxtaposed with a 1974 quotation from feminist writer, Simone de Beauvoir, "By means of [dress] the woman who is deprived of doing anything feels that she express what she is." Once again, Ms. Stone has taken aim at the hypocrisy of the beauty industry and the emphasis on youth and beauty that is pervasive in our culture with a witty and sophisticated look at past cultural trends exemplified by material culture remains. A stunning book.