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Author Archives: ani&ari
Operation Pink Sparkly Flames
We recently put our hearts and souls into this stunning black corset with magical pink sparkled flames cascading up the front. We try not to pick favorites, because we love every corset that we make, but this one was hard not to adore. Our inspiration was drawn from some of America’s outrageously cool style icons – Elvis Presley, Evel Knievel, Dolly Parton and one legendary costume designer; Bob Mackie. This corset is currently living with one of our favorite celebs, so keep your eyes peeled for this blinged out number to hit the stage sometime in the near future!!!
Creating this corset required us to really get out of our comfort zone and work with some different materials. Only a week prior to being commissioned for this piece we were given an AMAZING collection of vintage beads and sequins. A friend from Colorado, JoDee Costello, came across this gold mine as she was cleaning out a house that was once owned by a professional ballroom dancer. She apparently had left behind some of her costume décor and we were fortunate enough to get these passed on to us! Take a look at some of our vintage materials and watch this fierce number come to life!
We were given boxes and boxes of these fuchsia beads. We fell in love with the glass tubes they came in, how cool are the tiny cork tops?!?
This was our first attempt at laying out the flame. Danielle sketched a flame and we experimented with setting the beads and jewels into different combinations
We started with a custom black cotton corset with a zipper up the center front. From there we hand stitched the pink flames to the top layer of the corset, and lined the edge with Siam aka fire truck red Swarovski crystals.
We then filled the flames with a combination of rhinestones, sequins, and beads.
We added black Swarovski crystals around the flames to create a little more drama and like that it was done!
We had so much fun creating this piece, and can’t wait for it to make it to the stage, because clearly that’s the only place it belongs!
Thanks again to JoDee for the beautiful vintage sequins and beads, it wouldn’t have been the same without that special touch!
Hayden Panettiere in ani&ari on “Nashville” TOMORROW NIGHT!!!
Be sure and tune in tomorrow night to see Hayden Panettiere in her custom ani&ari corset on ABC’s Nashville!!! With the wardrobe director, Susie DeSanto, we created a new style just for Juliette Barnes, Hayden’s character! This special edition is appropriately named, Hayden. Hope y’all love it 😉
Corset Bling
We had a special request from stylist Tiffany Gifford to create custom black leather corset that could have interchangeable Bling for Shawna Thompson of Thompson Square. The first bit of bling we created for Shawna’s corset was variety of jewels, beads, and chains.
We took a variety of jewels we had in the studio covered them in our trade secret glue that is the strongest glue around, and dipped them in cool beads.
We then glued the beaded jewels to a piece of cotton Coutil and wrapped them in chains. The trim was attached to the corset by metal hooks that were sewn into the Coutil.
The finished corset looked amazing! The embellishments added something special to the basic black leather corset! The best part is that the bling is removable! Stay tuned to see what embellishments Tiffany requests next – maybe studs, flowers… we can create anything she can dream up!! It was a good craft day at ani&ari 🙂
Inside an ani&ari fitting!
Are you curious about what happens at an ani & ari when there is a corset fitting? Here is a peak at the behind the scenes at our atelier.
Our client Tarah, came by today for her fitting appointment to be measured for her custom corset. She will be attending a Christmas gala this December in New York City and she is looking to create a corset that will be memorable! She was inspired by all the corsets that she has seen on the runways of Europe for Spring. We are psyched to have her choose ani&ari to make her a new custom piece. We took pictures during the fitting to give you all more of an idea of how the whole design process works! Check out how easy it is to be measured. After we measure Tarah we will sit down and talk about what she is inspired by and the types of fabrics and the notions that will fit her vision for her corset. She loves Alexander Wang so we are thinking there may be some leather involved check back to see what Tarah’s corset came out like.
The lovely Tarah, ready to be measured!
Danielle getting her waist measurement
Fittings are fun 🙂
Danielle making sure to get the perfect length
Under the arm is one of the most important measurements!
The waist to lap measurement is another vital one to get, to ensure that our clients can always sit comfortably in their corsets.
Thanks for stopping by! Check back for more inside the studio, and stay tuned for Tarah’s amazing new corset coming soon!!!
Miranda Lambert in ani&ari TONIGHT!!!
Exciting news from our atelier – we designed the custom corsets worn by Miranda Lambert and The Pistol Annie’s at their CMA Music Festival performance at LP Field. The show, Country’s Night To Rock, was taped in June but airs tonight on ABC!
Miranda’s corset was a challenge because of its custom cap sleeve, something we’ve never attempted before and she ended up loving.
Our sleeve innovation started with this simple bra cup that we turned into a structured shoulder pad. We then attached a custom made leather strap that is detachable from the corset.
For the next step was to cover the shoulder pad with the stretched black lambs leather. Guess what we used? Rubber cement a trick we learned from watching our dad make saddles for cowboys in our basement – Thanks Dad!
Once the sleeves were covered in leather and sewn together we hand stitched two rows of chains around the rim of the shoulder pad. We spent extra time carefully measuring the chains to get the asymmetrical flattering look.
Voila!!! They turned out so cool and Miranda looked amazing in them!
New York Fashion Week Boot Camp
This is amazing….
Hayden Panettiere in ani&ari
Exciting news at the studio; we were contacted by Susie DeSanto from the wardrobe department of the hot new ABC show “Nashville” to create a custom corset for one of their stars Hayden Panettiere. If you haven’t heard about “Nashville” then you must be living on another planet, because it’s the most talked about new show for the fall. The show stars Connie Britton as a country singer juggling her home life and struggling to remain a relevant country star. Meanwhile Hayden’s character is taking over the country music industry. It’s going to be amazing and we’re so excited to watch!
We are over the moon to be part of the show because the producers have made a huge effort to portray Nashville in an authentic light. Our studio has created custom corsets for Miranda Lambert, The Pistol Annies, and Carrie Underwood thus it would be perfect for Hayden’s country Music Star character to rock an authentic custom ani&ari corset.
We were given a (tiny) pair of studded white denim True Religion shorts to be our inspiration for creating the corset.
Hayden and Wardrobe Stylist, Susie DeSanto both loved these shorts, so we came up with a design that highlighted all the special aspects of these minis. We went with the same white denim and camel colored topstitching. Then we embellished the cups with an array of multi colored rim set jewels. Can you believe we only had 5 days? Our first fitting was via the telephone, but in the end the corset was PERFECTION. We missed the taping, but pictures are beginning to surface and we couldn’t be happier with how she looks!
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