Felix and Kitty started designing and making corsets in 2000. We went professional in 2008, and we’ve been continually expanding our knowledge and updating our designs ever since.
Why choose a Felix & Kitty corset?
The obvious one first: any good corset (that means only the ones with proper boning and good design) can make you look and feel incredible. It can take inches off your waist with zero discomfort, flatten your tummy, and smooth out your profile under or over clothes.
But Felix & Kitty corsets have other, harder-to-find features that can make all the difference in the world to you, the wearer.
They’re extra comfortable
The most common reason people buy a Felix & Kitty corset is because they find it helps with back pain and poor posture.
We specifically shape our corsets to never fight the natural alignment of your back. Many traditional corsets are derived from Victorian patterns, which can force your spine into the then-fashionable extreme “S” bend. That’s great for a few people whose bodies are actually that shape, but it can be murder for everyone else! Ours come in a range of different shapes, so whatever yours is, we have something that will fit you.
The panels are cut in a special shape so they don’t compress your diaphragm, which is why you probably won’t have trouble breathing or moving in one of our corsets, even if you’ve had problems with other kinds. We designed them so you can wear them for back support, even if you have to stand or sit for long periods every day. It’s common for for people who have never been able to tolerate corsets before to wear a Felix & Kitty version just because it feels good on the back.
They’re properly boned
Depending on the style and shape, we use a combination of metal and super-wide, super-strong polymer boning. The latter is technically “plastic,” but it’s not even in the same ballpark as the flimsy, skinny featherboning you find in cheap corsets. In fact, it has far more strength and bend resistance than spiral steel, and is even more supportive than spring steel boning.
We often use double or triple boning at high stress points in the corset to ensure that you don’t have problems with kinks or bent boning. If you do experience any issues, we’ll fix or replace it for free!
Felix & Kitty corsets come in different shapes, not just sizes (or styles)
Sizes and styles are not the same as shapes!
Let’s imagine ten people who all have the same chest measurement. Most clothing manufacturers would call them the same “size.”
But one of them might be a woman with a narrow back and huge breasts, another one could be a man with a deep barrel chest and no breasts at all, one of them might be anyone with a flat chest but who’s wide side to side, one might have a very broad muscular back but a narrow front, still another might have moderately developed pectorals and a medium back, and so forth. They would all have the same SIZE chest, but not the same SHAPE.
You just can’t put all of these people in the same “size” corset and call it a day. That’s why we have a system where you need to send in both your measurements and your photos, so we can see how your size is distributed in your shape
Even for our ready-to-wear corsets, we make a vast variety of shapes for different figure types – different bust and chest curvatures, rib cage width, hip flare, spinal angle, length, and cup size (when applicable). For our custom ones, we tweak everything even more specifically for your particular, unique figure variations.
By the way, each “style” comes in all the different shapes as well. A bunch of different “styles” made for the same basic body shape does not count as “different shapes” in our book.
High-quality fabrics and sturdy lining
We line all our corsets with heavy, breathable, puncture- and abrasion-resistant fabrics that can take the constant stress of a corset under tension. The thickness and body of the heavier material also means you won’t see those horizontal lines or “pull wrinkles” when you tighten your corset!
Corsets need to withstand ongoing, powerful pulling for long periods at a time, and they need to be made from very high-quality materials. Thin, flimsy fabrics can rip out at the seams or lose the grommets after only a few wearings. Cheap corset fabric also tends to let the boning poke right through, and can easily stretch out or lose its shape. It’s super-important that even the most delicate-looking, opulent fabrics for corsets be able to withstand a lot of abuse!
Bespoke and customized corset options
Felix & Kitty corsets come in a vast array of sizes and shapes, meaning we can fit almost anyone straight off the rack. But just as importantly, we can customize the fit for people with more unusual needs or figure variations.
Since we’ve got a LOT of different shapes in our “traditional corset” pattern collection already, odds are excellent that only a small tweak will be necessary to get the fit perfect for you. And if that’s all you need, you can get a customized corset for nearly the same cost as an off-the-rack one!
And if you’re looking for anything other than a traditional style, you will probably need to go all the way to a truly bespoke corset, complete with a pattern made from scratch to your measurements. This is something you can only get from artisans who actually make everything themselves!
When do you need a customized or bespoke corset?
You need extra boning, placed where you need it most
Felix & Kitty always use serious boning that will maintain its shape through the lifetime of the corset. But you might be one of those people who need more of it, or just more of it in different places.
If you have an unusually large hip-to-waist ratio or a pronounced swayback, you will need extra boning at the side and and back, or your corset will develop a kink where your body indents the most. If you have a very large bust, you’ll need extra boning up front.
Boning needs to be moved to different locations, lengthened, shortened, or angled in order to really perfect the fit of your corset.
We can’t emphasize this enough. No matter how beautiful the corset looks on the shelf, if it doesn’t have sturdy boning cut to the right lengths and in the right place for you, it will be uncomfortable to wear.
You get truly personalized fit
You can’t beat the fit of a corset pattern that was created with your actual shape in mind. In spite of the fact that Kitty (at last count) has 99 different shapes in her repertoire, one of which will almost certainly fit you pretty well off the rack, sometimes a tiny tweak can make a corset immensely better.
If you need a corset for a physical issue or if it involves any compression other than for your waist, or if you have extremely unusual proportions, you’re almost certainly better off going custom.
You need a corset for straightening and compression
If you want a corset that straightens your chest or hip profile through compression, you should really go with a custom corset.
Compression for any location other than your true waist must be approached with great care. This is because most of your body’s soft tissue sits directly on top of your bones, which aren’t going to yield when you squish it against them. Doing this indiscriminately, or excessively, can result in injury to your nerves, glands, or circulation. This is where your corset maker’s experience and skill become critical.
By the way, this is also why most chest binders are potentially unsafe; the narrow, random inward pull exerted by cloth strips or bandages can result in pinching and uneven compression, and that can do real damage over time. The boning in a properly made straight corset distributes the inward force over its entire length, making the process much more controlled. Think how you would NEVER tightly encircle someone’s injured neck with bandages (that would be very, very bad!), but you can safely put a rigid self-supporting neck brace on it. This is basically the same principle.
You can get way with some serious cinching at the waist, provided you only do it at the level between where your rib and hip bones, the “boneless part,” because there’s only soft tissue underneath that will move out of the way. This is also why you have “waist training” for extreme tight-lacers, but no “bust training” or “hip training.”
You want a specialty corset for a particular purpose
If you need a corset with an attached leather harness that you could use to lift someone, a neck-to-knees corset for immobilization, a full-torso boned shell to support ligament laxity, a number in leather and faux fur, or made for/with any other unusual purpose or materials, custom is pretty much your only option.
Alternative styles
It’s not often that you actually get to talk to the people who design, stitch, and fit your corset from start to finish. But when yoyu do, it means you’re not limited by what you see on the website or our shelves, only by your own imagination. If you can dream it, we can (probably) make it! Just contact us for a consultation.
Here are some less traditional corsets and other boned garments we’ve made:
- Corsets with Straps
- Solid-front corsets (back lace only)
- Boned Vests/Dresses/Jackets
- “Discipline” Corsets
- Waist-Training or tight-lacing Corsets
- Corsets for people who live in wheelchairs
- Boned full-torso support garments
