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Lovely Creature Corsetry was started in 1996 by Shaerie Raulli Mead. Shaerie has had little formal training in costuming and design but has been sewing since she was eleven. In 1981, she and her family began attending the Sterling Renaissance Festival in rural central New York. The Sterling Festival is well known for it's costuming, and Shaerie began to reproduce what she saw. This led to an interest in foundation garments and how they shaped the fashions of the day. The first issue of "Marquis" inspired the first vinyl corset, and upon moving to Boston in 1996, she started making corsets for herself and her friends. Patternmaking classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education provided the technical skills needed to translate ideas more effectively into reality. Two years as the store manager and buyer at Hubba Hubba, a fetish clothing store in Cambridge, Mass., gave her a familiarity with many brands of off-the-rack corsets, and it was here that she realized custom built corsetry was by far the best option for most people.
Shaerie balances her love of corsetry and costuming with her "day" job, consulting and bookkeeping for small businesses. After living in Syracuse, Buffalo and Boston, she has settled in Hollywood with her husband Josh, her cats Bob and Baby, and vast quantities of fabric. Also, she teaches corsetry and pattern making classes at the Sewing Arts Center in Santa Monica and is a member of the Costumer's Guild West. You can find her on LiveJournal at lc_corsetry, where she is very active in the Corset Makers Community.
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Many, many thanks are due to those who made all of this possible. To all the incredible ladies who keep me moving and shaking: Heather, who makes me look so professional and Jenny, for straightforward common sense - the wives' club soldiers on in spirit whenever I open a bottle of wine on a Friday night. I really miss you two! Carrie - an explosive ball of energy and creativity barely contained by her skin, and Megara - trade show rep extraordinaire and overall amazing person. To my boys - my best beloved Josh, who puts up with piles of crap all over the house and does the dishes when I am sewing all day, and to the expensive, grouchy and demanding cat-heads, Bob and Baby - who would get cat hair all over the corsets if they weren't around? Who would barf on $40 a yard silk brocade? To my sister Christy for her clear head, support and advice over the years. To my mom Diane, who let me run around in public in sunbonnets and frocks as a child - and then in "garb" at the Sterling Renaissance Festival. To my dad Richie, who's work ethic I have apparently inherited. To Mike just for being Mike! To everyone who has helped in the past including Danny at Leather by Danny and Suzi at Hubba Hubba. And, of course, to my lovely customers past and present - it has been a pleasure to work with all of you.
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Website design / development: Heather Reynolds
Website design support & keeper of sanity: Josh Mead
Logo design: Sara Rubinow
Corset line drawings: Alexis Black
Text: Shaerie Mead
Photos: Kim Giannone, Jill Fontaine, Josh Mead, Shaerie Mead, Robyn Swank
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Click here for our handy online contact form
Via e-mail: info AT lovelycreature DOT com
Via snail mail: Lovely Creature Corsetry
P. O. Box 29-1324
Hollywood, CA 90027
Via telephone: (323) 301-6645
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