What Katie Did are a UK-based brand, who specialise in recreating a huge variety of vintage lingerie. While they sell everything from stockings to shapewear, what I lusted after for a long time was their selection of corsets – specifically, their Morticia corset. However, given the Morticia’s price tag of £159.50, I was sure that I would never be able to try it. What I wasn’t counting on was their post-Christmas sale, allowing me to bag my very own Morticia at a very reasonable price! And yes, I did mean post-Christmas – this review has been a long time coming! As you might have guessed from the above picture, I did recently have a just-for-fun photoshoot, so that gave me the push I needed to get around to writing this review.

The Morticia is a steel-boned longline underbust corset, made specifically for very curvy figures. Most average corsets won’t have enough space at the hips for those with a large difference in their waist/hip measurements, meaning that the corset will cut into the hips once laced. To avoid this, the Morticia is made with gored hips, which means it can accommodate a waist/hip difference of 10+ inches. In my case, my waist measurement tends to fluctuate between 28-31 inches, while my lower hips are approximately 42 inches, theoretically making the Morticia a good bet for me. In these pictures I am not wearing anything under the corset, but for proper wear another layer (such as a vest top) should be worn underneath, to protect both your skin and the corset lining.

Corsets are sized by their tightest waist measurement, so a size 30 should close down to 30 inches. This means that if you want to reduce your waist, you need to go smaller than your own waist measurement, usually by around 4-5 inches. Going by this suggests either a 24 or 26 would be a good size for me. I had heard that the Morticia is easier to reduce in than many other corsets, due to being made to accommodate hips. Because of this, I decided to go straight for a 24, though I think a 26 would have been plenty small enough for me. One important note: you shouldn’t try to lace a new corset tightly for the first few wears, as it needs to be broken in. Significantly tightening the corset straight away can damage the corset or cause injury, so make sure you give it some time before starting to really reduce.

The corseted picture is from the initial try-on, so it isn’t quite on properly, but I think you get the idea. The Morticia fastens with a steel busk at the front, and laces at the back with sturdy cord, which I somehow didn’t think to get a picture of. I think in this picture my waist measurement was around 31 inches, reduced to 29 inches. I didn’t take a comparison picture at the time, so the uncorseted picture is from this month (as you might be able to tell looking closely – anyone for a game of spot the difference? :P). The Morticia gives a fantastic, visibly smoothed out silhouette, and I was surprised at how different I looked even though the measurable difference was only 2 inches.

The appearance of the corset under clothes. I do find under thinner clothes that the seams/boning in the corset are visible, so some may find it necessary to wear an extra layer (such as shapewear) on top of their corset. I would also make sure you put on any hosiery and shoes before putting the corset on, or make sure you have someone to help you  – I found that I had a lot of trouble reaching my feet with the corset on! Despite having a fantastic appearance, I did find that I had fit issues with the corset, which I think are visible if you compare my regular shape to my corseted shape. My proportions can be difficult to fit into pre-made corsets: I am very short waisted (2-3 inches from underbust to waist), with high hips and a long rise.

This is a very long corset, with a waist to underbust distance of about 6 inches, which means that if I do put the waist at my natural waist, the upper part of the corset digs into the underside of my boobs. If I place it low enough to not dig into my boobs, the waist of the corset sits much lower than my actual waist, which wouldn’t be as much of a problem, but it does move back up.  I found it slightly more comfortable putting my bra on over the corset, as this stopped the corset pushing on the underwires, but it instead created empty space at the bottom of the bra cups when it moved up. Despite the gored hips, the corset can be uncomfortable on my upper hips due to how high they are, but I didn’t have any problems with the length of the lower half itself – I found the length and longline shape to give good coverage and shaping, and I didn’t have any issues with my belly being pushed out the bottom.

The Morticia really is a gorgeous, beautifully constructed corset, but the proportions just aren’t quite right for me. The corset measurements are listed on the item page (under ‘Details’), so if you are considering any of their corsets, I would recommend measuring yourself and making sure your proportions are reasonably close to them. For those who are more long-waisted, the Morticia could definitely be worth trying – I’ve seen it work on so many beautiful ladies, and I’m sure there are many more who will love this!

Measurements:
– length along front busk 13.25″
– underbust to hip 10.75″
– side length from underarm to waist 6.75″
– side length from waist to bottom 5.25″

For more reviews of the Morticia, check out Fuller Figure Fuller Bust, Curvy Wordy and Invest In Your Chest.

Afternote: As some of you may have noticed, I have recently followed in the footsteps of some of my fellow bloggers and added links to my PayPal and Amazon wishlist in the sidebar. I have written about my reasons for doing this here – if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to get in touch.

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Anna

Founder and main author of Bras and Body Image. Anna is a lingerie lover, feminist and maths student based in the UK, who hopes to someday cuddle every cat in the world.

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