What Katie Did prepares for the Diamond Jubilee

What Katie Did’s Portobello Road boutique is getting ready for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with a very British window display! In the surrounding area the Salvation Army and the WI will be fundraising on Portobello Market this Saturday 2nd June. They will be serving tea and cake and will be giving away sample packs of Clipper tea. The Museum of Brands will be recreating a 1950’s market stall along with showing archive photos close to where they were originally taken. We’re open as usual on Saturday and Sunday (closed bank holiday Monday and Tuesday). Come on down to Portobello this weekend andcelebrate with us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Katie Did’s Vintage Bullet Bra in the Evening Standard

London’s Evening Standard published a feature yesterday about the trend for erotic literature, which was started by the self published book ’50 Shades of Grey’. The feature was accompanied by a Tony Nylons picture featuring our Maitresse Bullet Bra and Fully Fashioned Stockings.

Rankin shoots vintage What Katie Did lingerie

Rankin is one of our favourite photographers so we’re thrilled to have him shoot What Katie Did for his new magazine ‘The Hunger’. Helena Christensen shows just a hint of suspender straps in a shoot called ‘One of the Boys’ (styled by Wayne Perry): we’d recommend our Maitresse Suspender Belt to get the same look.

If you’re planning to visit our LA boutique, take a moment to visit Rankin’s Gallery which is just 5 minutes walk from our store.

Marlene Von Steenvag models What Katie Did Lingerie

It’s the last day of London’s World Burlesque Games and I have to say we were looking forward to a duvet day. However, Marlene Von Steenvag was over from Berlin to peform and we just couldn’t resist shooting with her. A few hours after performing she arrived at Steve Hart’s Slough studio looking far more awake than we did!

Marlene started hear career in Cabaret and and gradually slipped more and more towards burlesque adding her distinctive poetic and fairytale glamour. Today Marlene travels Europe peforming full time, she’s a regular at Germany’s only dedicated burlesque club, Queen Calavera (in Hamburg) and hosts her own event: Salon Kokett, in Berlin

Marlene in our Morticia Underbust Corset, Maitresse Bullet Bra, Maitresse Knickers, Seamed Fishnet Tights and Long Gloves.

Marlene in our Maitresse Bullet Bra, Maitresse Suspender Belt and Fully Fashioned Stockings.

Marlene in our Glamour Corselette, Long Gloves and Fully Fashioned Stockings.

Marlene in our Cabaret Bullet Bra and French Knickers.

What Katie Did’s Morticia Corset in The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail has been devoting a lot of space to Marks and Spencers‘ new comfy corsets (they don’t resemble corsets at all but are body shapers which come under category ‘corsetry’ – I think someone along the line might have got a little confused). Yesterday they did a test to see if corsets really were comfortable to wear and included our Morticia Underbust Corset which they gave 7 out of 10 (beating Spanx, yipee!)

Although corsetry should be comfortable enough to wear all day (our Glamour Corselette proves it), steel boned corsets are a whole different matter and unless you seriously want to train your waist, corsetry is the way to go for daily wear.

Corsetry won’t give you the dramatic lines of a steel boned corset but will easily nip an inch or two from the waist and hips. The best way to describe it is that when you look in a mirror you stand up straight with your tummy tucked in: corsetry will keep you like that all day in comfort. At What Katie Did we frequently get visits from brides who think they want a steel boned corset but end up with a Glamour Merry Widow or Cabaret Torsolette which is comfortable enough to wear for 16 hours without any practice.

If you’d like to find out our views on steel boned corsets, what to expect from them and whether they’re suitable for you, check out our Corset Guide Here.

What Katie Did Morticia Corset worn with our Cabaret Bullet Bra.

Mosh models What Katie Did’s torsolette, vintage lingerie and bikini

We were lucky enough to meet LA photographer Mitzi at the Grand National Roadster Show in January. She told us she was working on a shoot with super-pin up Mosh at Elvis Presley’s Honeymoon hideaway in Palm Springs. Sounds good doesn’t it?! Well, wait till you see the pics! They’ll be hitting pin up magazines over the next few months but here’s a little preview.

Mosh in our Cabaret Torsolette.

Mosh in our Deco Lingerie

Mosh in our 2012 Bikini.

What Katie Did Lingerie in new Elizabeth Taylor Biopic

It’s great to see Lindsay Lohan looking healthy and working on new projects. She’s just been cast to play Elizabeth Taylor in a new TV movie ‘Liz and Dick’. Lindsay says ‘I have always admired and had enormous respect for Elizabeth Taylor. She was not only an incredible actress but an amazing woman as well’.

The costume department picked out period perfect lingerie from our Hollywood store a couple of weeks ago which can be seen in the picture below (Maitresse Bullet Bras and Glamour Girdle) – alongside Lindsey who’s wearing a red velvet dress inspired by a Valentino number Liz once wore. Lindsay has been given final approval of all costumes so we have to keep our fingers crossed that she likes What Katie Did!

Lingerie fit for Royalty!

I first thought about doing a Union Flag corset last Spring, to celebrate Prince William’s and Kate Middleton’s wedding. I thought it would be great as part of a window display, combined with lots of Union Flag bunting, but really didn’t think people would be interested in buying it. I sketched a basic design and asked our factory to throw something together, explaining that it was only for a window display and that it didn’t have ot be perfect. Well, they disagreed and were really excited a the challenge which resulted in the most fabulous (and it turns out, horribly expensive!) corset. We had it in our London boutique window for a couple of weeks and did take a few orders and that, I thought, was that.

When I was in our factory in January I started working on a range of Jubilee lingerie in red, white and blue, and started thinking about the corset again. I thought if we were going to do it, we’d really go for it! This time around we made it in the Extreme Laurie shape which takes 2″ more from the waistline than last year’s Sophia shape. We also made it in two cup sizes for a perfect fit. Finally, we made a slight change to the flag design, changing the waist panels from blue to red which helps enhance the female form. The resulting corset really has had  a great response, surprisingly those outside the UK are most enthusastic!

The picture below, featuring Miss Miranda, was shot by Steve Hart in his Slough (UK) studio at the end of a very long day – not that you’d be able to tell!

Karl Lagerfield shoots Kirsten Dunst in a What Katie Did Bullet Bra

Bit of a bombshell this one! When the office of Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfield called about 18 months ago requesting our Jane Cheetah Print Bullet Bra for a new project we were in a bit of a quandry. The bra had been discontinued several months before and we’d already been a bit naughty lending archive samples to Vogue Paris when it was no longer availble (they begged!) You can’t really say no to Karl and Carine so we sent it off and never expected to hear anything else.

It turns our the bra was worn by Kirsten Dunst for ‘The Little Black Jacket’ a book celebrating Chanel’s famous black jacket. The book features 100 celebrities, actors, artists, singers and rock stars all wearing a Chanel black jacket in their own style.

The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon and you can see a preview of 20 images here.

As mentioned above, this bra is no longer available, but we have recently introduced a brand new semi sheer cheetah print bullet bra which we think is even sexier!

What Katie Did’s Cabaret Torsolette in Lone Wolf Magazine

What Katie Did’s Cabaret Torsolette makes it’s first appearance in Lone Wolf magazine in a shoot styled by Thea Lewis. Our Cabaret Torsolette is a piece of light control shapewear made from sheer organza and powermesh. Like with all our shapewear, it incorporates spiral steel boning. This piece was inspired by a vintage torsolette a customer brought in to our London boutique and contains the same vintage features including a vintage stitch detail on the front and cathedral boning on the cups. Available in peach or black.