That little addendum aside, I just popped open the box of a new dressform I was lucky enough to get my hands on from Roxy Display. I have been searching for a dressform that was a corseted shape (high bust, tiny waist, large hips), but had only been able to find either lingerie forms from Wolf, which are rather expensive, or the one's that they use at the Victoria and Albert Museum made by Proportion London, and, finally, one by Seigel & Stockman that I could not figure out if it was a draping form or just a display form (I really despise their site for finding information...)
I have also trolled eBay, Etsy, and Craigslist hoping to find a vintage dress form, but the only one's I could find were in nominal quality, and very, very expensive ($250+ before shipping).
I stumbled on this company through their eBay store, and I figured I would give it a shot - the dressform was around $60-ish, with another $15 in shipping, which was alright by me - definitely the most affordable option I'd run across yet, especially, again, since I was just looking for this form for photography purposes.
The shipping was lightning fast (I ordered on a Sunday, it was here by Thursday via UPS, which is always very slow to me for some reason) and very reasonable. I even made a mistake and ordered the wrong base/topper (I ordered natural wood, and would rather have the black) and they changed my order without a problem (note, however, that there was no price difference from one to the other - I don't think they'd be accommodating if there was an additional cost involved unless you (obviously) pay the difference)
Packaging was nice, no damage to the form or the stand in transit.
Exactly what I had ordered!
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You can see already the odd proportions of the dressform, and that is exactly what I was looking for for corset displays!
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There was a surprise when I pulled down the plastics - there is a hook on the back for hanging the form instead of displaying it on the base. Interesting, but I'm going to try to take it off (and store it, in case I do ever need to do something like that!)
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As you can see from this image, the dressform is hard plastic, not suitable for draping onto, covered in a jersey cover. This made me a happy panda, though, because I intend on adding some "padding" or "cush" to the dressform to make the corsets be a bit more realistic, as well as to bring the sizing of this one up a bit - I don't think even my good friend and usual model Becky has a waist this tiny when tightlacing!
This way, I can just remove the covering and add about an inch of padding, and then slip the jersey cover back over (hopefully - I have my fingers crossed for that, at least!)
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The base took a whole five minutes to put together (no instructions, but really, simple logic makes it a piece of cake to put together). It is way sturdier than the other display form I have, which had a horrible wobbly base - I may see if this base fits on that form, and order another, I hate the metal slab one I got with that dressform - it leans to the side because it doesn't fit right!
This one, however, is sturdy, and very pretty to boot, which is always a grand plus (it is "BS-02" on their site/store)
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As you can see in these final pictures, the dressform is really grand. Another plus that I did not expect was that it is adjustable in height, so it is going to look especially good with some of my corset-dresses that I'm working on.
Apologies as always on the state of the kitchen - I just wanted to see how it looked right away, couldn't wait long enough to clean ;P
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Final summary: I think this is a good dressform. To many, $75 is a lot of money to pay for something just to take pictures on, but I think it was a real deal for the quality. It fills something I've needed for a while now (padding out my adjustable POS dressform just wasn't cutting it - the corsets always look flat and bulky, not shapely like they actually are)
Again, this isn't for someone who just wants a dressform to work on - most people are not this size, either, so it is not always going to be appropriate. I definitely plan on having to pad out the waist when photographing corsets, but the shape is undeniably corseted.
The base and top are incredibly well made, and look great (they make the dressform look like something you'd see in a high-end boutique). It is adjustable in height, meaning you could set a few of these together to show off a collection if you're really ambitious.
I can say that if I get a boutique space, or even a workshop/gallery space like I'm looking into right now, I will be ordering many more of these from this company, because they look to be fantastic and very affordable.
As I use it more, I may revise my opinions here, but as it is, I'm pleasantly surprised!
