There were many reasons why a Wasp Creations corset was the de facto standard for tightlacing corsets. I remember several years ago, when I was still quite young, visiting Amy and feeling awed by how she had taken an “old craft” and infused it with so much innovation. Below I list just a few of Amy’s corset innovations that stand out the most to me.

(1) The shape of her corsets. Not quite a true pipestem and definitely not an hourglass. The Wasp Creations shape, with the extended waistline, was exactly what I was looking for in a corset.

(2) The zipper. I remember asking Amy whether the zipper was durable enough to handle the rigors of daily tightlacing (how naive I was then…!). Rather than giving me an answer of “of course,” she instead drew from having crunched the numbers and quoted some ratio of how much stronger the zipper was compared to a traditional closure (e.g., “the zipper can handle 32 times more force…”).

(3) The integrated lacing protector. This was the one innovation that stood out the most to me. It was simple, it was creative, and it solved a very clear problem. Brilliant.

(4) The thick, flat steel underbusk. This is such a signature of her corsets. After having worn corsets that have a flimsier underbusk, I came to appreciate how much more structure and support the thick underbusk provided.

(5) The fit. However she did it, the corset fit perfectly. Her methods of fitting corsets designed for tightlacing just worked.

Add to the above the durability of her work (I’ve had mine now for more than 3 years…it has stood the test of time) and it’s clear why people simply fell in love with Amy’s work. Amy’s innovations in corsetry inspire me to think more creatively about the work that I do and see ways to make things that have been around for hundreds of years better.