Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Bransom.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Melissa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was young, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother during the summers, and she taught my sisters and me how to sew. In my teenage years, I found myself joining the Boy Scout Explorer troops, Rendezvous reenactment corps. I learned to work with leather and throw a tomahawk. I learned to load and fire percussion cap rifles and to make the clothing of the time period. It was fun, and it taught me a lot about historical clothing that I use even now.
In my early 20’s I started going to the renaissance festival with friends and fell in love with the costumes. I taught myself to make my own, with the help of my grandmother and a lot of experimenting. That evolved into friends asking me to make costumes for them as well and I kept receiving commissions. One commission was a request to make a corset. I absolutely fell in love with corsetry. From that point on, I’ve been obsessed. I joined an online creative space that fosters people in historical costumes and corsetry, and work to make my corsets as functional as possible while also making them beautiful.
Five years ago, I had twins. Something about the two new little lives pushed me to go back to school. I graduated last December with a bachelor’s in fashion design from The Art Institute of Dallas while working full time in advertising as a Media Buyer. My Senior Collection has been my base concept and I have been building my designs since then. I’ve spent the last several months working on commissions, building my website, creating samples and promoting myself through word of mouth, Instagram and Facebook while building a following.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Fear of failure is difficult to overcome. I was afraid of not being good enough. Imposter syndrome is not easy for anyone who considers themselves an artist.
My mother passed away suddenly ten years ago, Combining that trauma and a four year battle with infertility, I finally was pregnant with twins. I felt like I won the lottery. I realized that the only person holding me back was me, and when my twins were 18 months old, I made myself get the formal training that I felt I needed and started pushing myself to explore more in fabric arts.
Please tell us about Mystras Corsetry & Clothier.
My business is a mix of fun fantasy costumes and alternative bridal gowns with historical elements and boudoir pieces. I adore corsets. Most of the pieces I create have a corset as the base the design is built upon. I love the challenge of engineering a corset to fit the body of the person who will wear it so well that it’s like a second skin.
I have a love of the stories of the fae of song and story and try to bring the fantastical myths to life with what I make. I’m particularly fond of using ice dyed fabrics to create textures and unique pieces that cannot be duplicated. Paired with lace applique, beading and some fun couture techniques, I get to build fabric on fabric to bring the images in my head to life.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I grew up with parents who adored each other and two younger sisters, one 13 months younger than me and the other five years younger. My father was in oil and we moved a bit. Midland, TX and Camarillo, California being the places we lived longest. We were in Midland until I was 14 then in Camarillo until I went to college the first time.
I was a weird mix of overly emotional and exuberant. Attention seeking and introverted. I had body image issues beginning around eight years old and have battled with those ever since. It’s one of the reasons I’m such a proponent for body image and making sure every single body has something that fits and that they love.
Pricing:
- Made to Measure Corsets start at $289
- Bespoke Corsetry (Made to your body specifically) start at $500
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mystrascorsetry.com
- Phone: 817.894.4746
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @mystrascorsetry
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mystrascorsetry
Image Credit:
Rebekah Klein, Robert Ray Photography, Paskey Boudoir
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