What prom dress or wedding gown bodice wouldn’t benefit from this Rococo style metallic brocade in robin’s egg blue with a fleur d’lis and anthacus leaf patterns in gold and metallic thread? This one-of-a kind fabric came from the New York Garment District.

A corset can take off six inches from a woman’s waistline says Brooke Paradis, owner of The Corsetiere of Dragontown on Race Street. “It’s most rewarding to produce something that makes a woman feel beautiful when she puts it on,” said Paradis. “Self-esteem seems to be in short supply.”

Brooke Paradis, owner of The Corsetiere Of Dragontown on Race Street in the Victorian styled Old Mauch Chunk Historic District of Jim Thorpe displays her original corset designs, like the Dr. Seuss design on the right, in the window of her recently opened shop. This is one of the few places in the country where a woman can try on a corset for proper sizing.

In this post feminist period, the fashion pendulum may be undergoing a current Renaissance, shifting from clothing designed for comfort to clothing designed for style and reaching back into the original Renaissance and Victorian periods for influence.

Styles of that period, identified with uplifted bosoms, tapered midriffs, and narrow waists depended upon an undergarment, the corset, to achieve the shape, or as it is called in the trade, the foundation

A corset gives shape to a body. With a hooked closure in the front and tightening laces up the back, it is designed to take six inches off a lady’s waist.

On Race Street in the Victorian styled Old Mauch Chunk Historic District of Jim Thorpe, a corset shop, The Corsetiere Of Dragontown, recently opened. As with most fashion Renaissances—this is not your grandmother’s corset shop.

Using costly fabrics from Rococo metallic brocade, campy cotton prints of Dr, Seuss characters, or a gothic black velvet spider web of cotton overlaid with shear black mesh, Corsetiere owner Brooke Paradis, 28 of Swiftwater creates a corset that will take your breath away in more ways than one.

While studying costuming, Paradis noticed that it was not possible to wear a period gown and recreate the period look without wearing a corset.

The foundation for Paradis’ eventual decision to go into women’s foundations occurred years before her birth. Her childhood idol, great aunt Nellie, wore a corset all the time as a result of a back injury that she received while tobogganing at the age of 17.

From birth, aunt Nellie “made me practically every stitch of clothing that I owned, including my Halloween costumes,” said Paradis.

At five years old, aunt Nellie sat young Brooke at her sewing machine. “She taught me most of what I know,” explained Paradis. “I would go along with her when she went upstairs to sew and sit there for hours. She had graceful hands—almost like watching a dancer.”

Brooke wanted a dress to play in. “Aunt Nellie took a pair of old lace curtains,” Paradis continued. “She cut out a dress and sat me at the sewing machine. She was so patient. After that, I was on my own. They couldn’t stop me— I loved it.”

Once mastering the basics, Paradis was making her own clothing. “I went on my own and taught myself a great deal,” she noted. “Whatever I made, I showed to aunt Nellie to ask if I had done it right. She was wonderful.” Aunt Nellie has since passed away.

Paradis’s family came from Stroudsburg but she was born in at Kent Air Force Base, in Dover, Delaware where her father was stationed. Before returning to the Stroudsburg area, Paradis lived several years in Salem, Massachusetts and spent a semester at Virginia Commonwealth University.

She had enrolled in the Costuming program in Theater department and was frustrated. “They wouldn’t let me test to skip any classes,” she remembered” I was stuck in a beginner sewing class. So I quit.”

On her own, Paradis started making historic costumes. “I always dressed up,” she said. “ I wish it were Halloween every day.”

While making historic clothing, particularly from the Renaissance and Civil War periods, it became clear to her that “ladies can’t wear the dress without the corset to give her the proper shape.”

She began making corsets finding them “fun to make.”

She designs, cuts and sews all the corsets she sells. Leftover material is used to make purses and potpourri filled sachets. “I get this great fabric to make corsets and don’t have the heart to throw out the scraps,” she explained.

She adores fabrics and often purchases them from the New York Garment District. She uses a variety of fabrics—from cotton printed with flames and skulls, up to an $80-a-yard silk brocade.

The Corsetiere’s customers range between 16 and 55 years old. But unlike the corsets of years gone by, the twentieth century corset is typically worn on the outside. Teens wear them with jeans as a dressy alternative to a tank top. Paradis gets frequent orders for high-end corsets to be used as a prom or wedding gown bodice.

Though principally marketed to women, five percent of her sales are to men. “I make corsets for drag queens and cross dressers,” noted Paradis. “They are fun to work with. They know what they want and appreciate the quality.”

Though Paradis has a personal collection of fifty of her corsets, you’ll never see her wearing one in her shop. “I wear corsets often,” she said, “but it gets awfully uncomfortable wearing one slumping over a sewing machine.”

“It’s most rewarding to produce something that makes a woman feel beautiful when she puts it on,” said Paradis. “Self-esteem seems to be in short supply.”

The Corsetiere of Dragontown is located at 103 Race Street in Jim Thorpe, 570-325-9480, www.dragontowncorsets.com.