Making Sustainability Sexy - one corset at a time.

Last year, when the pandemic hit and the world came to a brief pause and we found ourselves cooped up in the comfort of our own homes, in the beginning of the quarantine — I picked up something I love so much but have been neglecting because of the nature of the toxic fashion industry I had been a part of since I graduated with a BA in fashion design from Istituto Marangoni in 2010 — creating beautiful and unique pieces from scratch.

I started with a tablecloth. Made it into a gorgeous dress, then using forgotten clothes and other neglected fabrics that I already had at home I started making corsets. I always loved the feminine aspect of a corset. Despite the negative history. To me, a woman wearing a corset today is a symbol of empowerment, of sexual freedom, of control. She’s the one holding the laces, the one constructing her own femininity.

I love the entire process of creating — from developing the patterns to that first initial satisfying sound of the scissors cutting through the fabric to the whirr of the sewing machine I kept in our storage unit for years. The magic that happens when all the pattern pieces come together in something beautiful always enchanted me and still does.

The harsh reality of the fashion industry today is that it has 30-40% overproduction each season, and out of the 150 billion garments produced per year, 50% are disposed of in less than 12 months? So many of the “hottest styles” quickly become forgotten, and the popular concept of “fast fashion” is destroying our planet. I witnessed this first hand as a designer for multiple fashion brands over my career, and I decided this was my chance to really turn my pandemic “hobby” into a real brand and make the life that I wanted by creating change within the art of fashion design.

That’s how Cirque got its name — as a nod to the concept of circular fashion — the act of reusing fabric remnants from garments that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Cirque represents the idea of circular rebirth; by having these “scraps” made into corsets, I created upscale, beautiful signature pieces that tackle recyclability, sustainability, and style all at the same time. Besides, most people don't think of "sexy" or "empowering" when it comes to sustainable clothing. So I really knew I was on to something here.

I have spent the past year working on designs and production in my spare time: collecting fabric waste, developing sketches of corsets, and sewing them in my New York studio. The corset pattern is quite complex — there are so many different pieces to the patterns, some of my corsets have about 25-27 pattern pieces.

I’m extremely passionate about the beautiful designs that you can make from someone else’s “trash”. Who knew that my husbands grandmothers old curtains would make a marvelous piece.

My main focus for Cirque is to reuse and waste reduction. Vowing against contributing to the growing problem of waste. At Cirque we don’t produce — we reuse. And my dream would be to collaborate with bigger fashion houses to help change the way we look at fashion and our over-consumption habits.

I not only attach importance to sustainability in the clothing itself, but also in my packaging materials. My business cards and stickers are printed climate neutrally. The mailers are 100% compostable and the fabric scraps are reused and recycled down to the smallest remnant!

Each and everyone of us has the power to change something in the industry and help the environment by using our purchasing power in a thoughtful way. Cirque is launching July 2021 and my corsets will sell for $250 retail. With each purchase, I will also donate $5 to an environmentally-focused charity as a giveback.

I’m on a mission to prove that recyclability can be sexy, one corset at a time.