The Seamstress - Gothic Clothing & Tailoring.

Though not strictly Goth,  Kathryn Rolfe’s Lingerie is a shop every woman needs to visit at least once in her life. No matter what size or shape you are, Kathryn will make you feel special. Set aside a couple of hours and make the trip. Her full fitting service is an experience not to be missed! The lingerie is sourced from some of the best in europe, it fits and lasts accordingly. The care and attention you will recieve is surpassed by none. Treat yourself, you won’t be sorry.

Partners - do not panic, this is one shopping experience you will enjoy too. You get to sit on the sofa with a drink (”tea, coffee, or something a little stronger?”) and relax. A record of your lady’s favorite items and their size is kept, so for special occasions you can choose a present, comfortable in the knowledge that she’ll love it and it will fit. Talk about bonus points!

A very personal recommendation; I won’t shop anywhere else. I travel half way across the country for bras that fit my 32GG curves (depending on the day and the bra - something every woman will appreciate, and which Kathryn understands as the expert she is), and have been welcomed back every time since my first visit one day, hoping to escape the pain of my ill fitting scaffolding.

What is Corpgoth Clothing?

Corpgoth (don’t you just hate portmanteau words) has developed over the last 10 years or so out of necessity. Those of us who used to lounge around in colleges and universities wearing black silk and silver jewellry all day finally had to get jobs. Unfortunately wearing floor length victorian velvet dresses or huge Byronic shirts and the like isn’t really suitable for “cube” wear, so we had to make do with the mundanity of normal clothes.

So for a decade or so we had to make do with black shirts, well cut pin-stripe suits, plain dresses and skirts and nothing more exciting than a pair of patent monk shoes or boring boots, but times are changing.

There are a whole host of designers who are now looking to re-define both Goth and Corporate clothing, combining the two so you not only look like you mean business, but you could probably kill them with little more than a look if they don’t agree during the weekly meeting!

So have a search around, don’t settle for the mundane.

the apprentice.

Goth shoes are normally restricted to the huge and oft uninspiring wedges of foam rubber, with cheap shiny leather and a plethora of un-necessary buckles and laces, so imagine our surprise when we were introduced to the glory of Jeffrey-West gothic hand-made shoes (we’re calling them goth, not the company themselves, but we make absolutely no apologies for this!).

With influences such as Francis Dashwood (Chancellor of the Exchequer and founder of the Hellfire Club), Beau Brummell, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris, who could doubt the individuality that Mark Jeffery and Guy West are trying to capture with these objects of desire!

As far as pure dark fantasy is concerned, have a look at the Rochester Terrence skull detail boot, which is a classic design which only the real shoe fetishist will notice has the tiny (but beautifully formed!) skull details on them. However EVERYONE will notice the points and the quality!

However, as we rarely get a chance to go fully fantasy (we need to earn money as well, and these shoes are capable of being both corporate and goth at the same time), we’re going for the Dashwood Leather Chukka Boot. The flat toe draws slightly less attention than the good old “winkle picker” points (which I could never pull off - even in the eighties), but with closer observation the brogueing shows something just that little bit more interesting than the carbon copy boots found elsewhere.

So if you’re growing too old for the New Rocks, and the biker boots don’t really go with the suit and tie, then corpgoth shoes are the way to go!

(Many thanks to Dan Evans on behalf of messrs West and Jeffery for giving us permission to pinch the pics)

theapprentice@theseamstress.co.uk)