Shirley of Hollywood Launches Red Carpet Collection
Shirley of Hollywood didn’t have to search far for inspiration to create its Red Carpet Collection to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Dana Schlobohm-Walczuk, the company’s director of design, started with a drawing of a corset, which has been the logo of parent company National Corset Supply House for more than half a century.
To help re-create the mood of the era when Schlobohm-Walczuk’s grandfather, Herman Schlobohm, launched the company in 1948, she studied illustrated catalogs from the company’s archives and classic films such as Gentleman Prefer Blondes, starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. Modern construction and fabrics make the corsets wearable for today.
“The corsets that the women had to wear back then were so uncomfortable and so torture-chamber looking,” Schlobohm-Walczuk said of the corset boning made out of metal and wire that National Corset Supply House sold in its early days.
“Today, they make the boning out of spiral wire, so it is a lot more flexible, lightweight. It still provides support and shape, but it moves more with the body.”
National Corset Supply House was one of the chief suppliers of notions, bras and corsets to heavyweights in the industry, such as Frederick’s of Hollywood, in the 1960s.
In 1970, National Corset purchased the name Shirley of Hollywood from founder Shirley Haddeau and began manufacturing lingerie under the Shirley of Hollywood name. Haddeau was a longtime customer of National Corset and a sales manager for Hollywood Vassarette before she launched her own line.
For the anniversary Red Carpet Collection, Schlobohm-Walczuk piled on the glitz and sparkle. Velvet flocking and ornate beading embellish corsets, and ostrich feathers trim the collar and wrists of a long, black dressing robe. Wholesale prices range from $19.75 to $49.75.
Within the Red Carpet Collection are four limited-edition Marquee Design styles. Wholesale prices start at $130 and top off at $375 for a corset saturated with Swarovski crystals.
For more information, call (323) 261-0265. —Rhea Cortado
