6  CUSTOMERS

 

 

6.1 GENERAL

 

The customers she inherited from Gardner’s were drawn from the highest to the lowest social standings and from about 15 countries worldwide. They included:-

 

-   Individual women - single or married

 

-   Married coupes or partners, who both wore corsets

 

-   Individual men -single and married

 

-   Customers Inherited from Overett and Madame Marie Stafford of Sunbury.

 

There were public school educated men and women and women who had been first corseted at the insistence of nuns at convent schools in the late 1940s.

 

Several individuals and not a few couples were introduced to Gardner’s and Iris after forming acquaintanceships with Will and Ethel Granger. Many travelled as much as 200 miles to visit her, first at Gardner’s and then at home. Those from overseas would include a visit en route elsewhere or on visits to the UK.

 

 

6.2  COUPLES

 

In one case, a husband and wife and their secretary became customers. The couple had tight-laced since the 30's and they had encouraged their secretary to train her figure too, when all three were customers of Overett. This salon, with no criticism of Iris, produced corsets whose fit they would extol even 24 years after his death.

 

A large-framed woman, the secretary reduced from 28 to 19 inches between 1955 and 1960 and remained as a customer of Iris from 1962 until 1999 shortly before her death. She favoured the same style of corset as Iris wore, the Godet L267 with, in 1965, an amazing 26 inch hip-spring with, and to please a foible of her husband's, as many as seven pairs of suspenders. Iris also made the couple a number of mannequin styles over the years to wear at corset soirées or as Iris called them parties. Her husband had worn corsets since his teens but the onset of arthritis forced him to stop in his 70's.

 

Since she had few personal customers who enjoyed the hip control of the Godet style, Iris always enjoyed appointments with this customer, and would discuss the advantages and the trials being tightly laced whilst driving long distances or in warm weather.

 

From the Midlands hailed the smallest waisted customer on Iris’s books who had initially dealt with Yanovsky or Jean Appleby’s salon in Edgware Road, London. She moved to Iris in about 1965. A school nurse, she had corseted since the age of eleven in the late 1940's as required by her convent school, very much like Isobel’s experience with her Scottish boarding school about a decade later, and emulated her mother when she began tight-lacing as a student nurse in the mid-1950's. Before pregnancy, she had reached 18 inches and recounted how her husband brought corsets to her while on the maternity ward, so much had she missed being corseted. From about 1965 she practised 24 hour a day tight-lacing and maintained a 17 inch waist, but that was her limit. As Iris wrote:-

 

“No, Mrs._ has never ordered anything smaller than 17 inches. He wanted her to once, but she would not have it.”

 

She very much liked Mrs _ and wrote:-

 

“I think Mrs. _ looks very nice as she is, I don't think she should go any smaller. She came in here once and I should think she was pulled too tight and had a job to breathe, I think it is mad. I hope she doesn't get like Mrs. Granger, I think she looked horrible" 10 June 1985

 

Her husband who had always admired her waist was also encouraged to corset and became a customer of Iris in the mid-1970s and remained a customer until Iris died.

 

Interestingly, Mrs _ shared Iris’s preference for very long stocking heels and for special occasions wore tan stockings with such heels in the older square, or cuban shape and not the point heels she usually wore because they were readily available. It turned out that as a young woman in the 1950's they had been her favourite style and her husband liked the style very much too. They said they liked the look of having the stocking heels ending not far from the 1950s hem line, which began at mid-calf. She had preserved several pairs of them from the 1950's and kept them for over 30 years for wear on special occasions.

 

A modest woman, she had been surprised in the early 1980's to realise what an impression her amazing waist made on the male sex, and would amusedly relate that she was sure that the aura she brought to a discussion enabled her to win her point where, given the tendency for the man to prevail, she was sure she would have been the loser.

 

Another tight-lacing couple hailed from Norway and the man worked for the UN in New York. In the early 1980's the wife was suddenly afflicted with a form of eczema which was traced to the metal in her corset steels. Iris tried every means of isolating the metal in special pockets, but to no avail, and the disappointed woman now in her 50's was forced to abandon the tight-lacing regime she had begun in her teens in the early post war era and she had enjoyed in partnership with her husband who continued as a customer of Iris.

 

She wrote of another couple:-

 

"I've made a few corsets lately and they all seem satisfied. Had a chap come Tuesday for his, he was more than pleased and may fetch his girl friend"  July 21 1983

 

Another man began corseting because his wife did, only for her to stop:-

 

"The man whose wife's photos were taken for Mr. Gardner's catalogue phoned the other day. I asked him if he wrote to you but he said not yet. I don’t think his wife is keen on it (tight lacing) by what he said." Jan 8, 1985

 

 

6.3 LADY CUSTOMERS

 

6.3.1  Cathie JUNG   After the first LGM Bal she attended, Iris did make a corset for Cathie Jung and made some more later.   “Yes, Cathie Jung and her husband came to see me, he seemed quite pleased with the corset, it fitted her, I think to a T. They ordered another on the phone last week but I shan't do it till I come back (from holiday). I should not say anything to X as he might think I'm taking his customers. Mr. B of Germany sent me a note to see if I was still making Mr. Gardner's styles so I wrote back and said I was. Then I phoned X for a piece of the beige material for Cathie Jung's but did not tell him who it was for. He asked me if I wanted to do a high top with fluted hips for Mr. B but he was waiting for material to come, but I said I was going away so I suppose he (X) will do them himself.”  July 1993   6.3.2  ETHEL GRANGER   Whilst at Gardner’s, Iris dealt with Will and Ethel Granger, but like most corsetières who the couple patronised, the relationship didn't last, largely on account of Will's overbearing personality.   "As for Mrs. Granger, she died last year sometime so I heard. I've heard of all the makers you mention, but think some of them don't do it now, but I made Mrs. Granger a few corsets when she could not get them done anywhere else."  1 Aug 1983   "Mrs. Granger died last year. I think it was in the paper; somebody told me it was the evening one. They seemed very nice people but I only met them once. The corset I made for her was about 12" deep, no suspenders, but she had them made in other places as well."  Oct 1983.

 

6.3.3  THE PRIVATE LADY FROM AYLESBURY   One of Iris's most private, but loyal customers, was a woman from Aylesbury, Bucks who had entrusted her corseting to Iris, first at Gardner’s and then privately until Iris died. She had tight-laced in the early years of marriage and only returned to it in the 1970's when she divorced and resumed work as a nurse. At first she wore corsets for support at work, but decided to recreate her youthful waist which she achieved, no doubt under Iris's counsel. She wore the L267 Godet, finally maintaining a waist of 18 inches with a hip-spring of 23 inches. 6.3.4  MARIA-ANNA JÄGER   (added in 2009 and courtesy of Thomas B. Lierse, creator of the Long Island Staylace Association)   This is a picture taken in 2005 (at age 60) of a German tight-lacer Maria-Anna Jäger. Although the photograph is taken well after Iris Norris stopped working, such was the strength (by neccessity) of her creations that this might well still be an 'Iris Norris original'.

6.4  GENTLEMEN CUSTOMERS

 

New gentleman customers, whose first contact with a corsetière was Mrs. Norris, often approached such a contact nervously, because they had the perception they had that their desire to corset was in some way unseemly. Indeed, some would relate of firm rebuffs when they had attempted to make contact elsewhere. However, those whose first contact was Iris Norris were almost universally surprised by the way she gave a friendly response to every question along with a suggestion that they should visit Gardner's salon whenever they wished. Anyone who spoke over the telephone felt instantly at ease and would not have hesitated however shy, to take up her suggestion.

 

A woman clad in only her corsets, suspenders and stockings has been the butt of vulgar humour from the time of the music hall until Benny Hill. Small wonder therefore that the idea that a man may disrobe and be seen wearing the same, was and is the fear that filled the potential customer of a corset maker with despair.

 

However, it is certain that every customer who had for the first time pressed the fitting room bell to summon Iris Norris and then wait as the sense of shame and blushing took over, was immediately disarmed as the door opened and she stood there with her tape measure. The combination of the gentle tone of her voice and the calm matter of fact words, served to re-assure the customer that he was being accepted for what he was and not being judged. Simon's corsetière, Mary, had a similar approach to Iris:-

 

"She said that she had always enjoyed being corseted and felt that anyone who had similar feelings should be actively encouraged."

 

Iris Norris had the best relationships, whilst working on her own, with gentlemen who wore stockings and suspenders with their corsets as she did. One can only speculate that there was a mutual recognition that, despite the fundamental difference of gender, they shared something important to their daily lives in common.

 

While they were a distinct minority, they were in no way worthy of censure of such requirements. She understood that the world was made up of all kinds of people and few were bad. How had this come about? How did her non-judgmental attitude form?

 

In the case of Iris it is clear that unlike firms and individual corsetières who dealt exclusively with women, Gardner's where she always worked, had always made corsets for men. Her first boss Arthur Gardner wore them himself. She had machined men's corsets. In time she met such customers, generally established customers of the firm.

 

When she assumed more duties in the 1970's and new gentlemen approached the firm in response to advertisements her salon manner was well established.

 

What was this salon manner? It was at heart simply that of an employee of the business desiring to satisfy the customers' needs. The dictum was that 'the customer is always right'. With such an attitude, there was no room for any misguided moral judgment. In any case, where would one draw the line. Was it alright for a man to wear a corset if medically necessary, and wrong if he wanted to because largely on a subconscious level he liked the support it gave. Attempts have been made to define the motivation to corset in psychological terms and the findings and interpretations are always found wanting.

 

However, given that within the spectrum of behaviour of men where would be some whose behaviour bordered on that of impropriety, corsetières experienced with gentleman customers could quickly sum up what kind of a person they were dealing with. In this regard, Iris was no exception. She was a good judge of character and the writer generally agreed with her opinion.

 

Likewise, she had become a businesswoman and customers, especially repeat customers, represent income and a livelihood. The key is to develop the ability to accommodate their behaviour and suppress one's personal feelings unless circumstances demanded otherwise. A satisfied customer, regardless of character within reason, represents repeat business and traditionally, customers patronized Gardner’s for their entire adult lives. It would, as we know, take a sea change in public attitude in the 1940's for the service to decline over a generation to the point of oblivion by 1990.

 

Her customers ranged from the sincere and polite and pleasant, to the arrogant, presumptuous and pushy. If a customer was at the limit of acceptably, they would be discouraged. Whilst business is business, serious insensitivity of the respect of the corsetière is always unacceptable. She applied the same standards when she set up to work alone.

 

There's no doubt that she did have her favourites and those fortunate individuals would echo Simon’s observation of his corsetière Mary, that:-

 

"Quite why she took to me so affectionately I shall never know, but I shall always be glad that she did."

 

Likewise there are persons would say of Iris, as Simon did of his corsetière:-

 

"I will always be thankful to Mary. She was very kind and gentle and responded to my fascination with corsets in a very positive and encouraging way."

 

In point of fact, such persons had always been customers of Gardner’s from Edwardian times. However in those less tolerant times, all had been very discreet and non-judgmental.

 

However, the overt behaviour of some such persons in the 1980's meant that they were quickly shown the proverbial door by Iris. It was not the special reason they had for seeing her, it was their attitude and behaviour that she could and would not tolerate.

 

She did however say that she felt that those guilty of presumption and arrogance failed to understand that she had neighbours, and that she could not be the cause of behaviour which, though she might tolerate it as essentially harmless, others might find it objectionable. Twenty years on, of course, such has been the change in what is regarded as acceptable behaviour that today almost anything goes. It may be better that Iris had moved on.

 

That said, for persons with such needs, who were sincere and polite and pitched the request properly, after the corset fitting, she would allow them to remain in the salon and dress in their female apparel. Such was her empathy that she might even remain with them and assist them and comment or reassure them that their new corsets were achieving the effect they sought.

 

Despite that, she did in point of fact say that she had very few transvestite customers, and observed that she had found that it was not a corset that they needed but a girdle bought in a department store that was more easily purchased, and was much cheaper given the total outlay such a lifestyle had.

 

Like Simon’s Mary, she also realised that some men, like some women who have corseted regularly, felt motivated to reduce their waists. There is no doubt that Iris would agree with Simon’s observation that had Mary lived:-

 

"I would have been trained to have an even better hip-spring than I had, although I was more than happy with what we had achieved."

 

Indeed, Simon gives testimony to the fact that after the initial period of getting to know one another, the customer-corsetière relationship, whatever the gender of the parties involved, becomes a partnership and usually one of mutual trust and respect.

 

There was the owner of a stately home (that has been much used as a back drop for films and television,) a career army officer, he had begun corseting when his female mentor introduced him to Lawrence Lenton in 1938, moving to Overett after the war and to Gardner’s in 1962 before continuing with Iris in 1981. He was a one of a number of ex-army or RAF officers who were initially with Overett.

 

From overseas, there was a customer was a German aerospace engineer much involved in rocketry, who had been a Gardner’s customer since the early 1960's. From South Africa a man continued to patronise her until his later 80's and who died in 1989. He had first appreciated a tight 'Sam Brown' belt arrangement on his uniform when a junior officer in Palestine in 1917 and his first corsetier was Mr. S Lee of Southsea, near Portsmouth.

 

With long established customers of both sexes and whom she respected, she took a concern in their personal lives. Typically she followed the retirement years of one customer especially when she didn’t hear from him only to re-emerge as a widower as is evidenced below.

 

A public school boy, he had been an executive with an major oil company who had spent years in foreign parts. He and his wife had followed the Lenton, Stafford, Overett, Gardner path. For the first forty years of their marriage, both he and his wife had worn corsets appropriate to the climate wherever they lived. Suffering ill-health late in the 1970's, his wife gave up tight-lacing, but he continued to wear the military type high-top corset as he had done for many years with suspenders and fully fashioned stockings under his business suits. He wore this to work and continued to do so after retirement and after the death of his wife.

 

He subsequently remarried his wife's friend, apparently on condition he gave up wearing corsets and stockings, and it's unclear whether he felt giving up the corsets had not been worth it and the marriage failed within a few years. Ironically he was cruelly handicapped by a stroke in 1991 and found solace again if he could get into his corsets though he was forced to abandon stockings. Amazingly he had retired to newly gentrified Fulham, within half a mile of his first corsetière, Lenton.

 

Iris regarded him with real affection and mused that he lived in fear of her giving up for, in addition to getting regular replacements, he would make a sudden order for up to ten corsets in three styles. When a customer sent her a Hella Knabe-style culotte (leg) corset for alteration, she carefully measured the panels used to construct it, and advised our customer who had a large wardrobe of corsets of many styles, that she could now do him the style she had previously preferred not to do. He wrote to Iris to say how touched he was by her kind spirit and initiative that would now allow his long held ambition to lace into one. At the time of her threat to retire, although older than Iris and with a large serviceable wardrobe of corsets, he had estimated how many he would need till his 80's and had commissioned 10 new corsets This is how she wrote of him: "I made Mr. Mc_  a corset about July but he never mentioned his wife’s (death)." 13 Aug 1989   Later she was to write more positively, if somewhat wistfully that he had strayed from the path of corseting:-   "Did you know Mr. Mc_  got married at the beginning of the month. I think he has given up corsets. He said he won't need any more so I guess I've lost myself a good customer."  26 August 1990 Only weeks later she wrote "Mr. Mc_  never got married again. He wrote for a new corset and said he was going to Canada to think it over  (second marriage delay)."  1 Oct 1990   "I heard from that Mr. Mc_  about two weeks ago. He has moved out. I don't think they hit it off and I think it got worse after his stroke. I feel sorry for him since he seems a very nice man but I suppose nobody knows anybody until you live with them. I think it was silly of him to give it (corseting) up, he very likely missed it."  3 Sept 1993