This week we met Giselle; a Bristol Undergraduate whose seriously sassy hand-embroidered underwear has started to attract quite a lot of attention…
So where did you get the idea to start making the underwear? It’s a pretty niche hobby!
It’s actually a pretty funny story-my group of friends and I do Secret Santa every year and this year I was absolutely skint, but I got talking to a girl who does her own embroidery and decided that it’d be a cool idea for a gift! I embroidered each of my friends faces onto a pair of pants-they went down surprisingly well. Textiles doesn’t exactly come naturally to me (I’ve broken a grand total of three sewing machines in my time!) but I slowly started getting better, and after Christmas when I had loads of threads left over I decided to just keep going. I set up the ‘Indelicates’ Instagram page just to share my designs, nothing too serious, but its actually attracted a lot of attention!
It seems like hobbies such as embroidery and knitting are enjoying a bit of a come back at the moment…
I totally understand why. Each design is a real labour of love, as they take a long time and are pretty fiddly, but it’s actually so therapeutic, especially in third year when the work is really piling on and the stress is mounting up.
A lot of your designs are quite political-is that intentional?
It’s funny because my first design after Christmas wasn’t necessarily me trying to be political-my friend and I had just been talking about Fidel Castro, so he was in my head when I picked up the needle and thread again! It’s true though, my designs are usually quite political, but I feel like that’s pretty inevitable with everything that’s going on today. Politics surrounds us, and you can’t help but get involved-especially as a young woman. But I do some more lighthearted designs too, usually when people request them-a girl messaged me on Instagram asking for some knickers with pizza on, so I kind of went a bit off-piste and made the design my own. I’m more than happy to take requests, but you might be a bit surprised by the finished product!
So which is your favourite design?
The Donald Trump designs are my favourite-he’s got kind of a ridiculous face, and pretty cartoonish features, which makes him so fun to draw! Also, there’s something hilarious about having Donald Trump’s face on your vagina-you can just walk around with a smile knowing you know something no one else knows.
Do you have an idea for your next design?
I think I’m going to carry on with the political designs-obviously I started them pretty randomly, but people love them! I’ve been asked by the band Menstrual Cramps to make a few more pairs of my Jeremy Corbyn ones for them to wear at an International Women’s Day gig in Camden. Aside from that, I’m starting work on the Brexit trio-maybe I’ll do all three on one pair?
Check out Giselle’s designs on her ‘Indelicates’ Instagram page by following the link below:
https://www.instagram.com/indelicatepants/