Not many people know this, but I started modelling because I wanted to be a burlesque performer. I figured that I should get some shots done of me to promote myself early on, but I realized that I really enjoyed modelling and that I just didn't have the time to do burlesque on top of school and work. It's something I'd love to do at some point, but I currently don't have enough time or money to learn how to do it properly. But through this interest is how I came to love burlesque costumes and the lingerie performers would strip down to. It's usually much more intricate and detailed in a way that mainstream lingerie isn't, and at the time of my discovery of burlesque, I wasn't incredibly familiar with incredibly detailed luxury lingerie.
Due to this, I'm always excited when lingerie brands are centred around creating pieces for burlesque like Catherine D'Lish, Sweet Carousel, and Manuge et Toi. To my delight, I have found another brand that caters to burlesque performance, created by a burlesque and fetish performer. Maison Chardon is the brainchild of performer, Strawberry Cherie, who began performing in 2012 and launched Maison Chardon in 2015.
Noire Elegance Set and hood.
Cherie is a queer performer from France who is a graduate of Ecole des Beaux Arts for fine arts and alongside being a performance artist and designer, Cherie is also a photographer and visual artist. Cherie moved to Seoul and performed her fetish acts there and sometimes in Japan, and her acts consist of food play and bondage to create "wet and messy nightmares". She joined the WhiteLies BurlesqueRevue in Seoul in 2012 and left the troupe in 2014. Cherie has since moved to Toronto and has based her brand out of the city.
Maison Chardon is an extension of Cherie's onstage persona. The garments are rooted in dark fantasy with a kawaii twist, which I imagine is inspired by her time in Asia. Everything is incredibly detailed and often finished with beading and ribbons, and considering the amount of work put into their garments, Maison Chardon's prices are fairly reasonable. When the brand was operating out of Seoul, fabrics and materials were sourced locally out of Korea, but now that the brand is based in Toronto, it's likely that they are importing the same materials in order to maintain consistency in their designs. Perhaps this has or will affect the price of their garments? Alongside this, all leather elements used are vegan.
Alongside lingerie, Maison Chardon also makes fetish accessories like hoods, chokers, and whips, but they also make ready-to-wear garments like dresses and pants. Of course, they too are fetish and burlesque inspired so the wearer would have to be quite bold to wear these pieces out anywhere but a fetish party.
Everything made by Maison Chardon is made to order and their website only lists sizes S/M/L, but it is possible to order out of this size range if you email the brand with your measurements. Maison Chardon also takes custom orders if you want to create something with them beyond their current collections, and they create custom corsets as well.
Overall, I'm really excited by this brand and I'm looking forward to seeing more from them! It's always a treat when a designer creates garments for a market that they know and work in, they really get what people are looking for. I'd also suggest supporting this brand if you're a fan of queer art, as Cherie is a queer artist and designer. It goes back to the principle of putting your money where your mouth is, if you want to see more queer visibility in lingerie and like Maison Chardon's designs, it's definitely worth it to buy from them if you can afford it. Of course, everyone's financial situations are different, but if you have the disposable income for lingerie and want to support queer artists, it's always a good idea to support smaller indies than the larger brands.
I've attached some more photos of some of my other favourite Maison Chardon garments below and let me know what you think of them in the comments!
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