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We've written for years and years about San Francisco's legendary Dark Garden Corsetry — most recently, last year I wrote about the experience of getting fitted for one of their bespoke corsets.
The experience was so much fun that now swinging by Dark Garden is basically just a thing I do for funsies whenever I'm in San Francisco.
See, despite their name, their Hayes Valley shop isn't dark at all — it's a gorgeous light-filled space totally filled with textures and eye-candy and things you want to touch and smell and examine and stuff for feminine bodies and masculine bodies and and and…
Since I already have a Dark Garden corset, on my most recent visit I decided to poke into their NON-corsetry products, and dear lawd.
For starters, Dark Garden launched a collaboration this year with Revelation in Fit, a bra boutique that now lives in the shop's upstairs mezzanine. This means that a trip to Dark Garden now gets you in front of bras in sizes 28-46 A-KK from brands like Marlies Dekkers, Scantilly by Curvy Kate, Montelle, and Panache. (Tiny back, big rack brides: this means your boobs are finally accommodated!)
Dark Garden also carries a selection of dresses (like the gown I got, pictured at the top of this post), robes, and these cashmere pom-pom slippers I got that are now my favorite winter luxury:
In my poking through the shop (which turned 20 years old this year — you KNOW a biz is legit when it's stood the test of time) I also found fragrances, tiny little crowns, Dollymop hats by Kalico Delafey, jewelry, and and and….
Well, of course I also found wedding corsets. I mean, have you SEEN the stuff they do!?
So I mean, yes: clearly Dark Garden does corsets, and in fact does them like nobody's business… and clearly not all the corsets are dark! In fact, they just launched this amazing new naturals corset collection that's making me seriously question my decision to get a black corset last year.
But if you think it's all dark gothic wonderland, think again (I mean, they do that too, but you know). And if you think it's all corsets, ALSO think again. They do bras, they do dresses, they do accessories and events and and and… maybe I'll see you there in February when I'm in town. They've got a great list of in-store events coming up!
