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photograph:
Emelie Westerlund
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Here Miss Bellasis' secretary has
transcribed just a few of the queries received at Verbena House
along with Miss Bellasis' replies. Questions such as those
listed below will surely be of interest to many of you. If
you have a query please do not hesitate to contact Miss Bellasis,
stating whether you mind having your letter published if we feel
the answer will aid the nipple tassel buying public; names
can be changed if necessary.
How does ones
attach the pasties?
What size are your
pasties?
How does one get
them moving?
Nipple tassels
or pasties - a definition
How ought they
be cleaned?
What is meant
by animal friendly 'leather'?
What is the
inspiration and history behind Miss Bellasis?
How does one
attach them?
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Dear Miss Bellasis
I would like to purchase a pair
of your delightful nipple tassels and wish to know how
one attaches them. I have heard it is possible to
use eyelash glue or spirit gum. Please advise.
Yours Sincerely
Delphine Dubois (Miss)
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Dear Miss Dubois
It is true that
one can use spirit gum or other 'body' glue but we recommend
the use of double sided tape. One can use one of
the many tapes on the market designed for keeping clothing
in place or, as tests at Verbena House have revealed,
ordinary double sided 'sticky tape' will do the trick
if you are not going to be moving terribly vigourously.
Always ensure
that that your skin is clean, dry and grease free before
attaching pastie to skin - if not the pastie is unlikely
to adhere properly. The importance of this cannot
be stressed enough, one wouldn't like to be blamed for
an untimely incident, accident or social faux pas.
All pairs of
nipple tassels and pasties come beautifully packaged with
enough tape for several "applications". Should
you have any further questions please do not hesitate
to contact me.
Yours Sincerely
Miss Bellasis
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What size are they?
Dear Miss Bellasis
I would like to know the size of
your nipple tassels and merkins and whether it would be
possible to have them made to a different size.
Yours Sincerely
Ava Satana
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Dear Ava Satana
Pastie diameters are as follows:
Ribbon: 5 ½ cm
Satin: round - 5½ cm; square
- 4½ cm; diamond shaped - 5 cm; heart shaped -
5 ½ cm, across widest part
Sequin: 5 cm, across the widest
point
Vintage: as for Satin or Ribbon
depending on the style
Merkins are approximately 6cm
across the widest part.
Traditionally the size of the pastie
is relative to the size of the aureole, being the bare
minimum able to circumnavigate nudity laws. The
size is not necessarily relative to bust size, but we
do believe that everyone should be able to wear Miss Bellasis
nipple tassels with confidence and so we can make other
sizes if necessary.
If you have any particular needs
please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours Sincerely
Miss Bellasis
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How does one
get them moving?
Dear Miss Bellasis
Our family has fallen on hard times
and my mother has suggested that I take to the stage in
order to save the family from financial embarassment.
I have always secretly desired the life of a burlesque
star and feel that an act involving the twirling of nipple
tassels would be a suitable one, taking into account my
primary assets and athletic bent. I found your wonderful
site while searching for the accoutrements for my act
and would like a few tips on twirling technique.
Yours Sincerely
Cordelia Worthington
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Dear Miss Worthington
I was discussing just this matter
over a gin and tonic the other day. The answer,
my dear, is practice, practice, practice and yet more
practice - but following are a few helpful hints. Perhaps
the easiest movement to start with is to put your hands
behind your head and bob up and down, this should get
both the tassels rotating inwards. This excellent
first exercise will enable you to build up your confidence,
though it must be admitted that bouncing up and down in
this manner rather brings to mind the 100 metre dash on
school sports day than the seductive charm of a seasoned
twirler. To get them twirling the same way a little
shoulder technique is needed. Bend forward, place
your palms on your knees then rub up them and down your
thighs, moving your hands alternately, slowly standing
up as you do so. With practice this should really get
'things' going. The rest is up to you. Very best of luck
with your career.
Yours Sincerely
Miss Bellasis
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This additional advice comes from a delightful
girl whom Miss Bellasis met in the Famous Spiegeltent, during
the 2005 Brighton Festival.
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My name is Hayley,
I bought a pair of heart shaped nipple tassels from you
after La Clique on Friday night. I tried them on
this morning and they're brilliant, thankyou very much!
I've just taken a look at your website and I thought I'd
mention another technique for moving the tassels. I find
that raising either your left arm or right arm moves them
- it made them rotate in opposite directions.
All the best
Hayley
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Always ready to take advice, there has been much
practising here at Verbena House of the technique Hayley suggests
and we can indeed report that it works rather well; furthermore
it looks somewhat more alluring than the '100 metre dash' effect
as described above. Thank you very much Hayley and the very
best of luck with your future twirling.
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Nipple
tassels or pasties, semantics or pedantry?
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Dear Miss Bellasis
I am rather confused
by the terms used to describe your merchandise. What
is the difference between 'nipple tassels' and 'pasties'?
Does one pronounce pasties as though one discussing
the delicious comestibles from our fair Cornwall or rather
as when describing a particularly pallid complexion?
Yours Sincerely
Henrietta Fairfield (Miss)
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Dear Miss Fairfield
There was a time
too when I was confused about the terms. However
whilst working one day I was listening, as usual, to the
wonderfully informative BBC Radio 4 and had the fortune
to catch just such a debate on air; this made the situation
at least partly clearer. Pasties, it transpired,
was the term used in America to refer to the cone part
alone - within the burlesque scene a lady may have several
pairs of pasties but only one pair of tassels, which would
then be attached to any one of the pairs of 'pasties'.
'Pasties' now appears to be the generic term in the US
for what we, over this side of the pond, term nipple tassels.
Miss Bellasis uses the terms to distinguish between
those pairs that have tassels, such as Hesther, and those
that do not, such as Peggy; or when talking specifically
about the cone part alone. Pasties, for the record, is
pronounced as in paste, not as in pasta. I do hope
this has been of help.
Yours Sincerely
Miss Bellasis
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How ought they be cleaned?
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Dear Miss Bellasis
After a rather sordid night out I
seem to have acquired a stain on my gorgeous Miss Bellasis
nipple tassels, what can I do?
Yours sincerely
Lizzie Tawdry
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Dear Miss Tawdry
First and foremost we do suggest
that you try to avoid soiling your Miss Bellasis nipple
tassels or pasties and also that if the stain is one such
as red wine or lipstick then all will probably be lost and
you might just have to purchase a new pair. Secondly we
offer the following as guidance only with a disclaimer to
the effect of that, although we have carried out various
tests at Verbena House, we cannot be held responsible for
any damage or worsening of the stain.
With ribbon pasties Velvet gentle
hand washing as you would your fine lingerie or stockings
might help; do not leave to soak and do not scrub. Gently
press with a clean towel then dry flat in a warm place.
For those made of ribbon with tassels
and those in the satin collection we recommend gently dabbing
stains with a dry cleaning fluid type stain remover - follow
the instructions on the bottle, but please note that you
should avoid getting the fluid on beads, dice, diamante
or other trims.
For the animal friendly 'leather'
backings of the satin and sequin pasties, the following
advice may help. If you have the grey or cream backing on
your pasties, stains might respond to gentle rubbing with
dry cleaning fluid or alcohol. The red backing might respond
to careful cleaning with baby oil though this might also
affect how well they will stick in future. DO NOT use dry
cleaning fluid or similar on the red backing as this will
damage the surface. Please note that we do suggest that
you use tape as mentioned above in How Does One Attach
Them ; this will avoid the inevitable residue of adhesives.
We suggest you do not attempt to clean any from the Vintage
and Limited Edition Collection, save treating the back as
above, but you are welcome to contact us with any query
you might have about care for these.
Please do not hesitate to contact
us should you require any further help.
Yours sincerely
Miss Bellasis
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What is meant
by animal friendly 'leather'?
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Dear Miss Bellasis
I notice that you use the term 'animal
friendly leather' when describing the backings of your pasties.
Just what do you mean? How can leather be animal friendly?
Yours sincerely
Lady Virginia Fanning
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Dear Lady Fanning
You will see I hope, that we place
'leather' in inverted commas. We use an imitation leather
of the highest quality - the same as that used by many reputable
vegetarian and vegan shoemakers and clothiers as well as
sportswear manufacturers. We do not use anything of
animal origin, anything that contains anything of animal
origin or anything that has been tested on animals.
Please visit the links page and follow the link to the Vegan
Society and Viva! for a wealth of interesting information
on this subject.
Yours sincerely
Miss Bellasis
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What is the
inspiration and history behind Miss Bellasis?
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Dear Miss Bellasis
I came across your site whilst walking
briskly on the paths on the World Wide Web. I was
surprised to find a lady such as yourself engaged in such
a profession as this and I am interested to discover how
you embarked upon your career. I would also like to
learn a little about the inspiration behind your 'craft'.
Yours Sincerely
Edna Welthorpe (Mrs)
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Dear Mrs Welthorpe
My secretary had previously suggested
that visitors to this site might be interested in learning
more about Miss Bellasis; the receipt of your letter coupled
with cancellation of a whist evening led me to write the
following.
At the end of the last century a
good friend effected a divorce, decamped to London and blossomed
into what can only be described as, well, does one need
more words when one talks of the blossoming of a lady? Some
red sequin nipple tassels seemed the only appropriate gift
and so Miss Bellasis, as such, was born. This simple
act led to the creation of more pairs and the interest of
fine sales establishments and thus was Miss Bellasis' debut
into society. From then on all sorts of design possibilities
started to come to mind drawing inspiration from a period
spent working in the world of extraordinarily indulgent
chocolate cake creation, from historical figures and stories,
naughty Victoriana, Golden Age of Hollywood glamour and
dear grandparents' reminiscences of mid-century high living
in London and on the French Riviera.
The early days were hard, balancing
the ladylike occupation of needlework with the cruel trenches
of British archaeology but spells within the libraries and
collections of museums and the warm and hallowed halls of
county record offices ameliorated these difficult times
whilst providing continuing historical inspiration. Ah,
how precious those times, surrounded by the musty smell
of documents, the soft rustling of well lined tweed, the
subdued coughs of fellow researchers, the triumphant murmur
that accompanies the falling into place of another piece
of the jigsaw
but I digress
.All these pursuits
were noble indeed but temptation proved too great when an
old acquaintance offered the opportunity for the division
of time between dear old Blighty and our continental neighbour
France; Miss Bellasis decamped from former occupations and
became the creatrice she is today.
As noted on the About page
but worth reiterating again, "inspiration for nipple
tassels and pasties still comes from many sources, be it
a tempting Chelsea Bun in a baker's window, the hundredth
anniversary of the birth of Greta Garbo, Tatlin's Monument
to the Third International or tempestuous rain seen through
a window made of fine claret bottles. Further inspiration
comes from the belief that every lady should have a pair
of nipple tassels or pasties tucked away in a top draw or
displayed proudly on a dressing table close at hand for
those moments when they might just be needed".
We do hope this has answered your
query.
Yours sincerely
Miss Bellasis
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Since writing this letter Miss Bellasis has moved
to the Åland Islands, a rather interesting and beautiful
set of islands in the Baltic Sea somewhere near the 60th parallel,
where she is able to indulge in both creative and historical interests.
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