Pretty on the Inside
Dear Husband,
I’ve made an important decision. In the future, if you are debating between a gift of flowers that will for a brief moment enliven the day only to wilt depressingly, or say, a suite of fanciful lingerie that will glorify my fabulous self and put an end to frightful displays of plain cotton bloomers, pick the lingerie. Gift certificates will be gladly accepted.
Love,
Your ever grateful wife
It’s as simple as that. Sometimes, a woman decides she’s had enough of the unattractive foundations that look more like something to support a house than a layer of intimate apparel. In this world, a lady can never be too lovely. Just look at Jennifer Lopez. On those rare occasions when she’s wearing underwear, like on the June cover of Vanity Fair, it’s a drop-dead gorgeous beaded, embroidered and satiny set that deserves to be seen by 2.5 million readers. That $250 bra and panty set by Roberto Cavalli, helps spotlight a luxury lingerie trend that’s heating up sales and the pulses of anyone within 50 paces of it.
In light of fall’s dull clothes, designers such as Cavalli and lingerie makers alike are introducing bras, panties, camisoles and even corsets in ultra-luxurious colors, fabrics and trims. Their timing couldn’t be better. With designer clothes ever more expensive, even the most elaborate lingerie seems a comparative bargain.
“It’s affordable luxury,” says Josie Natori, whose 23-year-old lingerie company in New York continues to expand its offerings of upscale lingerie, lounge wear and accessories. “For not very much money, you can please yourself. You don’t have to buy a fur coat. You don’t have to buy a car.”
While all apparel sales have been relatively soft, intimate apparel makers are poised to lure customers with high-fashion offerings that stand out in the highly competitive industry. Natori hopes that history will come to the rescue again. “In every recession that I can remember,” said the 54-year-old designer, “we’ve bucked the trend. Our sales at retail are the best they’ve been.”
As a measure of the rising interest in lingerie, the Intimate Apparel Council is for the first time staging a runway show during fashion week in New York next month. Clearly, the clothes once called “unmentionables” have become anything but.
Changing attitudes about underwear have helped catapult lingerie into the limelight, where designers and customers alike have experimented with new ways of wearing it. Lingerie has evolved from an uninteresting commodity that was fraught with tangled associations of propriety to a playful fashion accessory. “Before, we burned the bra,” Natori says. “Today, we flaunt it.”
Bra straps freely poke from tank tops, thongs ride high above hip-hugger pants, camisoles do double duty as blouses and bras take a dip in the swimming pool.
Designers, taking note of the greater interest in upscale undies, have incorporated lingerie looks into their ready-to-wear collections, said Joan Kaner, senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus. The store has been stocking corset dresses and tops (think “Moulin Rouge”) and bras built into evening gowns.
Lingerie makers also are capitalizing on their moment in fashion, creating inner wear that can be worn on the outside. “It’s a natural segue for lingerie brands to pick up on the idea,” Kaner said. “A more price-conscious consumer can find the look from a lingerie maker for less money.”
While some designers such as Calvin Klein and Donna Karan have long sold intimate apparel, only within the past two years have top European clothing designers started to offer their take on lingerie. Tom Ford mixed G-logo-printed thongs and bras into his ready-to-wear collection nearly two years ago and at about the same time, Miuccia Prada opened a prestigious Milan boutique for her lingerie. Other designers are following with inner wear collections that echo trends and colors that complement their apparel.
Cavalli’s 2-year-old lingerie and lounge wear collection offers the same sizzling sex appeal as his ready-to-wear and will be more widely available this fall. Escada will soon launch a designer lingerie collection made by the Swiss firm Hanro with price tags at $50 to $200. Escada already sells everything from ski and golf wear to diamond jewelry, and the lingerie completes the picture.
“For the woman who wants everything, we offer them a great-looking bra that could go with what she’s wearing, especially if she wants it to show,” said Escada spokeswoman Laura Henson. One of the eight groups in the new collection will be hard to hide: The pieces are decorated with Swarovski crystals.
Truly elegant underwear has the same effect on some women as diamonds, after all. Traci Ching, a Los Angeles manager for writers and directors, recently bought her first set of La Perla lingerie, the molto bella, ultra-elegant Italian lingerie brand. “It’s like jewelry for the body,” she said. More than that, such fabulous foundations boost not just the bust but the psyche, too.
“It’s a sense of empowerment, even if only you know you have it on,” Ching says. “But it’s so beautiful, you can’t wait to take your clothes off so someone can see it.”
La Perla, which opened a Rodeo Drive boutique about 2 1/2 years ago, remains the standard bearer in luxury lingerie. A top-of-the-line La Perla bra can cost $240; matching panties, $160; and a coordinating T-shirt, $380--a small price to pay for its workmanship. That kind of luxury means not only hand-applied soutache trim, but also seam edges that lay perfectly flat, dainty lace overlays that hide garter clips and lace on a bodysuit that’s cut and reassembled to conform to the shape of the garment.
“This is not just about buying underwear,” said La Perla store manager Peri Ellen Berne. Many of her regular customers complete their seasonal shopping trips with a La Perla pilgrimage, adding sets of matching lingerie to their new ensembles.
Not every woman wants or needs to wear a $500 matched set of couture lace every day, so La Perla and other companies have responded with “everyday luxuries.” Designer Araks Yeramyan was barely out of the Parsons School of Design when she started her Araks line of luxury cotton underwear two years ago. Just as attitudes about lingerie have changed, so have ideas of luxury, Yeramyan says. Her version: Wear the most comfortable, most refined materials in cozy cuts and playful patterns every day, not just on special occasions. “Everyone thinks about lingerie as sexy and lacy,” she says. “But it’s also about taking care of yourself.”
As the clothing that is worn closest to the skin, lingerie is perhaps a woman’s most personal expression of her style--and more. Berne broke out of her own basic body wear rut when she opened the La Perla store. “Putting on great lingerie is the most wonderful celebration of being a woman,” says Berne. “It’s great to start your day that way, whether you go to the office or to baby class with your kids. It does something to you psyche. It adds a whole dimension to your self-esteem.” And with any luck, the regard of your husband.
