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Lingerie is a term for fashionable and alluring women's undergarments. It derives from the French word linge, "washables" — as in faire le linge, "do the laundry" — and ultimately from lin for washable linen, the fabric from which European undergarments were made before the general introduction of cotton from Egypt and then from India. (source: Wikipedia)
Click here to view the list of related news items, published by FashionUnited in the fashion news archive.
JLo and Posh launch lingerie together
Jennifer Lopez and Victoria Beckham are going to launch a lingerie line together. A source told the Daily Star that the women had met at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' wedding and had hit if off. “Jennifer thought Victoria was a real character and very much hopes they can stay friends now they have met,” said the source. “They talked about the film industry and then their shared love for fashion. Jennifer thinks the pair could be capable of developing a seriously sexy range.” Both celebrities have experience in the world of fashion. Lopez has her own fashion label Sweetface, while Posh has her own jeans line with hot denim brand Rock & Republic. The source also said that Lopez was hoping to enlist the former Spice Girl's help for her script writing projects, even though neither has any experience in that field. Best to stick with what you know!
Kate Moss in Agent Provocateur films
Lingerie designer Agent Provocateur has persuaded Kate Moss to make her movie debut - in a series of sensual short films. In the four four-minute movies, which will be released over a period of weeks on the firm's website, Miss Moss can be seen in various states of undress acting out a dream sequence. The film marks the first time Moss has taken a speaking part on film - though she did recently speak on a television advert for Virgin mobile.
In the accompanying voice-over for the first film Moss is heard saying: "That was such a strange dream. I was in this big, empty house. I was lying on the floor and there was a chalk mark around my body - like in a crime scene. I got up, but it was like I floated up. My body was weightless. "I could hear the sound of the sea, big waves crashing, and I could also hear some music somewhere, like someone was having a party.
In the third film, Moss bares all. The films, made over two nights in a mansion in London 's Portland Place , are directed by movie veteran Mike Figgis, maker of Leaving Las Vegas. Kate Moss, 32, has never been shy about taking off her clothes, playing on her sexualised image throughout her supermodel career. So far, her most risque part has been a Sofia Coppola-directed video for the White Stripes, in which she was a lap dancer sliding provocatively - and convincingly - around a pole. The company's website crashed yesterday after thousands logged on to see the first of the four films.
www.agentprovocateur.com
4 September 2006
La Senza sold to Lion Capital
British lingerie retailer La Senza is being sold to private equity firm Lion Capital by owner Theo Paphitis for an estimated £100 million. The entrepreneur behind Ryman Stationery will remain with the company as a director and will hold a minority share in the business. “La Senza is probably the most exciting and vibrant business I have been involved in,” he said. “I am delighted that Lion Capital has shown such confidence in it and I am sure that this will result in exciting opportunities for everyone still involved with the business.” The founding partner of Lion, Robert Darwent, has said he plans to roll out the business further in existing markets and in Europe. “La Senza has been very successful in pursuing a differentiated retail concept that is focused on a niche consumer category,” he said. “It’s leading position in the UK lingerie market, high level of brand awareness and ability to attract and maintain a very loyal customer base make it an attractive investment opportunity for Lion.” Lion already has invested in restaurant chain Wagamama and luxury shoe specialist Jimmy Choo.
Since 1998, La Senza’s retail network has grown form 40 to 118. The chain now operates 98 directly-owned stores and concessions in the UK, nine in Ireland and 11 franchises in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Malta and Gibraltar. The company –which employs 1,800 people in the UK and Ireland - generated sales of £94 million last year, and has seen turnover rates rise 13 percent per year over the last three years.
www.lasenza.co.uk
13 July 2006
Marlies Dekkers to open London boutique
Dutch lingerie designer Marlies Dekkers is looking to open a London boutique for her sensuous lingerie collection as part of an international roll-out. Dekkers currently has boutiques in Amsterdam and Antwerp with further plans to open in Paris and Berlin in time for Spring 2007.
The brand has about 40 accounts in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
www.marliesdekkers.com
4 July 2006
Agent Provocateur does maternity wear
Sexy lingerie brand Agent Provocateur is diversifying with a line of maternity and postnatal underwear. The British brand, which was established by Serena Rees and Joseph Corre in 1994, has always been known for its provocative, ultra-feminine designs, also launched its first collection of bridal lingerie in March. According to Reese, the coinciding launches are “coincidental”.
“I don't mind which comes first, the baby or the bride,” Reese told WWD. “But I did it the other way round.”
Reese admits that she and Corre were inspired to create maternity and postnatal lingerie after the birth of their daughter, Cora. “It inspired me because a lot of my friends are pregnant and a lot have pleaded with me to ‘please do it'. When I was pregnant, it was traumatic with all of those really ugly big white bras I had to put myself in, and how hideous they were and how awful they made me feel.”
Explaining the maternity line, Rees says, “The pieces work with fashion and work with their bump. The demand is unbelievable; we have waiting lists.”
The maternity collection is available in the company's 17 stores worldwide and via its website. The line consists of low-rise “underbelly briefs”, wireless soft-cup bras with front fastenings for extra support as well as a postnatal pair of underwear that holds in the waist, flattening the stomach and hips. The latter features detachable garters for a sexy look. Meanwhile, the bridal collection, which is enjoying strong sales in Agent Provocateur boutiques, will be available online from May.
Prices for the maternity collection range from $82 for a pair of underwear and $108 for a pair of specialty underwear.
“It's really important to wear the right bra when you're pregnant for health reasons,” says Rees. “Our bras are supportive, full-cup bras, but in great fabrics that are comfortable to wear and don't irritate skin.”
When designing the control panties, Rees collaborated with maternity physician Gowri Motha, who has treated an impressive roster of celebrities including Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Elle Macpherson and Lady Helen Windsor.
www.agentprovocateur.com
10 April 2006
Playboy launched new lingerie line
What do you get when you add bunny logos to lingerie? A new line of upscale undergarments called Playboy Intimates from the famous Playboy Enterprises – as in the men's lifestyle magazine. The theme of the upscale collection is Luscious Babes, a retro-inspired ode to the magazine's sexy cover girls and centerfolds of the late Sixties and Seventies, said Aaron Duncan, senior vice president and creative director of global licensing at Playboy. The line will initially be launched in the US this spring.
The summer line, called Show Off, will represent the glitz and glamour of Beverly Hills and the Playboy Mansion, as well as the hedonistic lifestyle of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. Other vintage-inspired themes for intimates will include American Vaudeville for fall and a romantic Dreamscape venue for winter, he said.
The introduction of high-end lingerie, which includes the moderate-price Playboy Intimates pink-label, launched in 2001, is part of a clothing, accessories and home collection that generates retail sales of $600 million annually in 130 countries. This does not include Playboy's $338 million publishing empire.
"We wanted it to be playful, sexy and provocative, with exclusive patterns, laces and embroideries. It's not just about the bunny logo and slapping it on the lingerie," said Duncan, who noted the line is aimed at a core consumer base of "18 to thirtysomething" women who connect with a message of being "sexy, living the good life."
"You're a Playmate when you put Playboy lingerie on," continued Duncan, who works with senior design manager of product marketing Erica Paul to glean inspiration from the Playboy archives, which date back to 1953, when Marilyn Monroe was the magazine's first cover girl.
Special treatments for the lingerie launch include subtle matte-and-shine bunny logos on bra straps; elastic picot edge trims; embroidered bunnies and Playmate images; archival cameo portrait shots of former Playmates wearing bunny ears; contrasting embroideries on point d'esprit mesh; ruffle effects and keyhole openings on the backs of panties, and embroidered butterflies.
3 April 2006
Lingerie is booming business in Paris
he Salon International de la Lingerie in Paris proved that a lingerie trade fair need not be staid and dull or dodgy and cheap, but can be exactly what it should be: sensual, flirtatious, seductive and a great stomping ground for doing business.
Amidst the fanfare of glamorous models and dancers strutting their stuff in little bits of silk and lace, orders were busily being written. After all, the lingerie sector generated a turnover of €2.5 billion in 2005, proving to be a lucrative market.
“Because the product we are dealing with can tend to be viewed as dodgy, we have to take a very professional attitude towards this trade fair,” says Cécile Jubin, product manager of international promotion for Eurovet, the organizer of the fair. “We therefore had a separate team in charge of every sector within the trade fair, from men's underwear to lingerie, from hosiery to nightwear. We chose to set up clear boundaries in order to make the buying process easier. To this end we also installed the Trend Forum at the entrance of the fair.”
With 570 brands, 60 percent of which are non-French and the remainder of which are French and Italian, the Salon International de la Lingerie is one of the biggest of its kind. This edition, it covered 15.300 square meters, 700 square meters more than last year, when 22.000 visitors attended the fair. This year, the organisation expects that the amount of visitors will total 25.000.
Participants come mainly from France, Italy, the UK, the US and Spain. Approximately 80 percent of buyers are European, but the number of Middle Eastern buyers is growing. Buyers from Russia, the Far East and Australia also attend.
The Salon consists of two parts: the finished product and the materials used for the production of lingerie. The latter is found in the affiliated Salon International Interfiliere, which hosts 230 providers of materials. It is here that visitors can see what the colour trends will be for summer 2007 in the Trend Forum.
According to Jubin the men's underwear sector, shown in Ideal, is growing thanks to catalysts like metrosexual men. “The group of men interested in fashionable underwear is still quite small and consists mainly of the 18 to 30 age range. However, we are noticing that this group is growing.”
Young designers who have won popularity in their own countries can showcase their collections in the Spicy Garden, established especially for newcomers to the lingerie sector. “We've had a lot of interest from Danish and Dutch buyers,” says Katie Lopes, the commercial force behind young British brand S.P.A.N.K. “The brand is still very young, not even a year old, and we've only ever been to one other fair, Intimates in London. This is very new for us, but therefore also very interesting.”
www.lingerie-paris.com
6 February 2006
Ultimo Bra to replace Rachel Hunter
Model Rachel Hunter's lingerie contract with the creators of the Ultimo Bra will not be renewed when it runs out next year, it was announced today. MJM International said it wanted to end its work with Rod Stewart's estranged wife “on a high” after two years together. The Glasgow-based firm sparked a furious row when it signed up Hunter, 36, last year after dumping the rock star's fiancee, Penny Lancaster.
The winter catalogue will be the New Zealander's final job with the company before her contract runs out in February next year. In a brief statement released through MJM, Hunter said: “It's been great fun.” Meanwhile, the company said it has been inundated with calls from celebrities eager to succeed her as the face of the brand.
Hunter's replacement will be announced in the near future, said a spokeswoman for the firm. Michelle Mone, founder of MJM, paid glowing tribute to the model, saying: “Working with Rachel has been fantastic. She has been so professional and we will always look on her with genuine affection.” Mone was branded a “manipulative cow” by Stewart over her decision to drop his 34-year-old girlfriend for his ex-wife. The 60-year-old rocker raged at the time: “I hope she (Mone) chokes on her profits.”
25 November 2005
It has been all over the news. Thongs are out. The Daily Mirror said it was the beginning of a “thong goodbye”. The Daily Express said “thongs ain't what they used to be”, the Sunday Times reported “Bottom falls out of the thong market” and according to the Guardian “The thong sinks to the bottom”. What did the thong do to deserve such abject rejection? At least, from its supporters, because those whose sensibilities were offended by the pieces of floss appear to be in the majority.
The Sun reports that young girls find thongs dated, although the age group 25-43 is still buying G-strings. Apparently the fuller boyshort is gaining in popularity. But why this sudden resurgence of propriety? It is believed that women are chosing to “move away from overtly sexual clothing”, as stated in the Sunday Times . As a result, thong sales now account for only 23 percent of the women's underwear market, a decline from 31 percent at the end of 2003.
Thong detractors are rejoicing at the shift in the trend for women, although apparently men's thongs are still selling like hot cakes. The Daily Mail's Erin Kelly appealed to British women everywhere to stop the madness: “ ‘Thong Man', as typified by Peter Stringfellow, is alive and well, and the market for men's skimpy smalls is booming. But there is hope, and it lies with us ladies.” A survey has shown that 22 percent of women buy their partners' underwear. Therefore, she said: “the power to change things....is in our hands and our tool is the pants aisle in Marks & Spencer. Women of Britain , do the right thing!”
Amen to that. Personally, there is nothing scarier than a man in a thong. Second on the list of scary moments, is running into a senior citizen in the gym's changing room sporting a G-string. And Visible Panty Line aside, no one wants to see a thong poking out of a pair of jeans. That look went out with Tom Ford's departure from Gucci.
9 August 2005
Sweet nothings
A new brand of lingerie is set to hit stores in the UK later this year. Rosamosario
offers delicate French lace bras, chiffon undies and sheer lace and silk nightgowns
that are sure to set temperatures rising.
"It isn't worked to the seasonal trends - it is a celebration of the craftsmanship
of Italy," said a Rosamosario rep. Each article is treated as special and
can only be hand washed. It is about the exclusiveness and longevity of each
piece. Each purchase is gift-wrapped in an old-fashioned jewellery box, just
to underscore the romance and indulgent character of the brand. We can't wait.
2 June 2005
Celebrities front lingerie brands
The bra wars have entered a new front, with celebrities fighting it out to become queen of the lingerie lines. Michael Ross, chief executive of lingerie website Figleaves, says there is more competition than ever, but recent sales figures at the e-tailer show Elle Macpherson's underwear line Intimates to be in top place.
Elizabeth Hurley, who now has her own bikini and resort line, is contended to be one of the favourites for next season. Launched at Harrods this month, the brand is gearing up for international expansion later this year. Other lingerie brands, such as La Senza, Pretty Polly, Wonderbra and Gossard are key market players and have all had famous people front their campaigns. Menswear, too, is following suit, with famous footballer Freddie Ljungberg fronting the new Calvin Klein underwear campaign.
24 April 2005
Ann Summers looks to Russia
Sexy lingerie retailer Ann Summers is considering opening stores in Russia and China. Chief executive Jacqueline Gold will fly to Shanghai next month, with discussions at an early stage. Ann Summers has had a bumper year, with sales for the year ending June 2004 up £60m year-on-year to £19.9m.
21 February 2005
Macpherson to enter US market
Elle Macpherson's lingerie brand is poised to enter the US market. The brand's owner, Bendon, the lingerie division of Pacific Retail Group's, wants to launch Elle Machpherson Intimates in 30 North American department stores in February 2005.
Elle Macpherson Intimates have been selling successfully in the UK for the past three years, with an annual growth of 40 and 50%. Bendon chief executive Stefan Preston told reporters that the brand already had an international presence, with weekly requests from department stores across the world to stock it. The celebrity status of Elle Macpherson will help to sell the brand in the US, according to the new president of Bendon North America, Victoria Vandagriff.
3 November 2004
Lingerie designer angered
Designer Damaris Evans took action when annoyed by comments presenter Lorraine Kelly made on live television. The TV presenter had made fun of a £2,000 pair of Swarovski crystals-encrusted underwear that Evans had designed, saying that visible panty lines were out of style. However, what infuriated Evans was that she had not been credited with the design. In fact, her name had not been mentioned at all.
She therefore called the phone-in line and told the fashion desk either to credit her with the design, buy the underwear or pay the hire fee of £600. Her phone call had the desired the effect. The underwear returned after the break, worn by a model, with accompanying praise for the design. Evans's latest affordable line of Mimi Holiday silk and chiffon underwear will soon be available at Liberty and Harrods. Prices start at £25.
19 October 2004
Agent Provocateur gets sexier
The provocative lingerie brand has built a new-and-improved, sexier website. Owners Joe Corre, son of Vivienne Westwood, and his wife Serena Rees have been in the business for ten years now and the new site shows they know their business of selling sexy well.
The new website is sassy, girly-girl with a definite twist of dominatrix thrown in for good measure. And all this against a sugary pink backdrop. The "windows" show the models posing in two-dimensional drawn bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and outside. Definitely time for a visit. And we are sure the men will agree!
www.agentprovocateur.com
14 October 2004
Intimates Advert Causes More Than A Stir
What
do you get when you show a beautiful woman in sexy lingerie caressing a set
of carving knives? The answer is the new television advertising campaign for
supermodel Elle Macpherson's Intimates lingerie range.
If that isn't racy enough, in the advert the same knife-caressing-model wears a silk gown and kneels down on the kitchen floor to mop up a pool of blood.
Huge controversy has already been generated since the advert, which aired on Australia television last month, caused a flood of complaints. Campaign groups in London have spoken out also, stating: "These kinds of images normalise the view of women as sex objects, and the fact that knives are included is very serious indeed. Combining implied violence with sexual imagery makes for very uncomfortable viewing. This can have a tremendously negative impact on young people and vulnerable adults and is not the sort of thing we should wish to propagate on national TV."
However, a spokeswoman for Elle Macpherson Intimates insisted the campaign was a tribute to film noir. "They aren't graphically violent, it's just a suggestion - you are actively invited to come to your own conclusion about what is going on." Curious viewers are also, it transpires, invited to log on to the campaign's website, www. intimates. tv, where the mystery is solved - with a film of two scantily-clad women fighting with knives.
The advertisements are shot by internationally renowned fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti, whose previous advertising campaigns include Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni and Yves Saint Laurent.
15 September 2004
J-Lo Underwear Online
Fans of Jennifer Lopez will be able to buy her underwear range online under a deal this week with internet retailer Figleaves.com. It will be confirmed that Figleaves has joined the exclusive band of profitable etailers by reporting the first full year profits of its UK arm.
13 July 2004
Lingerie Deal For Michael Kors
Top-end designer Michael Kors has signed a multi-year worldwide licensing Deal, excluding Japan, with The Warnaco Group to manufacture, distribute and market women's swimwear, related cover-ups and accessories under the Michael Kors and MICHAEL Michael Kors trademarks.
The collections will launch for the Cruise 2006 season and will target the designer and better segments.
23 June 2004
No G-Strings Attached!
The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has banned a poster of two women
wearing g-strings from being displayed near places of worship. While the ASA received only two complaints, both were from Muslim leaders,
claiming the cheeky advert could corrupt young men and women of the muslim faith. The authority agreed with them. And, in a ruling published today, it has for
the first time in its 40-year history banned a poster from being displayed near
places of worship.
Media clean-up campaigners reacted furiously, however, because the restriction
applies only to mosques. They pointed out that it resulted from just two complaints
- from mosques in the North of England - while leaders of Christian churches
have complained about lewd advertising for years. The offending poster, for Sloggi underwear, was seen all over Britain in March
and April with the slogan 'It's string time'. Four models wearing only high
heels and G-strings were shown with their backs to the camera, leaving little
to the imagination.
9 June 2004
Sex Sells According To Ann Summers
Sex sells. At least according to successful lingerie retailer Ann Summers, who is due to open its second Irish store in Cork early next month. Headed by Jacqueline Gold, the first store, which opened in Dublin in 1999, prompted a wave of controversy. With a 112 stores nationwide, Gold recently told the Sunday Independent that the Dublin store continually performed in the top five, it's success paving the way for further expansion in other cities in Ireland and Limerick.
The Sunday Independent has learnt that the Ann Summers Dublin shop had a turnover of EUR1.95m in 2003, well up from previously reported figures of EUR1.5m in 2002. The company further generates large income from a very successful party business in Ireland. With well over 1,000 Ann Summers parties being held in Ireland each month, the sales average almost close EUR300 per event. The "Rampant Rabbit" sex toy, made famous by TV show Sex and the City, is the top-selling product on the Irish market.
30 March 2004
Down Under For Valentine's
Love Kylie is officially Australia's most sexy and sophisticated lingerie range. Inspired by the diva herself, Kylie Minogue, the range combines elegant boudoir styles with beautiful fabrics, sleek design and flirtations detailing. Perfect for spending a romantic Valentine's evening with the one you love. The Love Kylie collection is available from Selfridges and Figleaves, House of Fraser and Fenwicks.
12 February 2004
Intimate London Set For First Show
Lingerie and beachwear show Intimate London is to stage its first autumn season show on February 15-17 at the National Hall, Olympia. It will run alongside womenswear show Pure. Brands showing include DKNY Swimwear, Gottex, and Christina. Lingerie will include La Perla, Hanro and Janet Reger.
www.intimate-london.com
17 December 2003
Jennifer Lopez To Follow In Kylie's Footsteps
American entertainer extraordinaire Jennifer Lopez is following Kylie Minogue's footsteps, and has signed an exclusive global deal with Warnaco to manufacture and sell her sexy lingerie designs. Lopez, who is creative director of her underwear line, will also design "full-figure" underwear and bras with perfumed price tags.
The actress already sells about GBP125 million worth of merchandise bearing
her name, including hip-hop fashions, novelty items and fragrances. It's her first venture in underwear. Warnaco wouldn't say how much lingerie
it would manufacture but expects to put it in about 500 stores in America by
next fall with an eye on exporting to 2,000 stores if the products take off.
14 november 2003
French Department Store To Offer Striptease Lessons
Proving
that the French have nothing in common with our English prudish nature, French
department store Galeries Lafayette has bought in professional help to ensure
its customers make the most of their purchases. The venerable department store group opens the world's largest lingerie department,
a 27,000 sq ft sals area, at its flagship Paris store this weekend.
In an added-value approach, the store has hired two professional striptease
artistes to teach its customers how to maximise the impact of their new look.
The half hour lessons will include tricks of the trade such as removing lingerie without snagging it on your high heels. Galeries Lafayette insists that the lessons will be conducted in the best possible taste. One of the instructors, Lea, told Le Parisien newspaper: "These classes are for women who want to play seducer - to spice up their relationship or to surprise their partner - but who don't know how to do it."
However, the plan has upset a French feminist group, which is threatening to demonstrate at the Paris store at the weekend. British retailer Selfridges sparked similar controversy when earlier this year for their Bodycraze promotion, they had body piecing available on the ground floor, and as an in-store art exhibition, naked people travel up and down the escalators.
7 November 2003
Penny Lancaster Bares All…
Tall & vamplike Penny Lancaster, Rod Stewart's girlfriend, took to the catwalk to promote a range of underwear in Glasgow. The 6ft 3in model insisted she is just a wallflower and was very nervous to share the runway with models more than ten years her junior.
Ever supportive, Rod had nothing but praise afterwards. 'I certainly can't think of many better ways to spend a Saturday night than watching Penny glide up the catwalk in beautiful lingerie,' said the 57-year-old rock star. I am really proud of her. She is a very independent and bright lady in her own right and, as everyone saw, she is also stunning.'
2 September 2003
UK bra sales booming
British women are buying more underwired bras. These bras now comprise 67% of all sold bras in the UK and are steadily gaining ground at the expense of non-wired models according to a recently published survey of lingerie industry trends. The value of the UK market is estimated at £640 million as compared to £549 million 12 months ago. The average price of an underwired bra is £10.86 and £9.13 for a non-wired style. The report also indicates that multiples and grocery superstores have most to gain from the current trend, jointly putting on 3.2% more business in the year under review. This gain being was at the expense of mail order sales, which fell 1.6%.
09-02-02