Nipples for the New Year?

I buy Tatler magazine about once every few years when a particular headline or supplement catches my eye

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The January 2013 issue got me this week with

 Nipples: Are they the new Cleavage?

It is a well written really funny read on a body part that has been kept in the back room for a few decades.

It's particularly interesting to me because of the domination of the padded moulded T-shirt bra in the lingerie market over the last 20 years which has single handedly erased out the nipple from our everyday lives. 

This may have reached its pinnacle last year with the 'adds 2 sizes' padded bra which mimics the supernatural shape of a boob job with padding so thick that someone could probably punch you in the chest and you wouldn't feel a thing. 

Most intriguing is that padded cups with moulded nipples have been available on the market for a long time (in the Drag Queen market, for ever) which would make a padded bra look exactly like real boobs under a T-shirt but I have never seen anyone produce them commercially in any large scale. So do women want boobs to look bigger but not necessarily completely 'real?' 

Even in the youth bra market the trend has been to layer bras up together and wear bras over T-shirts as outerwear, it emits the message 'you can look but don't even bother to touch because I wouldn't feel it anyway.' 

At least 90% of Victorias Secrets bras have moulded padded cups that that focuses the eye on the flesh that doesn't fit into them, the cleavage and there's many other retailers for who this is also true. The newest trend is for much lighter pads that have a more natural shape that mould to your natural curves, such as memory foams but for me it will be interesting if the trend eventually moves to bras with no padding again for everyday wear which has not been seen since the 1970s.

I for one am slightly scared about the return to real boobs, I feel safe secure and in control in my padded bras. Breasts are delicate beings and in a padded bra I feel I could fall over, bump into something or hug friends with relative protection. On my recent experimentation with non padded bras it has instilled me with the feeling of leaving the house with no knickers on, strangely liberating but slightly out of control and vunerable!

buttress and snatch 

S/S 2013

Xmas Sparkle

Hope you are all enjoying a bit of Christmas Sparkle!!

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Saying goodbye to A/W 2012

It's that time of year when I start to slightly panic that I have forgotten to buy everything I lusted after from the A/W 2012 collections

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I've already missed out on a pair of Balenciaga boots, now sold out, probably for the best as far as my bank balance but still a lesson learnt about player poker with the get it before it's sold out or could it wait for the sale game.

Anyway my advice is don't miss the chance to grab some cute Oysho lingerie which will definately be an investment until next Summer with it's 'worn to be seen' strappy back details, big vintage inspired knickers and chic playsuits.

Tights and Lips

I'm sorry I missed this exhibition of photographs by Daido Moriyama at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

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I'm thinking a fishnet next spring might be a good graphic touch to an outfit 

Vogue Deutsch Magazine: Lingerie Spot

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Kristen Style

Kristen Stewart has certainly embraced the visible underwear catwalk look on her movie promotion trail in past months

INSIDE OUT

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But is it me or does she always look slightly uncomfortable in a frock, kinda like she's borrowed another persons clothes?

I know she has won various awards for best dressed/stylish whatever, but I get the feeling she is someone who really believes clothes do not maketh the man.

I'd like to see what outfits Kristen would choose if she actually let loose her own style, I'd take a guess it would be most like  the last pic below. Definately trousers

Relaxed, stylish and effortless (i.e without the effort of a stylist)

Happy Sunday morning!

What better way to start a lazy Sunday morning than to catch up on the Victorias Secret S/S 2013 Fashion Show!

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Enjoy

Jean Paul Gaultier we ♡ You

Is it just me or are we all up for another Jean Paul Gaultier moment?

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Someone has just paid £50,000 at Christies for two stage costumes worn by Madonna and designed by Jean Paul Gaultier for her 1990s Blonde Ambition Tour and what with his latest collaborations with La Perla and his Breton dressed diet coke cans I am serious thinking about where I might have stored my hourglass waist camoflage print Junior Gaultier puffa jacket as it may be time for its second coming.

JPG has always played with corsetry construction in his collections dissecting and reconstructing it into wearable pieces throughout the early 1990s in modern nylons, denim and cotton twills. It seems it is still unusual for a male Womenswear Designer to truly understand and offer women support and shape in or under fashion pieces, so if he doesn’t have a fashionable resurgence himself (I guess I keep my fingers crossed for JPG at H&M?) then I hope the next generation look back at his legacy and are inspired by his design philosophy to shape the future.

 

Winter Sunshine in my Underwear drawer!

Well it's a frosty morning in London this morning so wrap up warm if you are in the city

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I'm thinking some zing to my underwear might make those layers a bit easier to bear!

5 things I love about Germany

I'm in Germany doing some work at the mo and I just got to thinking

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Helmut Newton.

notoriously difficult to work with but knows how to portray a strong woman or two

Cabaret.

I think this may have been the film that made me go all gay

Claudia Schiffer.

loved her wearing one of my antique Kimonos in Vogue

The Reichstag.

not for the history but for the old meets new architecture

 Ellen Von Unwerth.

just because

Give a girl a lingerie gift for Christmas

Let's have a bit of Structure

If the early previews of S/S 2013 collections is anything to go by the trend for linear structures in lingerie, bodywear and Womenswear is still going strong

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There's a kind of fashion timeline in my head with regards to this dissected fashion and lingerie silhouette

* 18th century: Some corsets were made to emphasise their structure with ribbon and openwork

 * Paco Rabanne: placed women in  modern guilded cages to embrace the modern

* Jean Paul Gaultier: Pared the corset back to it's bones and insert it into jackets and dresses

* Marlies Dekkers: The first to outline lingerie with linear straps designed to be seen 

* Bordelle: Made complete lingerie pieces in straps

* Gareth Pugh: Uses the look of structure fabrics to create a clean, modern, futuristic ideal.

* Fleet Ilya: Took bondage inspiration, designed and refined it in beautiful leathers and wore it over clothes creating a brand new accessory.

* Chromat: Took the corset structure and built it playfully around and away from the body 

I've no doubt with the advent of 3D printing structure will be an ongoing design conversation. I'm excited to see the next re-interpretation  

Listen to them talk about the label Chromat