Women and men and underwear - our week of weird and wonderful lingerie stories

Saudi lingerie swoop

Months ago we reported on a story about lingerie shops being forced to hire Saudi female shop assistants. This week, 27 (yes, 27!) lingerie shops were closed in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia because they had failed to employ local women.

The regulations, brought in at the beginning of the year, state that only Saudi women can sell women’s items and that a failure to replace male staff with female in lingerie shops could mean both shutting the shops and taking action against the men working in them. As a result of a series of raids, twenty shops in Jeddah were also shut down for violating the ‘ladies only’ lingerie rule. The new legislation is designed to try and ensure employment for local graduates and particularly for women, so as to reduce dependence on foreign workers.

Man pants not hero wear!

No, it’s not just an excuse to show you Dwayne Johnson in his pants - we don’t need any excuse to do that, we just do it anyway! So, back to the point. The UK advertising watchdog has stopped an underwear brand from running an advert, despite the hi tech pants having the backing of Sir Richard Branson. Wireless Armour says its ‘mesh of pure silver’ encases the wearer in a ‘cage of metal’ that apparently protects male fertility by blocking electromagnetic radiation from wireless devices carried in the male pocket.

The brand was called ‘underpants for superhereos’ by Sir Richard (hence Dwayne, who is currently  in cinemas as Hercules, a super hero - see, there is a reason for that picture!) but the ASA says the cited research doesn’t back up the claim that mobile phone radiation can negatively impact male fertility. Therefore, it says, the campaign must be withdrawn until adequate evidence is produced to substantiate the claims Wireless Armour make.

Bearded lady underwear

That warbling Eurovision winner, Conchita Wurst, has debuted in the underwear industry in a big way! She began by taking the catwalk with Jean Paul Gaultier in the summer, and now the 25 year old has appeared in a shoot with Karl Lagerfeld and Ashleigh Good, who is currently pregnant.

The shots show that Conchita has no problem getting into racy undies and, in one shot, is entwined with Lagerfeld himself who describes the singer as 'really hav[ing] a voice…’ he also said, ‘She has done something that's never been done before. We have all heard of "bearded ladies" but no one has ever seen a bearded man posing as a lady. This brings new meaning to the term “drag”’

And if you’re loving the Conchita look, we recommend the fabulous Magic Instinct body by Antinea … sleek, svelte and with beautiful lace panel inserts, this body is a real winner - a bit like Conchita herself!