Dita’s tips for lingerie
We don’t know about you, but we can’t get enough
of Dita Von Teese. As the burlesque star who single-handedly reinvented the art
for a modern audience, and as a style icon who ensures that the lingerie she
wears is as much a fashion statement as a provocation, she’s taught us all how
to balance everyday life with the glamour we seek.
In Vogue she gave some top tips that we found fascinating, particularly this
one: Showing (and wearing) less can always be more. This is the beauty of
lingerie! No matter what your personality is, you can be whomever you want
underneath it all. I don’t bare much skin offstage; I like my hemlines below my
knee, and I like dresses with shapely lines that might show a touch of
cleavage, if any. My “uniform” for
seduction is a shapely black dress with French-heeled seamed stockings, sexy
black pumps in patent or matte leather, and black leather opera gloves. It’s
mysterious and sensual at the same time.
What a wonderful statement! We got some stunning seamed stockings if
you’d like to attempt the Dita approach and the point about hemlines below the
knee is fantastic because it means you’re not flagging up your seductive
underwear, just gently hinting at it.
A dramatic glimpse of lingerie history
We wish we were in Houston to see this show!
Lynn Nottage has written a fascinating play about the women who created
lingerie in the early 20th century, before mass production became the norm.
Drawing on items found in her grandmother’s possession, such as old clothing,
photographs and magazines, this playwright has imagined how life might have
been for a woman of her grandmother’s age, working as a young seamstress.
Isolation was the norm, the piecework was
created without her ever meeting the women for whom she created negligees and
other lingerie and she could only have imagined the lives they led, for which
such garments were necessary. Women who worked in the lingerie industry have
often been invisible, whether they were piece workers like the star of Intimate Apparel or
designers who never received credit for their work or even the lingerie models
who paraded the catwalks in the days before supermodels existed. This glimpse
into the role of women, particularly women of colour, in the creation of the
most extravagant lingerie, sounds like a real treat, and opens up a historical
perspective on work, fashion and social relations that we’re always keen to explore.
If the show ever comes to the UK, we’ll be in the audience!
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