Lingerie, by its nature, is intimate and personal. It shapes our life experience at pivotal moments. The first bralettes for budding teens. The zone for experimentation when we start to understand and offer up our bodies. I’d long been an aficionado of lacy matching sets until pregnancy skewed my drawers. As soon as I finished breastfeeding
I went to Selfridges and spent my statutory maternity pay on fancy bras. It was a reclaiming of sorts, and for no one apart from me: “I’m taking these back and covering them in lace.” I know fashion editors who are swathed in navy knits but sport Agent Provocateur underneath (the Joan is a favourite) at all times. Meanwhile, friends are aghast when I posit the idea of sexy knickers — “strictly sensible cotton only” comes back one response.
This “anything goes” aesthetic dominates lingerie now — and frankly it’s about time. Post #MeToo, the era of heavily Photoshopped visions of “perfection” has been cancelled indefinitely. From Skims to M&S, women are front and centre in all their blemished, stretch-marked glory. We are a long way from Eva Herzigova’s 1994 “Hello Boys” Wonderbra moment. “There’s a lot of psychology behind it,” says Jeannie Lee, head of womenswear buying at Selfridges. “Lingerie is so wrapped in your self-image and what you want to project and how you’re feeling in that moment. There are more tribes, more niches and considerations manifesting into products now.”
“We’ve seen a big increase in [sales of] non-wire bras, triangle bras and soft-cut bras,” says Lucy Litwack, the chief executive of Coco de Mer. “But we’ve found as well a big increase in three-piece sets — your bra, knickers and suspenders, the more glamorous pieces.” Net-a-porter has seen a similar buying trend: Libby Page, its senior market editor, says that “the demand for comfortable cotton lingerie pieces is equally matched by that for lace and tulle thongs and delicate soft-cup bras, which have seen a rise this season. Trending pieces include Skims’s cotton triangle bralette, Coco de Mer’s Muse Simone lace bra and Agent Provocateur’s Zuri embroidered tulle thong.”
Soozie Jenkinson, head of design at M&S, has coined a term for this modern take on lingerie styling: glasual. “It’s the combination of glamorous looks with more casual styles,” she says. “A couple of years ago it was very much about a more relaxed aesthetic. Then, if you rewind to when glamour was really on it, ten years ago, it was all about push-up bras, it was all about ‘look at me’, very bold, confident looks. But with the athleisure trend dominating outerwear, it didn’t feel relevant to bring that back. So we’re now looking at more glamorous, feminine pieces but through a modern lens.
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“What I find really refreshing is the way that women are styling their wardrobes — it’s about maybe wearing something that is more glamorous or lacy underneath a more sporty outfit, or wearing a really sleek, simple flexi-fit crop top under a pretty blouse. That looks really modern and it’s really liberating.”
The same goes for shapewear, once the dusty, granny-pants corner of the lingerie floor, which has had its own titillating makeover, thanks to Kim Kardashian. Her “solutions” brand Skims, launched two years ago, was valued earlier this year at $1.6 billion (£1.2 billion). Its success has been largely driven by three elements: inclusivity in sizing (it runs from a 4 to 30), an extensive range of skin-toned colourways, and its ability to help women achieve the bodycon aesthetic that Kardashian champions. It is also extremely comfortable — and I say this as someone who hasn’t seen a single episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians but is a thankful owner of the Naked plunge bra, which is sexy and comfy and invisible underneath clothing.
But Skims has also tapped into something else — it encapsulates the new optics of what’s sexy now, led by the female gaze. Its imagery celebrates the female form from taut and toned to voluptuously fleshy. This shift — to where all women are able to “see” themselves — is catching on elsewhere, too. Victoria’s Secret’s branding about-turn has seen it ditch its diet-starved angels for the curvy appeal of Paloma Elsesser. Rihanna has taken the lingerie-show format pioneered (and now abandoned) by Victoria’s Secret and turned it on its head with her raunchy-yet-inclusive Savage x Fenty events (now streaming on Amazon Prime). Although, watching the former Victoria’s Secret angel Irina Shayk writhe around in a leopard-print one-piece in Rihanna’s latest show, I’m not sure how many straight men will appreciate the nuance of ownership here.
In Agent Provocateur’s latest campaign, models pose inside a stately home with glasses of red wine in front of a candlelit dining table and against curtained beds with padded eiderdowns. I ask Sarah Shotton, the label’s creative director, how far this is from the original vision that the Nineties-born brand was known for — think haute erotica and pin-up store assistants. “There’s been a big shift,” she says with a laugh. “Our Christmas campaigns [then] would have been a bit more spanky bottom. More voyeuristic, with more titillation. Now it’s about women’s empowerment — [she’s] in control.” Shotton has also vastly expanded Agent Provocateur’s reach with the Anytime range, its version of everyday basics — stretchy, machine washable and less precious, but still in the AP mould.
Against the more glamorous end of the market, underwear is having a reality check as well. Enter period pants, a pair of knickers with super-absorbent padding that can be rewashed. What began as a niche product driven by small start-up brands such as Thinx and Ohne has now sprung up all over the high street. When M&S launched its version earlier this year (which was two years in the making), it was a swift sell-out. Selfridges will launch Chantelle’s first venture into period pants this month.
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Then there’s the ethically conscious factor. US brand Bombas has recently launched its modal pants in the UK: not only will they be the comfiest pair you ever own (I can vouch that you can barely feel them) but the company will donate a pair to the homeless charity St Mungo’s for every one sold. A friend is a convert to You Underwear, which is ethically manufactured in India; for every pair it sells two are donated to the charity Smalls for All. I’m also a huge fan of the carbon-neutral Lara Intimates, which creates pretty, non-wired supportive bras in tempting colours from recycled and deadstock fabric. Styles range from powermesh bralettes to sheer high-waisted thongs.
Alongside Beija London, Dora Larsen, Stripe & Stare (and many others), Lara Intimates is part of a burgeoning crop of modern, female-led lingerie brands that have women, comfort, body positivity and responsible production at their core. They also foster a strong sense of sisterhood — the acute emotional reaction to being catered for when your body has been invisible is a specific kind of joy.
The takeaway? The new sexy is what you make of it. Hello girls.
The insider labels to love
● Butterfly bra, £80, and high-waisted briefs, £42; rossellengland.com
● Puffer bra and thong set, £70; fruitybooty.co.uk
● Primrose Pinkberry bralette and knicker set, £45, LoveShackFancy x Stripe & Stare; stripeandstare.com
● Knit bra, £95, and briefs, £85; lesgirlslesboys.com
