Launching Lady Jane Lingerie

Kim and I did a stall at the new outdoor location for Artists and Fleas yesterday. It was the unofficial "launch" of Lady Jane Lingerie, i.e. the first time it was officially for sale. Although I did fairly well at the market, I wasn't totally happy because I didn't sell any knickers. Its ok though, I didn't really see an outdoor market as being an ideal venue to sell underwear, it being rather high end and all. Everyone who passed it though stopped to pet it and say "aw, cute!" before passing by to the next booth. Despite cold weather and a looming threat of rain, a lot of people stopped by due to the proximity of the Greenpoint brunch nexis (i.e. Enid's, Park Luncheonette, Five Leaves and Lokal). In fact a good number of my sales seemed to be post-brunch drunk shopping. Drunk shoppers are the BEST! Oh but I got a lot of mosquito bites on my feet. Itchy.

What sort of struck me about the lack of lingerie sales was how many women were like "oh, I don't really wear 'lingerie,' I'm just kind of a cotton panties gal." This seems to be a pretty pervasive attitude in America, even among women who are really fashion-forward, which to be is kind of surprising. It's one of the reasons I decided to start the line, because I didn't really see a style like this one available in America and thought it should be. All we've got is Victoria's Secret and a bunch of high-end European imports.

I personally wear fancy lingerie for a number of reasons, one being a general interest in fashion, and of course the way proper lingerie can enhance your outfit, but mostly because it makes you feel a little special. A little secret that only you know about. And, if someone does see it, woohoo! So, ladies of America, I encourage you to throw out those faded cotton panties and invest in something pretty. For inspiration, here are some of my favorite import lingerie lines. Some are a little pricey but well worth it:

Ayten Gasson

Central Saint Martins graduate Ayten Gasson has been specializing in luxury hand made pure silk lingerie since 2004. Each piece is hand made to ensure a perfect, comfortable, and elegant finish. Shapes and styles are sourced from vintage lingerie patterns to create individual yet exquisite pieces in 100% silk.

What Katie Did

What Katie Did produce two collections a year which are stocked in boutiques worldwide. Their designs are not simply inspired by the 40s and 50s but actually made using vintage patterns adapted for women of today. As far as possible they stick to using fabrics and manufacturing methods which were available at that time.

What Katie Did also look to the past for inspiration in other areas of our business including customer service. Because they're a small company each and every order is processed with ultimate care and personalised service is offered throughout.

Hopeless Hotel

This is a line out of Australia. They specialise in high end lingerie and sleepwear, handcrafted from silk, organic cotton and the softest bamboo jersey, with exquisite detailing and vintage flair. Most garments are made to order, allowing clients to choose different colour-ways and ensuring a perfect fit. The line is designed and produced by Gabrielle Adamidis in Melbourne, Australia. Gabrielle has been sewing her own clothes since age 14, and has been formally trained in dress-making and pattern-making. She sells her stuff on Etsy and also through her own site.

Myla

Myla is almost as big as Agent Provacteur in the UK but personally I think it is a bit higher quality and better fitting. They started out with a store in Notting Hill around 1999 and have since expanded to 14 boutiques and concessions and also have a store in NYC on the Upper East Side. They are not as retro as some of the other lines I have mentioned but I like them for that, they do high-end without being cliche or trashy at all.

Mimi Holliday

Mimi Holliday is a diffusion line from higher-priced line Damaris. Hearts, bows, polka dots and lace are strong themes throughout the Mimi Holliday lingerie collections. They are also always made of silk which I love.

Fifi Chachnil

One of the French masters! The French know their underthings. Fifi Chachnil first started her lingerie collection in 1996 and immediately started selling to boutiques in Tokyo, New York and London. Fifi's famous lingerie label is well known for her glourious feminine designs, her sense of humour combined with style. Her passion for music, romance, fashion and theatre have all been influences.

Chantal Thomass

I LOVE how French designer Chantal Thomass's photoshoot are styled. To die for! She's also done a line for Victoria's Secret. I found some of her stockings at Century 21 a few months ago but didn't buy them because I was poor. Kicking myself now.

LouLou Loves You

This list would not be complete without a shout-out to my friend Lou over in London who makes the most gorgeous pin-up style lingerie, all by hand in her at-home studio. Lou totally inspired me to start my little line and I am totally indebted to her for that.

So ladies, go out and buy some new underwear. Even if you're single like me. You'll feel special, I promise.

Underwear as outerwear

Its no secret that I love lingerie, I've done plenty of posts about it and and even developed some vintage tap pants (new website coming soon, it is looking bad ass!). Needless to say, I am very excited about some of the new lingerie-inspired styles coming out for spring. The detailing on some of these pieces is so gorgeous, looking through the spring Paris shows my mind was basically exploding all over the wall. Forget spring, I want to wear this now. Let's take a look at some of the highlights shall we?

Can we start with Dior? OMG, want this whole collection, but check it out! Hello, John you stole my vintage 40's tap pants idea! I love these paired with the delicate boustier blouse, I totally need to get the balls to wear my tap pants as outerwear.


You can get great vintage styles like these from a number of places:

Elegant Satin/Silk Tap Panties


Van Raalte SHEERIO Tap Panties

1930's Pink Silk Tap Pants with Lace

OLGA Vintage 1960s Black Panti-Slip Sexy Mini Slip with Lace Trim

My next favorite look from the Dior show was the following:


Now this look is a little risqué for every day but without the sheerness you could totally wear this. Perhaps in a silk crepe... Lyell does a cute one for Urban Outfitters in a similar style:

Fletcher by Lyell for Urban Outfitters Silk Jumper

The other show where lingerie inspiration featured prominently was the Dolce and Gabbana show. There was a mix of really masculine pieces with the really feminine lingerie-inspired pieces that I think worked well.

I think the trick to this look is layering of various lingerie pieces so that its not too sheer. Layer several slips over each other with varying lengths so that you create tiers. Mix lace and satin materials so that you can see the satin through the lace, etc. Ideas of some layering pieces:

Vintage Black Lace Lingerie


Sexy 50s Burlesque Black/Red Lace Lingerie Top Slip


Vintage Black Lace slip dress


Vintage Nude Satin Slip/Nightgown

As long as it doesn't get too cold this winter I am going to try to incorporate some of my vintage lingerie pieces into my regular wardrobe somehow. Otherwise no one will ever get to see them but me!

All runway images courtesy of Style.com.

Vintage lingerie

After working with Samantha for a few months I have learned a lot about the business of being in apparel manufacturing, and I think I'm ready to do a little something myself. I've been totally obsessed with vintage lingerie for years, yet its hard to find these designs reproduced (cause really, do you wanna buy a pair of used underwear? gross). This weekend I visited the Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show to get some prototypes.

These beauties are called "tap pants" and they were produced in the 20's or 30's. Good examples have really beautiful embroidery and are made of silk or rayon. They fit super high on the waist and generally close with buttons. Next week I'm taking my tax return money and meeting with a manufacturer to see if they can copy the pattern and produce a small run. In the future I'd like to do a few more pieces, maybe a onesie such as this?

I'm really excited about this project! I figure the worst that could happen is that they don't sell and then I just have an unlimited supply of gifts to give my friends. More on this when I meet with the factory.

Design class final project

I am winding down my time at school and have just turned in my final project for Design process class. The idea of this class was to teach you the process through which designers come up with a collection. Obviously, this is different for anyone, but there are certain pathways through which one comes up with a design concept that has a cohesive theme, tone, color palette, and consumer. Of course I decided to do lingerie and my collection is very "me." I thought maybe I should try to do something to challenge myself a little more but you go with what you like, right? I named my fictional brand "Chelsea Violet." The first thing to think about is your consumer. My consumer was a ladylike, sensual woman who is confident and comfortable in her own skin. She is happy. She enjoys the finer things like perfumes, afternoon tea and fresh flowers. Basically a modern, very English woman who purchases lingerie for herself and not for a man (though if I man gets to see them, its a bonus!). I got my inspiration through visiting the antiques flea markets around London and Paris, fashion editorials by Gemma Booth, and look books by Chantal Thomass who I have mentioned a lot on this blog.

The name Chelsea Violet refers to a few things. Chelsea is just a name that I like and that I found to be quintessentially English. Violet has to do with the color palette, which is based around the violet color (basically various shades of purple, lilac, etc.), and of course flowers which are very much an inspiration for the silhouette and fabrics. Also, violet is somewhere in between pink, which is the color of very sweet, innocent lingerie, and black, which is supposed to be the naughty kind. This collection falls somewhere in between.

I'd never done much drawing before this class so doing the technical drawings was definitely a learning experience. Lingerie is probably a little easier than drawing complex garments like a suit or something but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out in the end. I did the technical drawings by hand and then scanned them into Illustrator where I colored them.

And finally, the fashion illustration... this was a hard part for me and I owe my friend Margarita for helping me figure out how to translate a flat design (one of the more complicated ones at that) onto a body. I wish I had had something better than markers to color it in but that's all I brought. Would have looked a lot nicer with water colors.

That's it!

One more week of class and then I'm done... and will have to figure out what the hell I am doing next. Not even sure if I'm ready to move back to America yet, but may have to. Not sure what the future will bring.

Lingerie is up on Etsy

We had a super fun photo shoot this past week with Erin Barry. I asked my friends Alexandra and Marta to be the models and we shot it in Marta's apartment and backyard, much to the amusement of her neighbors. The ladies were great together and super good sports about the near-nudity. Alex also did some masterful photoshopping (sorry, no more naughty bits!) and made this amazing collage

They're now up at my brand new etsy shop.

Tip: google your brand name before you start a line, or you may never find out that your name is already claimed by a fugly bespoke lingerie line, a stripper supplies shop, and a masectomy bra supplier. GREAT. Name's already on the labels though so oh well. Any ideas for next time?

Lady Jane Lingerie Collection 2

I'm working on some patterns for my 2nd "collection" for Lady Jane Lingerie (I suppose it can't really be called a collection as it's only two pieces but whatever). I'm finally making a bra. Fitting bras is really challenging and to make it authentically vintage means sacrificing some of the advances in fit that have been developed over the past 70+ years. But, hopefully they will look great anyway. Here are some initial sketches. All designs were adapted from vintage 30's and 40's patterns.

Annick Rosenfield photoshoot

I did a quick photoshoot on Friday with my friend Annick who recently finished her MFA at the School of Visual Arts. The first half of the shoot was to build her portfolio in hopes of getting some work with a men's magazine. Now I'm not really a men's magazine type nor had I ever done anything like this before but given the opportunity to do some more nice shoots with Lady Jane Lingerie I couldn't refuse. Beware, the following is a little NSFW!

I just think this is such a pretty shot I don't even care if I'm in my bra.

The other photos were the first in a series that she is hoping to submit to W magazine on the theme of excess... and who better to represent excess than me in all my vintage clothes.

We may do an elaboration on these photos later, can't wait. Thanks Annick! Go check out her website her work is lovely.