Why are so many women scared of lingerie? For years, it has been seen as something of dirty secret... Something to be kept in the bedroom, and if you wore it out then you are so on the pull. Where did it all go so wrong?
You can probably name on one hand the High Street Lingerie shops. The same year Victoria's Secret opened their flagship store on New Bond Street, La Senza was going down the tubes. Attitudes in shopping have changed; people tend to shy away from buying lingerie believing it is something for special occasions such as a wedding or purely for sex. Another popular misconception is that it is something far too tricky and uncomfortable to wear every day.
With a vast percentage of UK towns and cities home to one or more Anne Summers stores, the idea of sensual yet practical lingerie has sailed by. Google the word lingerie and the first few search results are littered with the words 'erotic', 'sexy', and 'Anne Summers' before taking a massive swerve and listing Debenhams and Marks and Spencer's. I must admit the latter two are not names that immediately spring to mind when I think of lingerie. More like comfortable and cotton. This is where lingerie and underwear have become a split category.
The flip side of the coin is the common misbelief that to get pretty lingerie you need to spend a fortune. Rigby and Peller? Agent provocateur? We are running out of options for affordable attractive underwear, with a need for lingerie that is wearable and with a need for it to be functional and not just for sex, something that can be worn every day. Add all these factors into the mix, a gap in the market for pretty lingerie at an affordable price and the timing couldn't be better for French lingerie brand Well.
Well are making their way over here and not only are the products beautiful but they also come at an affordable price. MODA , the UK's largest fashion trade show, held at Birmingham NEC 17th-19th of Feb, is home to a host of clothing and lingerie brands including Well. Fingers crossed that this could be the start of more affordable and quality feminine brands opening options up to those of us who want delicate and pretty rather than just uncomfortable.
Isn't it time to start dressing well? Forgetting the rib crushing corsets of the 1920's and instead shifting the focus to the glamour of the 1950's is key. It is easy to look at lingerie through history in a chronological order. As the role of women in society has changed, so has the underwear. Is it not time to ditch the baggy, grey cotton briefs and start dressing like the power players we are today?