This month’s underwear Lust List is inspired by my visits to The Body Studio at Selfridges and the Undressed exhibition at the V&A, plus my many lunch time window shopping trips on London’s famous Oxford Street (having a day job that’s based at Oxford Circus can be dangerous!).
I can’t get enough of the wonderful Selfridges photoshoot (see right) and the inspirational short film by Kathryn Ferguson, so there will probably be another post coming soon on that. In the meantime, here’s my Lust List for April 2016.
1) Adina Reay ‘Fran’ bra and suspender briefs
I still can’t quite believe that I’d not heard of Adina Reay before my visit to The Body Studio at Selfridges. Their utterly beautiful bras are available in sizes 30DD to 36G and are made from gorgeous luxurious fabrics. My personal favourite out of the styles I tried on at Selfridges was the show-stopping tulle ‘Fran’ and, if you like your underwear in colours other than black, this set also comes in scarlet, peacock and toast. Prepare to be distracted!
2) Agent Provocateur ‘Bubbles’ briefs
At the V&A’s exhibition Undressed: A brief History of Underwear, there are a pair of wonderful 1960s red men’s briefs that look like they’re made out of a string vest. (Photography isn’t permitted in the exhibition but you can see a photo of them, plus an advert with a model wearing them, in Shaun Cole’s book The Story of Men’s Underwear.) I think they missed a trick in not displaying them next to a pair of red Bubbles briefs from the exhibition’s sponsor, Agent Provocateur, as they would have looked amazing next to each other.
3) M&S Rosie for Autograph silk & lace padded plunge bra
After having vintage lingerie discussions with various people, mentioning a mint green 1970s St Michael bra from my underwear collection and sharing disappointment that green lingerie is no longer considered fashionable, M&S appear to have answered my prayers this season. They have a lot of green bras to choose from and my favourites include a cute dotty balcony bra, a lovely scalloped edge sheer bra available in cup sizes A-E and DD-G, plus an unusual print available in 3 shapes including the yummy high apex plunge. My favourite is the Rosie for Autograph silk & lace padded plunge bra which is classically pretty and, because it’s M&S, machine washable!
4) Bravissimo ‘Melrose’ bra
I’m on the mailing list for Bravissimo and so get their catalogue through my door every season. They have some really pretty new colours and prints this time round but I hesitated to include any of them here because every single set they show in the catalogue is photographed on a white model. It’s not even that they didn’t use a black model, because this gorgeous image of the Melrose bra in black proves otherwise, so why is there even less diversity in the print catalogue than on their website? I can’t be the only customer put off by seeing the same blonde hair and pasty skin in every single image, can I?
5) THINX boyshort
The hygiene and laundry section in the V&A’s underwear exhibition may not mention periods but THINX aren’t afraid to, and they also recognise that it’s not just women who have periods. They have a variety of styles with different absorbencies and their latest boyshort-style period pants were developed with trans men in mind.
