Heidi Klum Intimates Lingerie Mantra Of ‘More Boobs, Less Bra’

Heidi Klum has revealed her thoughts and feelings about posing in the nude. The model claims that she is quite comfortable posing in the nude.

Klum also has a lingerie mantra, which states “more boobs, less bra.” She still has a lot of passion for lingerie and she talks about it in a cover interview for the latest installment of Ocean Drive magazine. During the interview, the model talked about how she likes going nude and her preferences when it comes to selecting a good set of lingerie. Despite confessing her love for posing while nude, she still admitted that she faced some insecurity along the way.

#HeidiKlum declares herself a nudist & defends her relationship with younger BF #VitoSchnabel in a new interview! https://t.co/jKnNB62Zjk pic.twitter.com/zdZ6by4NQQ

â€" Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) November 28, 2016

“I grew up going to nude beaches with my parents, so I’m a nudist. I have no problems with nudity at all. I’m very free. When I go to the beach, it’s in a very remote place where there are not a lot of people, and I like to go topless,” Klum revealed.

[Image by Jordan Strauss/AP Images]

Despite her preference for going all natural, Klum stated that her modeling career at Victoria’s Secret taught her a few things about what makes the best innerwear. Though her days of walking the runway are behind her, she still enjoys photo shoots where she is wearing lingerie. The 43-year-old model has been spotted topless while on vacation with her boyfriend Vito Schnabel.

“Everyone should do what they want to do, [even if it’s] thigh-high stockings and a garter belt that shows a little bit when you sit at the dinner table,” the German supermodel added.

Klum further pointed out that she does not believe that it is vulgar and that she feels comfortable even if someone sees her nipples. She believes that it is not vulgar though some people feel that it is. Klum has also been known for going topless and she openly claims that the best lingerie is supposed to celebrate whatever is underneath. She also claims that she loves natural shape and hates pushup bras. She believes that having breasts pushed up almost to the neck is old fashioned.

[Image by Evan Agostini/AP Images]

Klum pointed out that there was a need to come up with something different for ladies who have many pushup bras but prefer having no inner lining. She uses her mantra of “more boobs, less bra” to motivate her design team so they can come up with more desirable inner wear.

The German model also explained that she went through self-doubt at some point during her career. She started out as a regular girl from a small town where she was not well known. One she started making appearances on magazine covers, people started to notice. Going to places like restaurants would be hectic for her because people would point fingers saying that she was not as beautiful as she looked in the magazine. Fortunately, she learned how to overcome the negativity and embrace her beautiful body.

Klum also pointed out some other things that she went through during her career, including being told that she was too feminine or that she was too curvy and should be skinnier. Her jovial mood was also criticized when she was told that she was too happy all the time. Despite all she went through, she explained that she did not let the negativity pull her down. She decided that she would remain committed and satisfied with the way she looked and if the critics did not like her the way she was, then she would be doing the wrong job.

Heidi Klum stated that the advice she gave was for professional lingerie wearers as well as rookies. Klum believes that her tips about lingerie will help young ladies to feel better about their bodies and accept themselves the way they are.

[Featured Image by Jordan Strauss/AP Images] "

| Heidi | Klum | Intimates | Lingerie | Mantra | ‘More | Boobs, | Less | Bra’ | revealed | thoughts | feelings | about | posing | nude | model | claims | that | quite | comfortable | p> Klum | also | lingerie | mantra | which | states | “more | boobs | less | still | passion | talks | cover | interview | latest | installment | Ocean | Drive< | magazine | During | talked | likes | going | preferences | when | comes | selecting | good | Despite | confessing | love | while | admitted | faced | some | insecurity | along | p> | HeidiKlum< | declares | herself | nudist | & | defends | relationship | with | younger | VitoSchnabel< | interview! | https: | jKnNB62Zjk< | twitter | zdZ6by4NQQ< | p> â€" | Perez | Hilton | (@PerezHilton) | November | 2016< | p> < | blockquote> “I | grew | beaches | parents | I’m | have | problems | nudity | very | free | When | beach | it’s | remote | place | where | there | people | like | topless | revealed< | p> < | p> [Image | Jordan | Strauss | Images] Despite | preference | natural | stated | modeling | career | Victoria’s | Secret | taught | things | what | makes | best | innerwear | Though | days | walking | runway | behind | enjoys | photo | shoots | wearing | year | been | spotted | vacation | boyfriend | Vito | Schnabel | p> “Everyone | should | they | want | [even | it’s] | thigh | high | stockings | garter | belt | shows | little | dinner | table | German | supermodel | added< | further | pointed | does | believe | vulgar | feels | even | someone | sees | nipples | believes | though | feel | known | openly | supposed | celebrate | whatever | underneath | loves | shape | hates | pushup | bras | having | breasts | pushed | almost | neck | fashioned | Evan | Agostini | Images] Klum | need | come | something | different | ladies | many | prefer | inner | lining | uses | bra” | motivate | design | team | more | desirable | wear | p> The | explained | went | through | self | doubt | point | during | started | regular | girl | from | small | town | well | making | appearances | covers | notice | Going | places | restaurants | would | hectic | because | fingers | saying | beautiful | looked | Fortunately | learned | overcome | negativity | embrace | body | other | including | being | told | feminine | curvy | skinnier | jovial | mood | criticized | happy | time | pull | down | decided | remain | committed | satisfied | critics | then | doing | wrong | p> Heidi | advice | gave | professional | wearers | rookies | tips | will | help | young | better | their | bodies | accept | themselves | p> [embedded | content]< | noscript>[Featured | Image | Images] |

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Halle Berry Launches Sexy New Lingerie Line At 50, Features On Bruno Mars’s New Album ’24K Magic’

Halle Berry may be 50-years-old, but she can still show off her body for a steamy lingerie photo shoot, according to TooFab. The Monster’s Ball actress, who turned 50 this past summer, is really enjoying her age.

Halle Berry took to Instagram to share steamy photos of herself wearing sexy lingerie. With the photo shoot, the actress announced she’s launching a brand new lingerie line. On the photo, the 50-year-old actress is seen wearing a wet, see-through T-shirt with black lacy panties.

While the photo was taken from behind, Halle Berry still doesn’t look her age.

In the caption to the sexy snap, the actress says, “the big FIVE OH has taught me to be FEARLESS.”

Announcing her new lingerie line at 50-years-old, Halle Berry wrote that she knows one thing for sure: It’s “never” too early or too late to do “what EVER makes you happy.” The actress also added that the steamy pic was a little behind-the-scenes image from her recent shoot.

With a link to the private Instagram account @scandalehalleberry, Halle Berry seems to have revealed the name of her future lingerie line. It’s yet unclear when the Catwoman actress is going to launch the line. On her website, Berry described the lingerie line as “lingerie for real women.”

“We have real curves, real colors, and real needs. We deserve lingerie that lives up to us.”

Halle Berry also praised her lingerie line for being “beautiful” lingerie that’s also practical, functional, and comfortable. If all of the lingerie on her new lingerie line is as sexy as that one from her photoshoot, then the Scandale Halle Berry line could easily become a hit.

Halle Berry also claims that her lingerie is “so comfortable” that women can never take it off. Because, as the actress claims, this is the kind of lingerie women “can stay in, play in, live all-day-every-day in.”

In addition to launching a new lingerie line, Halle Berry is also lending her voice to Bruno Mars’s newly released album 24K Magic, according to People magazine. The actress is no stranger to being part of the music industry.

I’m crying @BrunoMars literally put @halleberry ‘s voicemail message in his song???????????? pic.twitter.com/41yHeVWNjI

â€" cawt (@czimmm) November 23, 2016

Halle Berry has been name-checked on several songs, including Kendrick Lamar’s “Money Trees,” but now the Catwoman actress also wants her own voice to be part of the music industry.

In Mars’s newly released album, Halle Berry makes a special appearance on the seventh track called “Calling All My Lovelies.” As the song’s title suggests it, Mars is trying to reach Berry by phone.

But Halle Berry appears to be unable to answer the phone, so the actress recorded a voicemail and sent a kiss through the air at the end.

“Hi, you’ve reached Halle Berry. Sorry, I can’t get to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number, I’ll get right back to you.”

Bruno Mars Still Can’t Get Halle Berry To Call Him Back https://t.co/aDorB6sD3Z pic.twitter.com/iSMXQ2uHCH

â€" MAGSIX6 PROMOTEAM (@2ReaaLMusic) November 19, 2016

So Halle Berry’s fans shouldn’t be surprised when they hear the mention of her name as well as recognize her own voice in the new song. Because it was actually Berry herself who recorded that voicemail!

Even though Halle Berry played her iconic role as Catwoman over a decade ago, she’s still one of the most attractive women of DC Comics films, according to the Daily Mail. One more proof of that is Gal Gadot, who was cast as Wonder Woman, saying that she would pick Berry as her potential future love interest.

When “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot learned her Amazon character was bi-sexual she said, “I could do it with [Halle Berry].” [Pre-sales BOOM] pic.twitter.com/QOMNuWIs8R

â€" Joe Cab (@garyorjoe) November 11, 2016

When Gadot was asked on Good Night with Guy Pines about her character possibly being bisexual, the actress said she already had an actress in mind to play her potential love interest. And that actress is Halle Berry!

“I saw her the other day, Halle Berry. She’s so beautiful. Wow! She’s gorgeous! So… yeah, I could do it with her.”

[Featured Image by John Sciulli/Getty Images]

"

| Halle | Berry | Launches | Sexy | Lingerie | Line | Features | Bruno | Mars’s | Album | ’24K | Magic’ | years | still | show | body | steamy | lingerie | photo | shoot< | according | TooFab< | Monster’s | Ball< | actress | turned | this | past | summer | really | enjoying | p> Halle | took | Instagram | share | photos | herself | wearing | sexy | With | shoot | announced | she’s | launching | brand | line | year | seen | through | shirt | with | black | lacy | panties | p> < | blockquote> While | taken | from | behind | doesn’t | look | p> In | caption | snap | says | “the | FIVE | taught | FEARLESS | ”< | p> Announcing | wrote | that | knows | thing | sure: | It’s | “never” | early | late | “what | EVER | makes | happy | also | added | little | scenes | image | recent | p> With | link | private | account | @scandalehalleberry | seems | have | revealed | name | future | unclear | when | Catwoman< | going | launch | website | described | “lingerie | real | women | p> “We | curves | colors | needs | deserve | lives | p> < | blockquote> < | blockquote> Halle | praised | being | “beautiful” | that’s | practical | functional | comfortable | photoshoot | then | Scandale | could | easily | become | claims | “so | comfortable” | never | take | Because | kind | “can | stay | play | live | every | addition | lending | voice | newly | released | album | Magic< | People< | magazine | stranger | part | music | industry< | p> I’m | crying | @BrunoMars< | literally | @halleberry< | ‘s | voicemail | message | song | twitter | 41yHeVWNjI< | p> â€" | cawt | (@czimmm) | November | 2016< | blockquote> Halle | been | checked | several | songs | including | Kendrick | Lamar’s | “Money | Trees | wants | industry | special | appearance | seventh | track | called | “Calling | Lovelies | song’s | title | suggests | Mars | trying | reach | phone | p> But | appears | unable | answer | recorded | sent | kiss | p> “Hi | you’ve | reached | Sorry | can’t | right | leave | your | number | I’ll | back | blockquote> Bruno | Still | Can’t | Call | Back | https: | aDorB6sD3Z< | iSMXQ2uHCH< | MAGSIX6 | PROMOTEAM | (@2ReaaLMusic) | blockquote> So | Berry’s | fans | shouldn’t | surprised | they | hear | mention | well | recognize | actually | voicemail!< | p> Even | though | played | iconic | role | over | decade | most | attractive | Comics | films | Daily | Mail< | more | proof | Gadot< | cast | Wonder | Woman | saying | would | pick | potential | love | interest | p> When | “Wonder | Woman” | star | Gadot | learned | Amazon | character | sexual | said | “I | [Halle | Berry] | [Pre | sales | BOOM] | QOMNuWIs8R< | (@garyorjoe) | blockquote> When | asked | Good | Night | Pines< | about | possibly | bisexual | already | mind | Berry!< | p> “I | other | She’s | beautiful | Wow! | gorgeous! | So… | yeah | blockquote> [Featured | Image | John | Sciulli | Getty | Images]< | p> |

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Halle Berry Launches Sexy New Lingerie Line At 50, Features On Bruno Mars’s New Album ’24K Magic’

Halle Berry may be 50-years-old, but she can still show off her body for a steamy lingerie photo shoot, according to TooFab. The Monster’s Ball actress, who turned 50 this past summer, is really enjoying her age.

Halle Berry took to Instagram to share steamy photos of herself wearing sexy lingerie. With the photo shoot, the actress announced she’s launching a brand new lingerie line. On the photo, the 50-year-old actress is seen wearing a wet, see-through T-shirt with black lacy panties.

While the photo was taken from behind, Halle Berry still doesn’t look her age.

In the caption to the sexy snap, the actress says, “the big FIVE OH has taught me to be FEARLESS.”

Announcing her new lingerie line at 50-years-old, Halle Berry wrote that she knows one thing for sure: It’s “never” too early or too late to do “what EVER makes you happy.” The actress also added that the steamy pic was a little behind-the-scenes image from her recent shoot.

With a link to the private Instagram account @scandalehalleberry, Halle Berry seems to have revealed the name of her future lingerie line. It’s yet unclear when the Catwoman actress is going to launch the line. On her website, Berry described the lingerie line as “lingerie for real women.”

“We have real curves, real colors, and real needs. We deserve lingerie that lives up to us.”

Halle Berry also praised her lingerie line for being “beautiful” lingerie that’s also practical, functional, and comfortable. If all of the lingerie on her new lingerie line is as sexy as that one from her photoshoot, then the Scandale Halle Berry line could easily become a hit.

Halle Berry also claims that her lingerie is “so comfortable” that women can never take it off. Because, as the actress claims, this is the kind of lingerie women “can stay in, play in, live all-day-every-day in.”

In addition to launching a new lingerie line, Halle Berry is also lending her voice to Bruno Mars’s newly released album 24K Magic, according to People magazine. The actress is no stranger to being part of the music industry.

I’m crying @BrunoMars literally put @halleberry ‘s voicemail message in his song???????????? pic.twitter.com/41yHeVWNjI

â€" cawt (@czimmm) November 23, 2016

Halle Berry has been name-checked on several songs, including Kendrick Lamar’s “Money Trees,” but now the Catwoman actress also wants her own voice to be part of the music industry.

In Mars’s newly released album, Halle Berry makes a special appearance on the seventh track called “Calling All My Lovelies.” As the song’s title suggests it, Mars is trying to reach Berry by phone.

But Halle Berry appears to be unable to answer the phone, so the actress recorded a voicemail and sent a kiss through the air at the end.

“Hi, you’ve reached Halle Berry. Sorry, I can’t get to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number, I’ll get right back to you.”

Bruno Mars Still Can’t Get Halle Berry To Call Him Back https://t.co/aDorB6sD3Z pic.twitter.com/iSMXQ2uHCH

â€" MAGSIX6 PROMOTEAM (@2ReaaLMusic) November 19, 2016

So Halle Berry’s fans shouldn’t be surprised when they hear the mention of her name as well as recognize her own voice in the new song. Because it was actually Berry herself who recorded that voicemail!

Even though Halle Berry played her iconic role as Catwoman over a decade ago, she’s still one of the most attractive women of DC Comics films, according to the Daily Mail. One more proof of that is Gal Gadot, who was cast as Wonder Woman, saying that she would pick Berry as her potential future love interest.

When “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot learned her Amazon character was bi-sexual she said, “I could do it with [Halle Berry].” [Pre-sales BOOM] pic.twitter.com/QOMNuWIs8R

â€" Joe Cab (@garyorjoe) November 11, 2016

When Gadot was asked on Good Night with Guy Pines about her character possibly being bisexual, the actress said she already had an actress in mind to play her potential love interest. And that actress is Halle Berry!

“I saw her the other day, Halle Berry. She’s so beautiful. Wow! She’s gorgeous! So… yeah, I could do it with her.”

[Featured Image by John Sciulli/Getty Images]

"

| Halle | Berry | Launches | Sexy | Lingerie | Line | Features | Bruno | Mars’s | Album | ’24K | Magic’ | years | still | show | body | steamy | lingerie | photo | shoot< | according | TooFab< | Monster’s | Ball< | actress | turned | this | past | summer | really | enjoying | p> Halle | took | Instagram | share | photos | herself | wearing | sexy | With | shoot | announced | she’s | launching | brand | line | year | seen | through | shirt | with | black | lacy | panties | p> < | blockquote> While | taken | from | behind | doesn’t | look | p> In | caption | snap | says | “the | FIVE | taught | FEARLESS | ”< | p> Announcing | wrote | that | knows | thing | sure: | It’s | “never” | early | late | “what | EVER | makes | happy | also | added | little | scenes | image | recent | p> With | link | private | account | @scandalehalleberry | seems | have | revealed | name | future | unclear | when | Catwoman< | going | launch | website | described | “lingerie | real | women | p> “We | curves | colors | needs | deserve | lives | p> < | blockquote> < | blockquote> Halle | praised | being | “beautiful” | that’s | practical | functional | comfortable | photoshoot | then | Scandale | could | easily | become | claims | “so | comfortable” | never | take | Because | kind | “can | stay | play | live | every | addition | lending | voice | newly | released | album | Magic< | People< | magazine | stranger | part | music | industry< | p> I’m | crying | @BrunoMars< | literally | @halleberry< | ‘s | voicemail | message | song | twitter | 41yHeVWNjI< | p> â€" | cawt | (@czimmm) | November | 2016< | blockquote> Halle | been | checked | several | songs | including | Kendrick | Lamar’s | “Money | Trees | wants | industry | special | appearance | seventh | track | called | “Calling | Lovelies | song’s | title | suggests | Mars | trying | reach | phone | p> But | appears | unable | answer | recorded | sent | kiss | p> “Hi | you’ve | reached | Sorry | can’t | right | leave | your | number | I’ll | back | blockquote> Bruno | Still | Can’t | Call | Back | https: | aDorB6sD3Z< | iSMXQ2uHCH< | MAGSIX6 | PROMOTEAM | (@2ReaaLMusic) | blockquote> So | Berry’s | fans | shouldn’t | surprised | they | hear | mention | well | recognize | actually | voicemail!< | p> Even | though | played | iconic | role | over | decade | most | attractive | Comics | films | Daily | Mail< | more | proof | Gadot< | cast | Wonder | Woman | saying | would | pick | potential | love | interest | p> When | “Wonder | Woman” | star | Gadot | learned | Amazon | character | sexual | said | “I | [Halle | Berry] | [Pre | sales | BOOM] | QOMNuWIs8R< | (@garyorjoe) | blockquote> When | asked | Good | Night | Pines< | about | possibly | bisexual | already | mind | Berry!< | p> “I | other | She’s | beautiful | Wow! | gorgeous! | So… | yeah | blockquote> [Featured | Image | John | Sciulli | Getty | Images]< | p> |

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Staff At A Melbourne Lingerie Store Are Protesting Against Sexist Work Conditions

The company's handbook directs female employees to "pout" at male customers.

A group of young workers have staged a protest today targeting the Australian lingerie chain Honey Birdette, which has been accused by current and former staff of encouraging sexual harassment.

The protest was held outside Honey Birdette’s Melbourne Central store and follows a petition started by a former employee that claimed staff were “sexually harassed and intimidated by customers â€" and when these women spoke up, management told them to suck it up.” The petition, which also accuses the company of enforcing a sexist dress code, has been signed by 5,000 people.

Staff have also expressed concern at the the company’s staff handbook which directs women to “pout” at male customers.

Photo credit: Young Workers Centre

Today’s protest included testimonials from Honey Birdette staff, documenting their negative experiences in the workplace. “We were told we were there as ‘sex kittens’,” one testimonial read. “They make you go up to women and couples and sell them sex toys and say vulgar things to them even if [the customers] say no,” read another.

One former staff member said that the company forced staff to wear high heels and stockings, which they had to purchase from the store.

Photo credit: Young Workers Centre

Material distributed at the protest said that workers at Honey Birdette were “bullied and intimidated by management for not having perfectly applied lipstick or wanting to wear flat shoes instead of high heels â€" even for safety reasons.” They also “face sexual harassment and intimidation from customers, and are pressured by management to work countless hours of unpaid overtime to make sales.”

Employees also raised concerns around the company’s official staff handbook called “The Little Black Book”. The handbook, seen by Junkee, describes how staff are expected to dress and interact with customers.

The handbook describes retail staff as “showgirls”. Dress guidelines include requirements that staff wear red lipstick and high heels to “complete the showgirl experience”. Nails must either be red, black or nude and staff are reminded that “ladies talk with our hands”.

An excerpt from the company’s “Little Black Book”

According to the handbook, being a “Honey” (staff member) is more than a job, it’s a “lifestyle”. Staff are also encouraged to use phrases like “Kinky cats”, “Sadistic sweethearts”, “Spank me if I’m wrong” and “Come hither”.

A specific section on male customers directs staff to greet them with a “killer pout”.

The issue of sexual harassment in retail workplaces isn’t unique to one specific company. An investigate feature published by Fairfax last week highlighted how common it is across the industry.

The article pointed out that there have been no public campaigns targeting this kind of behaviour despite the fact the law was changed five years ago to explicitly prohibit customers sexually harassing employees.

Today’s protest was supported by the Young Workers Centre. Keelia Fitzpatrick, the centre’s coordinator, said “Honey Birdette claims to be about ’empowering women’ â€" but the only people Honey Birdette are empowering are customers who want to sexually harass women.

“We’ve had many women contact us to speak out about these awful workplace practices, but what’s really alarming is how many of these women are speaking to us anonymously. There’s a real culture of fear among the workers at Honey Birdette. It’s time for Honey Birdette to practice what they preach and empower staff to stand up for safety.”

Junkee has contacted Honey Birdette for comment.

"

| Staff | Melbourne | Lingerie | Store | Protesting | Against | Sexist | Work | Conditions | companys | handbook | directs | female | employees | pout | male | customers | p> A | group | young | workers | have | staged | protest | today | targeting | Australian | lingerie | chain | Honey | Birdette | which | been | accused | current | former | staff | encouraging | sexual | harassment | p> The | held | outside | Birdette’s | Central | store | follows | petition | started | employee< | that | claimed | were | “sexually | harassed | intimidated | when | these | women | spoke | management | told | them | suck | also | accuses | company | enforcing | sexist | dress | code | signed | people | p> Staff | expressed | concern | company’s | “pout” | p> Photo | credit: | Young | Workers | Centre< | p> < | div> Today’s | included | testimonials | from | documenting | their | negative | experiences | workplace | “We | there | ‘sex | kittens’ | testimonial | read | “They | make | couples | sell | toys | vulgar | things | even | [the | customers] | another | p> One | member | said | forced | wear | high | heels | stockings | they | purchase | p> Photo | div> Material | distributed | “bullied | having | perfectly | applied | lipstick | wanting | flat | shoes | instead | safety | reasons | They | “face | intimidation | pressured | work | countless | hours | unpaid | overtime | sales | ”< | p> Employees | raised | concerns | around | official | called | “The | Little | Black | Book” | seen | Junkee | describes | expected | interact | with | retail | “showgirls” | Dress | guidelines | include | requirements | “complete | showgirl | experience” | Nails | must | either | black | nude | reminded | “ladies | talk | hands” | p> An | excerpt | “Little | Book”< | div> According | being | “Honey” | (staff | member) | more | than | it’s | “lifestyle” | encouraged | phrases | like | “Kinky | cats” | “Sadistic | sweethearts” | “Spank | I’m | wrong” | “Come | hither” | specific | section | greet | “killer | pout” | issue | workplaces | isn’t | unique | investigate | feature | published | Fairfax< | last | week | highlighted | common | is across | industry | article | pointed | public | campaigns | this | kind | behaviour | despite | fact | changed | five | years | explicitly | prohibit | sexually | harassing | p> Today’s | supported | Centre | Keelia | Fitzpatrick | centre’s | coordinator | “Honey | claims | about | ’empowering | women’ | only | empowering | want | harass | p> “We’ve | many | contact | speak | awful | practices | what’s | really | alarming | speaking | anonymously | There’s | real | culture | fear | among | It’s | time | practice | what | preach | empower | stand | p> Junkee | contacted | comment | div> |

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Making Lingerie for Every Body

The history of lingerie has long been one of form over function. From the classic corset, which calls to mind tight laces, restricted breathing, cracked ribs, and even rearrangement of the wearer’s internal organs, lingerie is an area of fashion where the adage “beauty hurts” seems to reign supreme. This is markedly at odds with the promise of lingerie in modern day advertising â€" that the sexiness one feels while wearing X-brand of (probably expensive) satin and lace creates the confidence needed to pursue one’s own pleasure.

Yet for clothing that is inextricably linked to sex â€" which, ideally, is all about experiencing and sharing pleasure in our bodies â€" lingerie is often created without the comfort of the wearer in mind. In fact, in an article for the >LA Times as recently as 2013, one woman described her search for the perfect lingerie as thus: “The tap pants were too small and cut off circulation in my thighs. I vaguely remember crying as I tried to squeeze into them."

Not much of a confidence booster.

More recently, new brands of lingerie have begun to take this spotty history into account. In March 2016, Verily Mag ran a spotlight on lingerie brands that were trying to change the airbrushed and overtly sexual stereotype of the industry. Included in the roundup was Naja, a brand dedicated to positive body imagery, eco-consciousness, and providing opportunities for working single mothers; Dear Kate, which boasts the radical concept of women “actually looking happy in their un-Photoshopped bodies;” and Nubian Skin, which addresses the erasure of women of color in the lingerie industry, and offers lingerie in a “different kind of nude,” that is, not white.

Pêche founder Carson Stern. Photo: Pêche

These new perspectives on lingerie are undoubtedly refreshing and necessary, but there’s one boundary they haven’t yet crossed: gender. While strides have been made to make lingerie inclusive of every body type, they’re still restricted to cisgender women as consumers. One designer aims to change that. Carson Stern, the NYC-based creator of Pêche Lingerie, seeks to revolutionize the way we think about lingerie by designing intimate apparel “for her, him, and them.” Pêche defies expectations in terms of who gets to wear lingerie and feel sexy in it, breaking the traditional narratives around these garments.

When we spoke about the impetus behind Pêche, Stern talked about her own relationship to unrealistic standards of beauty. She described how she moved to New York City at 1- and quickly developed an eating disorder, influenced in part by the stress of being in a new place. As she healed from the eating disorder, Stern says, she became very naturally interested in lingerie as she pursued a career in fashion. Her early experiences with it, though, were similar to those of the women interviewed by the LA Times:

“If I felt a bit bloated, I wouldn’t feel sexy in it, and wouldn’t want to wear it,” Stern says. “I love my body, but even now, mainstream brands of lingerie tend to make me feel worse about my body.” We talked about how this was at odds with the promise of lingerie in advertising â€" selling confidence, albeit only to a very narrow scope of consumers. “Skinny white women with their boobs pushed up,” Stern jokes. “That’s who most lingerie is for, but it’s not me or my style.”

We talked about the tension between the two purported goals of lingerie: to make an erotic object of the wearer, while also providing a means of confidence-through-sexiness, and agreed that these goals at times seem to work in direct opposition to an authentic experience of sexuality.

As a sex educator as well as a cis femme wearer of lingerie, this tension is something I encounter a lot, both professionally and personally. As an educator, I talk to colleagues and clients about how to keep the body â€" and physical experiences of sensuality and eroticism â€" at the forefront of our sexual lives. And in my personal life, I've written before about how an embodied sense of sexuality was â€" and in some ways, continues to be â€" a rocky journey.

“Woman at Her Toilette” by Niclas Lafrensen (1737-1807) Photo: Heritage Images/Getty Images

In researching the history of lingerie, it’s not difficult to see where these competing raisons d’être come from. Lingerie has always been tied in some way to sex, but it has also been linked with the idea of performance. For example, take the practice of toilette in the French courts during the 1700s. Toilette is described as the morning ritual of dressing and undressing in front of the court â€" a performance that often lingered on the undergarments to emphasize the intimacy and eroticism of the moment.

It’s easy to make a connection between toilette and the performative aspect of lingerie â€" and since, historically, lingerie has been designed primarily with cisgender women in mind, one could also make the connection to the performative aspects that many women describe as being a part of their early sexuality. The ritual of toilette makes an object of the wearer: She is something to be gazed upon in a vulnerable â€" and therefore intimate â€" state of undress. Her subjective experience is absent from such a performance, however.

Peggy Orenstein, the author of >Girls and Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape, identifies this kind of objectification as something that happens to those who are socialized female long before they start wearing, or perhaps even expressing interest, in lingerie. In a rather disquieting introduction to her book, she writes, “When little girls play at ‘sexy’ before they understand the word… they learn that sex is a performance rather than a felt experience.”

An exacting interpretation of how to be femme spans centuries, and it is overwhelmingly related to restricting or reshaping the body. The s-curve corset, which came into popularity in the 1800s, accentuated the breasts, pushing them up and out, as well as the hips, and further created a manufactured standard of beauty that women were pressured to aspire to and work toward, but which was painstaking to achieve. Wealthy women were encouraged to shop for intricate and finely designed undergarments, putting as much consideration into them as they would their outer garments.

A lingerie fashion show in 1961 Paris. Photo: Getty Images

While ideal aesthetics do change over time, one thing that tends to remains constant is how inevitably elusive they are. In the early 20th century, for example, and then again in the 1960s, the ideal flipped from hourglass figures to the straight up-and-down boyish figures of flapper girls and hippies â€" yet these new paradigms didn’t lose any of the scrupulous effort it would take to achieve them. The sexually liberated braless look of the ‘60s meant that A- and B-cup bras made of thin, sheer fabric were in vogue at the time, making it difficult for larger-breasted women to find lingerie created with them in mind.

It goes almost without saying that lingerie was a realm of fashion almost exclusively for cisgender women who fit within whatever very narrow standards of beauty existed at the time.

Stern used this as her jumping off point when developing Pêche. “It came from a place of, ‘Why isn’t there something out there that offers what I value in lingerie?’” she told me. To Stern, lingerie is emotional, intimate; it brings the wearer to a sense of connection and communion with her own body, rather than a competition to fit into some idealized version of femininity that, for most, is unreachable.

“I began to look at the body types typical of Renaissance art,” Stern said, “plumpness, and curves being embraced rather than restricted.” She was also interested in body positivity for all genders, instead of just cisgender women, recalling that her many friends who were genderfluid, transgender, or nonbinary often felt erased when searching for intimate apparel, and chafing against the heteronormativity inherent in lingerie advertising.

A Pêche model in the mink choker. Photo: Pêche

“I want to design lingerie that redefines beauty standards,” Stern says. “I imagine guys buying lingerie for their boyfriends, or girls for their girlfriends, or anything in between,” rather than the narrative of a cis man buying expensive lingerie for his cis girlfriend, and molding her into an ideal that fits into the narrow standards of the male gaze.

We talked about what lingerie for him/her/them would look like, and for Stern, it meant focusing on sensuality and sensation rather than standards of beauty. Function, one might say, rather than form. Hearing her talk about this made me breathe a sigh of relief, because as a sex educator, I so often talk to friends and clients about this feeling of being disconnected from our bodies â€" which is a strange state to be in, and certainly unhelpful, to say the least, when it comes to the fundamental physicality inherent in the act of sex.

Stern described Pêche’s first collection as “Grecian” and comprised of well-made silks that sit well on all types of bodies. She waxed poetic as she described the collection: “Each piece can work for a different kind of person. For example, pants. Or a top that is good for bigger breasts. Grecian dresses or draping gowns. Exposed, see-through â€" but some pieces you can also wear out. Others are for a special place for a special time. Looser fitting clothing that falls on the body in a really natural way that is beautiful. Renaissance art, the Botticelli Venus, cloth that hangs and drapes on the body naturally without restricting it. Methodically stitched and special and not mass produced. I want to completely redefine how we see â€" and experience â€" lingerie.” Tellingly, the Birth of Venus painting attributed to Botticelli shows the goddess naked except for her hair, a picture of sensuality whose body is unrestricted by clasps, straps, or garters.

The sense of the erotic is present even in the words that Stern uses to describe her collection, in the way it is so clear that her designs are meant to drape and flow and feel luxurious on the skin to compliment sensuality rather than hinder it. When I made this observation to her, Stern had this to say: “I’m coming from a very honest place â€" the only thing I can do is come from my own experience. Sensuality. Fabrics I like.”

Pêche Mink, velvet, and gold chokers. Proceeds go to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. Photo: Pêche

In terms of her drive to create a space for gender fluidity, she is also dedicated to that goal not only on behalf of her friends but also herself. “I exhibit very strong masculinity in everyday life. But I’m very proud of my ‘feminine’ voluptuous body. I’m dedicated to creating a line that represents a range for people who don’t want it fit into the strictly masculine or strictly feminine.” It’s important to note, however, that that range is something that, with Pêche, each individual consumer is able to determine for themselves â€" as opposed to, for example, the lingerie of the ‘80s, which was feminine in a very compulsory way, to compensate for the very masculine shoulder-pads-and-straight-lines-and-angles style of women’s fashion in that era.

And while access has always been a hard-to-ignore theme when it comes to the history of lingerie, it’s not one that has been lost on Stern. “We’re a high-end line, no doubt,” she says, especially as they start out small, with expensive fabrics and a relatively small base of followers. But the accessibility of lingerie is still important to her, as is the social change that inspired her to create the line. In an Instagram post in light of the recent election, for example, she encouraged fans to comment with their favorite charities that help “propel America forward” â€" especially those who help our most vulnerable populations (among which are transgender and gender-nonconforming people) as well as the environment.

“I’m trying to appeal to everyone and redefine lingerie,” Stern says. “There is no set standard for what I’m doing” â€" only a dedication to inclusivity, authenticity, and a way to bring people home to sensuality in their bodies again.

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