LOS ANGELES—The silk is cadmium red light; I identify this detail from my oil painting days, though the designer calls it “spice.” The $200 Vannina Vesperini triangle bra is creamy smooth to the touch and alluring with its contrasting black lace that tastefully trims the edges of its vibrant shade. It is sumptuous to eye and skin alike.
Europeans seem to me to have traditionally had the lead in matters of beauty. Incorporating beauty into all aspects of life is a principle to live by, rather than use for a particular occasion, a ploy for sales, or for goal-oriented gain.
Whether food, architecture, or apparel, the basic tenets of quality, craftsmanship, and aesthetics all come into play to create ample opportunities to appreciate and savor flavors, textures, and visuals. This certainly holds true for European lingerie.
A number of venues provide American women access to specialty high-end luxurious European lingerie offering refinement and grace over simple function or sexuality.
Faire Frou Frou is an enchanting boutique in the Los Angeles area owned by a mother and daughter team, Gail and Alison Rubke. They distinguish their boutique from mainstream lingerie stores with a unique selection of items you cannot find anywhere else in Los Angeles.
“Anyone can make a design,“ says Gail Rubke. ”It’s the execution of that design that sets a brand apart.” She continues to explain that the U.S. does not have manufacturers with the same skill and craftsmanship to produce lingerie at the same standard as in Europe. “It’s a lost trade in America,” she says. It’s a lost trade that the Rubkes have tried to impart to their patrons.
Europeans seem to me to have traditionally had the lead in matters of beauty. Incorporating beauty into all aspects of life is a principle to live by, rather than use for a particular occasion, a ploy for sales, or for goal-oriented gain.
Whether food, architecture, or apparel, the basic tenets of quality, craftsmanship, and aesthetics all come into play to create ample opportunities to appreciate and savor flavors, textures, and visuals. This certainly holds true for European lingerie.
A number of venues provide American women access to specialty high-end luxurious European lingerie offering refinement and grace over simple function or sexuality.
Faire Frou Frou is an enchanting boutique in the Los Angeles area owned by a mother and daughter team, Gail and Alison Rubke. They distinguish their boutique from mainstream lingerie stores with a unique selection of items you cannot find anywhere else in Los Angeles.
“Anyone can make a design,“ says Gail Rubke. ”It’s the execution of that design that sets a brand apart.” She continues to explain that the U.S. does not have manufacturers with the same skill and craftsmanship to produce lingerie at the same standard as in Europe. “It’s a lost trade in America,” she says. It’s a lost trade that the Rubkes have tried to impart to their patrons.
Their store, for example, conjures Parisian sensibility from the window displays to the French vintage mirrors, fireplace mantel, and armoire. There is also an antique church altar used for the store’s sales desk and rustic urns filled with ostrich feather dusters.
The store’s atmosphere reflects the exquisite lingerie with imaginative feminine charm. You can find pieces by Fifi Chachnil, Vannina Vesperini, Myla, Strumpet & Pink, Guia la Bruna, Fleur T, Damaris, Carine Gilson, and Nina Ricci—the list goes on and on. Faire Frou Frou also showcases designs from new talents, as well as its own private-label collection.
Carine Gilson, according to Rubke, “is the Rolls Royce of lingerie,” as she explains to men who come into the shop to purchase gifts. A graduate in Fine Arts in Brussels, Gilson creates each piece of lingerie into a masterful work of couturier art.
Using the finest Lyon silk, the airiest Chantilly lace, the most generous cuts, and hand-crafted haute couture, all of Carine Gilson’s trimmings, bras, panties, slips, strings, and negligees are unique. Produced in natural silk, a precious translucent material, they are both fluid and elegant when worn, with almost undetectable seams. Each piece is lovingly hand-stitched by ultra-qualified seamstresses in the Brussels workshop.
Unique designers who merge a modern edge or playfulness with vintage-inspired styles, such as Stella McCartney and Elle MacPherson, push the genre with innovative designs and fabrics and can be found at Lille Boutique, of Portland Oregon.
The owner of Lille Boutique, Sarah Wizemann, promotes high-quality natural fibers, such as silk and organic cotton, as well as bras made of modern materials that offer exceptional comfort and support to provide women with alternatives to the sometimes uncomfortable synthetic options currently available in the lingerie market.
Highlighting another difference between American and European lingerie, Wizemann points out: “Most European bras are not contours; they are supportive but make the most of the natural shape.”
The passionate Wizemann says that she and her clientele, many of whom are involved in the arts, tend to “have a different attitude about life,” sharing her aesthetic and approach to lingerie. “They are eclectic individuals who appreciate quality.”
Fine lingerie is more about sensuality, or elevating the senses, than it is about sexuality, something not always understood by our modern society. Sensuality can be explained as physical sensation, like the feel of silk, which evokes an emotional response, perhaps comfort or ease, thus facilitating a spiritual awareness—such as “the world is a gentle, lovely place.”
Ultimately, lingerie is best as an extension of one’s innate femininity and beauty, conveying one’s essential nature, not replacing it. These qualities, after all, can only be accentuated and cultivated, not bought.
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