medium rare

(Made by Nikki via notcouture.com)

An interest in lingerie shouldn’t be resigned to the trashy, tasteless and tarts.  Though it’s the less disciplined sides of ourselves that tend to enjoy it the most, let’s not forget the waist trainers, performers and even the generations prior that relied on undergarments as a source of strength and support.

Technology freed us from girdles.  Women’s liberation freed us from bras.  Bless them both, but the result is that more restrictive lingerie is no longer a necessity.  And when something is no longer a necessity it becomes a frivolity.  And those who love the frivolous?  Why, tarts of course.

I’m not proposing that we stuff ourselves into corsets and girdles again.  I just like the idea of wearing lingerie to express discipline.  When we think of a girl who loves lingerie, she’s usually not an ascetic.  She may be dark and aggresive á la Helmut Newton, but disciplined?  Could be a fun idea!  It’s also a bit of a the vibe I get from today’s images.

The Made by Nikki piece above has such great seam lines, and that extra bit of flare really goes a long way.  (Thank you, notcouture for the fun lead!)  The cropped shots of Richard Nicoll’s Fall 2009 RTW line below are among my favorite details from the show.  I love how garters are used in two fundamentally different ways.  The first is that they’re found in completely unexpected places, such as on a severe little cropped shirt and an eye mask.  The other is that they are exactly where they belong in terms of placement but still out of place in terms of function, like on the skirt below.  Another bit I like: It’s hard to see, but there is boning on the cropped shirt just above the wearer’s breasts, which — of course — is not where boning normally belongs.  It’s as if he deconstructed (a word I probably use too liberally — yikes) an innerwear ensemble and rearranged it as outerwear.  Not the first time it’s been done as our beloved Jean Paul Gaultier has robbed everybody of the opportunity of doing anything new, but still fantastic.

By the way, the trashy, tasteless and tarts are my favorites among our population.

(images via style.com)

Tags: Made by Nikki, notcouture, Richard Nicoll.

Why, virtue is nothing but a chimera, whose cult consists of perpetual immolations, countless revolts against the inspirations of the temperament.  Can such processes be natural?  Does nature advise us to do something outrageous?  Don’t be the dupe, Eugenie, of those women who you hear are virtuous.  It is not, if you like, the same passions as we whom they serve — they’ve got other ones, which are often far more horrible.  These passions are pride, ambition, greed, frequently just the coldness of a temperament that never counsels them.  I ask you: Do we owe anything to such creatures?  Don’t they follow purely the impressions of vanity?  Is it therefore better, wiser, more appropriate to sacrifice to egotism rather than to the passions?  For myself, I believe that either is as valid as the other.  The person who harks only to the latter voice is probably more rational, because reason alone is the organ of nature; whereas the former voice is the voice of stupidiy and prejudice.  A single drop of come ejaculated by this member, Eugenie, is more precious to me than the sublimest acts of a virtue that I despise.

- Philosophy in the Boudoir, the Marquis de Sade

Clockwise from top left

1. Ankle pony boots from Punitive Shoes.  All leather and made in Italy.  Keeps the wearer in a constant state of submission — just one step away from the ballet shoe but with a more fashion-y edge
2. Horn mask from Kiki de Montparnasse.  Handcrafted, super surreal cool and beautiful.  Masks have the strongest transformative powers out of anything a person can wear
3. Leather cuffs by Fleet Ilya available at CoCo de Mer.  For the girl who likes to do more than just look tough
4. Silver leather dog mask also by Fleet Ilya and available at CoCo de Mer. A space age take on bondage and puppy love
5. Massage ring by Betony Vernon available at CoCo de Mer. Fashion, meet function.  Function, be nice
6. Again, leather harness by Fleet Ilya available at CoCo de Mer.  Doesn’t have to read bondage if worn over a crisp white shirt.  You can be a modern lady Indiana Jones or achieve that dapper vibe without resorting to suspenders

Kiki de Montparnasse and Coco de Mer are, in my humble opinion, the best retailers of premium filth. Sex shops range from exquisite to tasteless, and I’m a fan of the whole shebang.  You guys should check out Trashy.com if you have a good sense of humor or Azalease in NYC (at which I used to work!) for fun, flirty loungewear and lingerie.  I’m on a bit of a filth kick as I’ve been thumbing through Philosophy in the Boudoir, of which Penguin has published a beautiful deluxe edition complete with French flaps and Tomer Hanuka cover illustration. Hope you guys enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed researching it!

Tags: Betony Vernon, Coco de Mer, Fleet Ilya, Kiki de Montparnasse, Marquis de Sade, Philosophy in the Boudoir, Punitive Shoes.