Lingerie Confessions of a Writer

Madame Soyelle is delighted to feature the following guest post. May we all learn from her lessons...

LINGERIE CONFESSIONS OF A WRITER
Or,
Why I Want To Attend The 6th Annual Backspace Writers Conference
and Agent-Author Seminar

by Kathryn Kemp-Griffin

It had to be in that drawer somewhere. I rummaged through, digging deeper, finding only chaos and a tangled mess of bra straps, hooks and fabric.

Cotton mayhem. Silk anarchy.

Time is running out. I have a manuscript to polish and an elevator pitch to practice before my flight to New York for the Backspace Writers Conference. Three days of meeting other writers and mingling with agents, editors and publishers, the perfect moment for my special occasion lingerie - if I can just fine the matching bra.

In some ways, life was easier back when I wore underwear, not lingerie. The choice was between sports bras and Jockeys - black or white, faded or stretched. Even when I bought Brand New Jockeys, I couldn't bring myself to discard the ones whose shredded elastic floated nearby like tentacles on a jellyfish. They simply waited in the back of the drawer for a Really Bad Day.

In the days when I merely wore underwear, there were folded panties on the right, bras on the left, rolled socks in the back. Easy choices for a no-frills writer seeking literary success.

Until I moved to Paris, where you can't find Jockeys.

I never understood why until one day at the fitness club, when I peeled off my T-shirt and slumped on a bench, exhausted from a grueling workout. I looked around and noticed something.

All the women in that locker room were wearing lingerie. Hot lingerie.

Bikini briefs, retro panties, demi cups and floral camis paraded before me. These women could be proud if they happened to be hit by a bus on their way home and required immediate surgery.

I pledged to renew my lingerie stock and my attitude at the luxury department store Le Bon Marché.

"Lingerie is the mirror of your intentions," the sales lady rhapsodized. She placed her hands on my shoulders to accentuate par ici, and scooped up my breasts to draw attention par là.

"But I'm a writer," I said. "I don't need cleavage for sitting at a keyboard."

The saleswoman looked scandalized. "But you want to write using rich, intense, vivid words, oui?" she said.

"Oui," I agreed.

"Not pale, faded, dull words, non?"

"Non."

Handing me a nightshade purple push-up bra and panty, Madame sensed my apprehension. "You are allowed to feel beautiful," she whispered. "Even at your keyboard."

Over time, I have learned to recognize the tingle. Now a frill is all it takes. Or a bow, or an off-centered bit of crystal to fan the imagination, inspire creativity and increase my word count.

I decided to tackle the drawer one last time. Ah, finally!

I really should organize my lingerie. Beautiful fabrics deserve better care. But it could be worse. I could have a drawer full of black and white Jockeys lined up like soldiers, and the dull manuscript that would come from writing while wearing them.

I can't wait to get to the Backspace Writers Conference and wear my new chocolate silk bra trimmed in mulberry lace. Oh, and to learn more about publishing, of course.


To find out more about the Backspace Writers Conference, please click here.

Triumph Inspiration Award

Madame Soyelle loves a good idea – especially one that makes her rearrange her lingerie drawer!

Triumph International has launched the first Triumph Inspiration Award; think of it as the Lingerie Olympics. Fashion and design students in more than 30 countries compete in a global design competition to create an underwire bra and brief dedicated to the theme "Female Fascination." The winner from each country heads off on July 31st to Beijing, where the entry will be judged by an international panel of fashion and design specialists. The winner walks away with 15.000€ and the glory of having that design produced as a limited edition, to be sold worldwide.

And guess who will be on the jury for the French contestants? Madame Soyelle bien évidemment! In preparation for this late-May honour, Madame Soyelle was asked the following question: What quality do you find the most fascinating in another woman?

Intriguing question. Many possibilities. She will answer it as soon as she moves her neutrals to the back of her drawer and brings forward the rich, jewel-like shades – why, she had almost forgotten about the purple fig camisole and pomegranate-seed red silk lounge pants!

Merci!

Thank you all for taking the time to answer the Lingerie Secrets Questionnaire. Very, very interesting results... I am sure that if you start polling your friends, you will find out many wonderful secrets to either keep to yourself, steal or share!

For those of you who answered the questionnaire, please email your postal address for a goody bag from Madame Soyelle. Your address will be used for this purpose only.

Please send to madamesoyelle@soyelle.com with "Lingerie Secrets Questionnaire" as your title.

Merci 1000 fois.

Madame Soyelle

Lingerie Secrets Questionnaire

Alright, it’s time to get personal!

Actually, I am doing research and I need your help, please… It is important that I get real answers from real lives -- so be honest! I will send a small Soyelle gift to anyone who takes the time to respond to this Lingerie Secrets Questionnaire. (*)

1. What is your favourite brand?
2. What are you wearing RIGHT now?
3. Are you dépareillé (meaning mismatched bra & brief)
4. If you are déparéillé – do you care?
5. When was the last time you bought a new bra?
6. Which country do you live in?

Merci beaucoup and I look forward to hearing from you!

(*) Send me an email at madamesoyelle@soyelle.com identifiying which post is yours along with your mailing address.

Stendhal, Love and Lingerie

While I was pondering Valentine’s Day – hardly a date to ignore in the lingerie business – I was reminded of Stendhal. Not because great French 19th century writers pop into my head when I’m blogging, but because I recall the passion, talent and poetic undertones of a lingerie project that was designed two years ago by a young fashion student, Miss Line Frederickson.

Stendhal’s view of nascent love and its crystallization, as he described it in De l’amour (On Love), was beautifully reflected in Miss Frederiksen’s lingerie entry for Le Prix Soyelle (*) in 2006. Stendhal had been intrigued by salt crystallization at a salt mine near Salzburg, particularly by the beauty of a single branch after the salt water dried and left it cloaked in shiny crystal deposits. For Stendhal, this crystallization, this illusion of diamonds, was the perfect metaphor for the stages of love. For mutual love to occur there must be a second crystallization, or the love will remain unrequited … as was Stendhal’s experience, unfortunately.

Miss Frederiksen’s interpretation of Stendhal’s words— I call ‘crystallization’ that action of the mind that discovers fresh perfections in its beloved at every turn of events— resulted in a lingerie bra and panty ensemble composed of a silver and winter-white tone-on-tone patchwork of leather, lace and silk, with shimmering crystal accents to illustrate the transformation of the ordinary into glittering perfection as one falls deeply in love.

While Stendhal’s words continue to inspire, his determination to understand the heart is the perfect inspiration for today’s celebration of love.


(*) Over the years, Le Prix Soyelle has been an invitation for students of Esmod, the International Fashion and Design School, to design a lingerie ensemble with l’Amour, Love as the theme. A jury of journalists, buyers and designers judge the design, creativity and technical aspects, and the top ten finalists are featured in a Lingerie Exposition at Printemp’s flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris.

The 2008 selection is underway; I look forward to introducing several of the finalists in the near future.

Photo courtesy of Intima Magazine

Beauty

”Ah, Madame Soyelle – I was in another aisle and smelled the delicate fragrance of your scented petals,” announced Madame Huget, as she approached our stand at le Salon de la Lingerie. “I knew you couldn’t be far way – the scent is deliciously unmistakable. And then I heard your voice – or rather, your accent – also deliciously unmistakable. Comment vas- tu?”

Madame Huget was one of my favorite clients and I couldn’t resist giving her special treatment – she deserved it. She had earned the top honors and distinction more than 15 years ago when she ordered 6 bottles of lingerie wash and officially launched Soyelle by becoming my first customer.

“I’m fine, thank you,” I answered reaching behind me for the small tray of rasberry and chocolate macarons that we kept for our most endearing customers. “How is the boutique? How is your mother?” Madame Huget’s mother was a formidable woman – or rather, Madame Evelyne, as she preferred to be addressed. An elderly woman, probably in her early eighties by now, Madame Evelyne was a quiet and dignified figure in the boutique and was always immaculately groomed with her white hair graciously pulled back in a chignon and dressed in a beautifully cut tailleur, jacket and skirt. Madame Evelyne believed that clothes should fit – properly. It was a question of aesthetics and she began helping out in the boutique doing simple alterations to ensure that a bra fit perfectly. A nip, a tuck, or half an inch more or less made all the difference and clients quickly began to appreciate the difference. Madame Evelyne was fond of saying that a good fit was simply good taste – in yourself.

As her reputation as a skilled seamstress spread, Madame Evelyne also took on other tailoring needs. When I dropped by the store a couple of weeks ago, she was busy at work on a wedding dress that an anxious and fraught soon-to-be bride had brought in requiring last minute attention. Half an hour later, a radiant and confident young woman left with her dress and insisted that Madame Evelyne join them for the ceremony in a couple of hours.

“I have some very sad news” said Madame Huget, her smile evaporating. “Maman passed away in her sleep last Tuesday.”

I reached for her hands and we clutched each other, forgetting our pre-defined roles of supplier and customer, and stood motionless in the wasteland of the convention center. While the rest of the world continued to swirl around us, we remembered and honored the intrinsic and rare beauty – both inside and out – of an extraordinary woman.

Vivre la Différence!

Men in suits, women in lingerie, champagne flowing – and all legal. In fact, it is work. Le Salon de la Lingerie in Paris is an annual rendez-vous that takes the chill out of every last weekend in January.

This week from January 24 th to January 27th, more than 23,000 visitors will pour through the doors of Hall 1 at Paris Expo looking for new trends, new brands, new suppliers – or just plain looking. Big brands dump their marketing budgets into building palatial stands and orchestrating Broadway à la Moulin Rouge fashion shows. Lights, cameras, action and girls, girls, girls. Not lanky, emaciated flat-chested girls, but dangerously curvy and beautifully proportioned goddesses.

One might be inclined to think that a place where women prance around in skimpy underwear denigrates and objectifies women, but au contraire – it’s a celebration. The models are radiant and exude confidence while showcasing the intrinsic beauty of the female form. Lingerie has always been a form of expression and an amusing way to adopt a different attitude. Every year, magnificent fabrics, diverse accents, sophisticated laces and capricious colours mix and contrast to reinvent the ultimate ideal of femininity.

Whether your mood is romantic and poetic, rich and glamourous, or daring and adventurous, the thrill of flirting with the balance between well-being, pleasure and seduction is a sensation not to be missed.

Why would anyone want to be a man?