Lingerie for Valentine’s Day used to be Non-Gift No. 1.
Men skulked into stores, and women squirmed in the proceeds–at best, a costume fit for a soft-core peep show; at worst, a horror movie scene.
“It had the stigma of being kind of slutty,” summed up Alison Deyette, a contributing style reporter for the “Today” show and “The View.”
Nowadays, the names say flirty more than floozy. (Loungewear Betty’s Miss Cupcake camisole, anyone?) Many of the frills and thrills come with no g-strings attached. High-thigh exposure and Victoria’s Secret svelteness are not required.
“A lot of our companies are coming out with little skirts to go with bras,” said Cheryl Sloane, co-owner with Kari Kriser of g* boutique in Bucktown, which carries lingerie, often worn as outerwear, and other erotica.
Thongs remain strong sellers at their shop, Sloane said, but bikini panties and boy-shorts are ascending. Rehabilitation is coming via thin mesh fabrics, such as On Gossamer’s bikinis, that cure VPL (visible panty line). And French-cut boy-shorts by Aubade and Simone Perele scoop higher on the outer leg so they accentuate the thigh less than their boxy cousins, Sloane said.
Sexy underpinnings should not be reserved for the young and flawless–a message Cheryl Hudson-Jackson left the corporate world to convey through Rubynesque, her new consulting and retail lingerie business.
Hudson-Jackson offers trunk shows around Chicago and plans to open a shop, with corsets, robes and other underpinnings, in Lake County this spring.
“When we’re young, [our bodies] are tight and supple. Everything is moving down now,” said Hudson-Jackson, who turns 43 in March. “But it’s important that we celebrate it–wherever it’s going.”
For Deyette, that means resisting raggedy mismatched underwear at the start of the day, and faux Juicy Couture sweat pants at the end.
“I don’t want to feel like a schlump when I get into bed with my husband,” Deyette said. “When you take off your top or pants at night and see, `Oh, my gosh, I’m wearing granny panties today,’ you just know there is no getting turned on tonight.”
