These Couture Knickers Will Take Your Breath Away: A Look Back at Strumpet & Pink
Founded in 2002 by artists Melanie Prober and Lisa Z. Morgan, British label Strumpet & Pink captured the lingerie world's imagination with gloriously provocative knickers made from exquisite materials like silk chiffon, antique lace, and crocheted mohair.
Oftentimes, underwear is viewed through a purely practical lens. For obvious reasons, people want to know how their knickers will stand up to all day wear, machine washing, and the various and assorted indignities of the tumble dryer. Yet Strumpet & Pink's undergarments were wholly unconcerned with such mundane details. This is quite literally underwear as art.
Textural, conceptual, and thoroughly sensual, Strumpet & Pink's lingerie was meant to be seen, to even be the centerpiece of an ensemble - an inversion of the norms surrounding lingerie. With fanciful names such as "Pussy Willow," "Key Lime Pie," and "Lady Hume's Blush," the label also showed that couture doesn't have to take itself too seriously.
While I never managed to purchase a pair for myself (at $1470 for the high-waist, antique lace "Private Function" knickers or $1350 for the high-waist pink knit "Mimi Gone High and Fluffy" pair, I'm afraid they were permanently out of reach), I do miss Strumpet & Pink's creativity, sense of playfulness, and willingness to push the boundaries of what intimates could be. The world of luxury lingerie is a little less luminous without their presence, and I imagine we'll never see another label like them again.
Do any readers of The Lingerie Addict remember Strumpet & Pink? If so, what did you think of them? And if any of you actually managed to buy a pair, you absolutely must leave a review in the comments! I'm begging you.
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