Edge o’ Beyond first made the lingerie industry sit up and take notice in 2014 with a luxurious debut collection featuring lusciously opulent laces paired with delicate golden chains. In 2017, this still-new lingerie brand shows all those accolades were well-deserved with their Spring/Summer 2017 Collection, the brand’s sixth.
One of our previous “Best of Lingerie” winners, Tisja Damen first caught our eye with intricate patchwork lingerie that was more akin textile art than intimates. I fell in love with their unique, directional approach, and I’ve been checking in on the brand ever sense. In a way, it’s almost harder when you debut with such a strong perspective. People expect brilliance, and that can be a difficult bar to achieve season after season. Fortunately for the lingerie world, Tisja Damen manages to clear it easily.
I first met one of the founders of Department of Curiosities at the Oxford Conference of Corsetry. Gerry Quinton, under the label Morua Corsetry & Couture, actually designed one of my favorite pieces – a cream overbust corset with golden stars made of fragmented glass. I was honestly delighted when I first heard the news of her new lingerie label. Corsetry is a bit of niche area, inaccessible and intimidating to many. Loungewear on the other hand…well, who doesn’t want some of that?
Gabi Gregg has done it again. The new GabiFresh x Swimsuits for All collection is here, and, like the rest of the collective internet, I’m in love. This year’s theme is “New Year, Same You,” and I adore that tagline, especially during a season when people are actively being encouraged to dramatically change (or even loathe) their bodies. The idea that you’re perfectly and worth loving exactly as you are right now is one I can get behind, and I appreciate how Swimsuits for All is going against the metaphorical tide with a message I find refreshing.
The visual story of lingerie is everything, and a brand’s lookbook is one of the single most effective ways of transmitting that story. From a lookbook, you can learn if a brand is contemporary or traditional, luxury or inexpensive, French-inspired or American-influenced. A good lookbook conveys a brand’s identity, and it’s no exaggeration to say it can make or break a label.
