Harlette Takes Over a Tall Ship

Harlette Luxury Lingerie photo shoot on board the historic ‘James Craig’ barque in Sydney on December 12, 2009.

As you may know already the line of luxury lingerie will feature at the Salon International de la Lingerie in Paris on January 23-25, 2010. Made from lavish fabrics and trimmings, with inspiration from Hollywood, Royalty, the Tudor and Baroque periods and anything French of course.

Harlette’s extravagant designs have been created for the discerning lingerie-lover. With the current popularity in vintage styling, Harlette’s latest range includes fabrics and adornments in embellished crystal- beaded French lace, silks, Italian jewel-encrusted tulle, velvets and, of course, marabou, ostrich and peacock feathers.

Working one-to-one with clients to make their dreams come true, every piece is handmade so it becomes the client’s own signature piece.  Harlette is expanding, has clients from all over the world including Saudi Arabia, UK, USA, and Malaysia and will be launching a retail range in Paris the Salon International de la Lingerie in Paris on January 23-25, 2010.

The shoot was covered by AFP and has been featured on CNN, Wall St Journal, Hindustan Times, AFPBB Japan, AFPBB Korea, La Stampa  in Italy and NDTV in India

To keep up with Harlette Luxury Lingerie’s travels, follow them on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/harlette or join them on their Facebook page Harlette.

Behind the scenes shots.

Bloggers in Italy & Japan have had this to say about Harlette

According to an Italian style blog  www.styleosophy.it when it viewed recent pictures of the women’s collection

Roughly Translated from Italian to English

http://www.stylosophy.it/articolo/harlette-sfilata-di-lingerie-di-lusso/12693/

“intimate garments aimed at the ladies who love to wear luxury fashion and traditional, classic and sexy at the same time and the fascinating “  The fashion brand has a target Harlette very high, with heads intimate luxury, ranging worn on special occasions, under clothes precious. For a lingerie there repeats the traditional canons of fashion without exaggerating too much detail too pompous. Luxury si’, ma senza per questo essere troppo invadenti o difficili da indossare. Luxury is’, but without being too intrusive or difficult to wear.. 

Il marchio di moda, infatti, ha portato in passerella a Sidney , in Australia, una sua The fashion brand, in fact, led the catwalk in Sydney, Australia its collection of lingerie for women is classic and classy  The models of Harlette leading for the woman of a certain class that wants to seduce with style and class. Per una moda tradizionale, che ci propone la classicita’, che, a dire il vero, ha la capacita’ di non passare mai di moda .For a traditional fashion, which gives us the classics, which indeed, has the ability not to go out of style.

In Japan.

In Japan a blogger who also saw pictures of the recent photoshoot in preparation for the launch of the Harlette Collection at Salon International De La Lingerie 2010 said this.

http://www.actiblog.com/going/123401

What celebrity lingerie for ladies. I would feel like lingerie news ♪ There are 10 picture cards. どのランジェリーも素敵です♪ Lingerie which is also nice ♪ Sukesuke of a beautiful gown and even inspired me like a princess ♪ Systems have a lot of love and light pink, it is exciting just to have a photo ♪

Wedding Wonderland How to Give Your Man the Wedding Night He Will Never Forget

As the Indian summer draws to a close over Europe, in another part of the world Down Under, Spring is in the air, racing carnivals have begun, World Masters Games are about to commence and a select set of women are doing their best to plan for that day of all days that is the Wedding Wonderland.

Brides to be, preparing for the day (eg working out what to wear), can get at times, as we have seen in countless hollywood movies, like “Bride Wars” and “My Best Friends Wedding”, down right dirty and as close to a blood sport as maybe the women’s waterpolo olympic final.

Getting everything thing perfect, takes a full assult team, a tactician and at times a trained negotiator to talk many a bride, and her best friend from jumping off the ledge of friendship into a lonely endless sea of wedding insanity.

Yet with all the planning for the wedding itself, and the revered designer wedding gown that contain two words that start with V W (insert Vera Wang or Vivienne Westwood Carrie Gown as your see fit) . Not to mention the cake, the flowers, the guest list, the music, the honeymoon, the gift registry, the cars, the thank you cards, the invitations, the ring, and this and that.

I have seen many brides to be, arrive on department store lingerie floor’s around the world, and do exactly the same thing. Usually less than a week before the wedding, in a flap, they ask for white, smooth, seamless lingerie that does not under any circumstance interfere with the line of the dress.

So we explore the options slowly and with a sense of humor.. They never bring the dress and describing it well we dont have time for playing charades. Corsets at a pinch yes, silk, yes, knickerless on occassions YES… Braless too many times to mention.. What women will do without, just to wear a white dress is amazing.

Off course one thing is always forgotten..WEDDING NIGHT LINGERIE and the ART OF SEDUCTION. Hello this is the NIGHT of ALL NIGHTS for ROMANCE. FOR SEDUCTION, FOR ILLUSION, FOR INTENTION and FOR SENSUAL HEIGHTS of SHEER INDULGENCE and OPULANCE.

 Of course Kim Basinger is totally in need of Harlette Housecoat in 9 1/2 weeks but Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger really know how to play.. I know you do to…

 

So dont forget this level of absolute bliss, after all how much did you spend on the dress.. how many credits cards did you split the payments across, have you actually told anyone the real price of it? I am thinking NO to all of the above questions and the best lie’s one tells is of course I got a discount… mmm OK moving on.

So say the dress in the vicinity of tens of thousands…you wear it for at most eight hours.. the return of investment is very low in comparison to what the return on investment is for exceptional lingerie. Lingerie can always be brought out again… Especially when you can link it with the phrase remember our wedding night, and what I wore, would you like me to put it on again.

You see it works if its lingerie… There is not a man in the world that would say NO honey to sexy lingerie.. You see what happens though is women associate all that intoxicating romance stuff and link it with the dress and how they feel, forgetting sometimes about the love’s of their lives, and their needs and the amount of times women will try to bring the wedding dress out again to rekindle the romance is suprising..

So be prepared to create the ultimate seduction on the wedding night and come prepared with at least three sets of lingerie. One that is daring, one that is tantalising and one that is sensual. Make your wedding night a night to remember. 

Of course  to make this happen, try to avoid the typical bride diet,  eating nothing then drinking copious amounts of pink laurent perrier champagne on the day. Dont get me started on the Honeymoon…

Speaking of weddings and honeymoons, Harlette Luxury Lingerie had a photo shoot last week for a wedding magazine called Modern Wedding and will be available in December. It featured the soon to be released Wedding Wonderland Housecoat that features a handmade piece from the Harlette Platinum Lingerie collection.

The shoot also featured a super secret preview of a few of the pieces that will be shown in central London at www.mybeautifulcity.co.ukon December the 3rd as part of Fashion Mode Fashion Show, coincidently Vivienne Westwood also recently showed her spring summer 2009 collection here and for the time being all the Harlette pieces are underwraps until the London Launch.

Which reminds me, on a Eurostar trip from Paris to London I was sitting in the first class section and got talking to a lovely bride to be as she sat across from me, as we shared dinner she told me the tale that she had just bought the Carrie wedding dress from the Sex in the City movie from the Vivienne Westwood Conduit Street store in Mayfair and I thought to myself, fairytales can come true for those that believe.

What impressed me the most about this bride to be, was that she did not stop at the Carrie dress, she also had another one in reserve and was deciding at what time during the day she would wear which dress. My type of Bride… making it as fashion full and fabulous as can be.

For the ultimate lingerie experience, why not take it to the level of lovers and adorn yourself with limited edition hand crafted diamonds and platinum lingerie items for him to feast forever upon you. To arrange a viewing just click the link and enter your name and email address http://www.harletteplatinumlingerie.com/Guestbook.php

One of the pieces of the Harlette Platinum Lingerie collection is a first of its kind in the world of luxury objet d’art and has a patent on its design. You do require a password to preview the work of art and to become one of the inner circle of the harlette platinum lingerie purveyor’s, budget really is not a concern.

To suit those with a budget, you can still experience something that is unique, Harlette can create luxury objet d’art in silver or gold and use swarovski crystals instead. The New Strait Times mentioned the Harlette Platinum Lingerie in a Sunday People article written by Rachael Philip in August 2009.

Of course if  9 1/2 weeks and food is not your thing, maybe your a dancing queen at heart so may be you would prefer to take a tip or two from Jamie Lee Curtis on the art of seduction from the movie True Lies..

Spotlight on Sonia Lipski & the Miss World Australia Competition

 

This week we are putting the spotlight on Miss Sonia Lipski who is acting Miss World Australia while Katie Richardson is filming a reality TV show. Sonia Lipski the 1st runner up for Miss World Australia in 2008, and will be a running again as a contestant for Miss World Australia 2009.

Sonia as you know, is the face of Harlette Luxury Lingerie

 

Sonia is also an ambassador for Mission Australia as well as fourth year student at the University of Sydney studying a triple major in Sociology/Social Policy, Government/International Studies and Pharmacology.

 

Sonia believes strongly in the Miss World motto Beauty with A Purpose, and is committed to using her time and talents to continue to raise awareness for the cause of poverty and homelessness throughout her Miss World experience and beyond.

“The most wonderful thing a human being can do, is to help another, and this is exactly what Miss World’s Beauty with a Purpose encourages. My volunteer work with the homeless has put a human face on a social problem that is often ignored or misunderstood,” these are real Australians in crisis, and we all need to do our part in offering genuine compassion, understanding and a hand up.”

 

Sonia has been the face of Harlette Luxury Lingerie since 2008 after meeting at a the  Five Designers Starlight Foundation Charity Auction in Sydney hosted by Bianca Dye at the Sydney Hilton when the T-shirt Soft Landing was auctioned. The T-shirt was designed for 190m Abseil down one of the tallest office towers in Sydney for the Starlight foundation Star Jump

Harlette Luxury Lingerie wishes Sonia Lipski much success for the upcoming Miss World Australia contest on 22nd of July in Sydney

We will keep you posted on the results of Miss World Australia.

Dressing For Dinner Have We Lost The Art?

Yesterday was the beginning of the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, A few extra heart beats were raised for Dizingo, there were a few oohs and ahhh’s from the wonderful Anessia, one punter/fashionista exlaimed oh she looks like a princess and a lot of BRIGHT ROCK AND ROLLER for Wayne Cooper.

I was fortunate to be backstage when Bianca Dye interviewed Wayne and was put to shame earlier in the afternoon when I realised that the gentleman sat next to me in front row at ready to wear 1 was twittering away. His name was ImeldaMatt for those who follow. He was taking pic’s of the shoes featured in each designers collection. Each to there own, some people like lingerie, some like clothes, some do bags and other do shoes.

Leading up to fashion week I was having a moment with the worlds most expensive dinner attire, there was loads of it about, it appears that in these interesting fiscal times its great to see that other designers apart from myself are saying down with with economic sensibilites, up with glamour, up with prices and up with the types of materials that are used in their garments.. HOOORAY HENRY..

The creme of the crop goes to Malaysian designer Faisol Abdullah by creating the world’s most expensive dress decorated with 751 diamonds from Middle Eastern jeweler Mouawad. The $30 million cocktail number overtakes Chris Aire’s $20 million diamond dress (above) created last year and ties the $30 million diamond bikini in terms of the world’s most expensive item of clothing.

Abdullah plans to debut the silk and taffeta evening gown, which features a central 70 carat pear-shaped diamond and is dubbed the “Nightingale of Kuala Lumpar,” in time for next month’s STYLO Fashion festival in the Malaysian capital. Mouawad, which produces Heidi Klum’s jewelry line, is  a red carpet favourite of Nicole Kidman,  Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears.

 “It’s not throwing $30 million right down the drain, it is an investment for the super-rich.” Nancy Yeoh, chief executive of STYLO which commissioned the dress, says they plan to present the garment to royal courts around the world starting with the Middle East, noting, “It’s art and there are still enough rich people who would want to buy.”

Yet its not all fun and games for the girls you know the lads in London like to lash out on some new threads on  occasions too. £70,000 pounds on a suit to an international man of mystery indeed.. James Blonde maybe.

It took more than 80 hours to make the one-off suit from Arctic wool, qiviuk, and rare South American wool, vicuna. Designer Alexander Amosu said: “I firmly believe that in the wake of the recession, there is still a demand for uncompromising quality.” The suit, which has 18-carat gold and diamond buttons.It was made with 5,000 individual stitches, equivalent to £14 a stitch. The qiviuk and vicuna wools were blended with pashmina to create a cloth known as Vanquish II.

I am afraid to say that nothing of this calibre has graced the runways of Sydney thus far, and the hint of meshed mink knitted shrug sitting front row that I thought I’d spotted was ethical fake fur, after being advised by the owner. PETA breathes a sigh of relief, but fur happens, its worn and its not going to be stopped being worn in the colder climates for a long time to come.

Taking a stand on ethics is a personal choice after all, whether to eat Foie gras or veal at lunch/dinner, is a decision one will make on their own like Susan Brown did at the NATO summit banquet , Foie gras was also served to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and Michelle Obama and they accepted .

Stella McCartney makes the decision to make ethical fashion wonderfully without leather or fur. Stella fabulously conquers this market segment successfully while many others have tried and failed.

The economics of fashion rages on indefinitely, the cost of materials, the time to make, the time to dream, the time put it all together and send it on its way in a consumable form for clients to enjoy is an age old dilemma. What is the cost of wearable art.

PRIMARK £5 pound suit versus a £70,000 pound jobby, where one stands in line for dressing for dinner I am sure is defined by a suitable gentleman’s guide of etiquette and deportment. In the mean time, the breeze of opulence is rising around the hem lines of many a bright young thing.

Diamonds are forever….

 

Upsetting the Apple Cart – Human Regeneration, Where is the Lingerie Industry Taking Us?

 Today’s post is intended to upset the apple cart, agitate a few minds and ask one and other where indeed is the lingerie industry heading. Before I do jump of the apple cart and send apples flying for another week, its time to have some fun.

What better way to have some fun than taking a trip into the not so distant future, a future that is right here right now. Yes I am talking especially to those of you, that maybe had a little slip up over the long weekend, maybe a little too much over indulgence. Well it can all be forgiven,  this could be the perfect solution.

 The Human Regenerator, is splashing about all over the place this week. Launched by a German company  creating luxury and futuristic products http://www.human-regenerator.com/. The human regenerator is available in Dubai in 2009 and Las Cruces in 2010.

This is totally a thought leaders type of product. What is so impressive when you register for a login and password a bar code appears very futuristic.  Strictly limited edition only 50 will be produced in 2009 at 420,000,00 euros  you can email sales@human-regenerator.com the website music is so space odessy 2000.

Regeneration using the Human Regenerator activates the cells membranes and harmonize vibration frequencies of every individual cell leading to unexpected postive results

I recently joined TED, ideas worth spreading. For those of you that have not heard of it, its a wonderful meeting place of today’s minds that matter, speakers that actual speak and to quote a wonderful community started in Australia called Thought Leaders, where thought leaders all congrugate through use of pc, modems, wifi and screens and the occassional face to face get together at the TED Annual Conferences.

I posted my profile and received an email from a ted member for the purpose of confidentiality I am sharing the email without their details and I have kept it unedited, as I received it. (Please also note that english is not this persons first language)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: xxxx>@comm.ted.com
Date: 2009/4/9
Subject: ciao
To: Harlette De Falaise <harlette.limited@gmail.com>

I think lingerie is a misterious artifact – it a designed product to celebarte
beauty and desire, but also to le women to feel special. I am a man – so for
sure I cannot fully understand women, but as a man I love lingerie which make
any women even more beatiful and attractive. So behind lingerie thre for sure a
lot f psycology. Nice to meet you – XXXX

Now this email did not register until just a moment ago when I happened across this image in my internet travels as I do.

  A wonderful image that evokes all things wonderful, playful, 1950’s pinup girl, waiting by the phone and giggling with her girlfriend in her lingerie. It takes us to a time of simplicity and transcends all of this around us. Wonderful YES, Powerful YES.

I have to ask the question is it, the most relevant imagery for the lingerie industry to be recycling, it’s a tough game fashion and more so for in lingerie for you have limitation to 8 garments and 8 only.

 

  As the industry is limited by innovation in the number of pieces, excluding accessories of course, I can see the tendency to look to the past for innovation, to assist with themes for each new spring and autumn collection. My point is while we look to Sirens, Pin Ups and Burlesque Dancers, Pirates and Angels for inspiration. How do we truly find innovation?

A balance between old and new is needed I agree, yet we have gone from burning the bra, wearing only G Strings to a full return of lingerie that our grandmothers were wearing pre and post war in the space of 10 years. Please do not misinterpret me, I am in praise of the seemless shapemakers, they make the female form amazing and bring many women a new set of secret tools, increased level of confidence and a spring in their step that was lost briefly after child birth.

Note to reader (I refuse to use the word thong on the grounds that it is something that one puts on ones feet and goes between the toes and not used to describe the delicate piece of lace material highly crafted to make ones bottom more appealing.

Ah but I hear the cry of no a thong is a flip flop, no matter if you are on the European Continent or South or North American Continent, observe and take note the use of the word Thong a generalist lazy person’s answer. A thong is a word to describe footwear, it has a separation between the toe and a flip flop is anything that is fashionable that resembles in design a bar across the toes from the original extremely unflattering things created by Dr Scholls that brought terror and skin loss to all those that attempted to wear them in the 80’s.)

Now that we are clear on the use of G String forever more, I will move on.

 I do honour the changes in fabrics are assisting with the changes in look and feel, but have we really evolved, or are we stuck in a cycle of recycle. The most innovation that the industry has seen has been the cut out segments while retaining the frame work of the garment. That was avant garde

As for lingerie with GPS, could we ponder what its real use is, other than pandering to an obsessive compulsive nature and using technology to enabled tracking of one’s civil lingerie liberties. One wonders when the chastity belt will be back in?

 I am guilty as charged with all of the points above, I have used my grandmothers silk stockings threaded with silver as inspiration, bought all the fabulous TASCHEN books that I could get my hands on. Watched all the 60’s, 50’s and 20′ and 30′ films that related to lingerie that I could find. My particular favourite being Sophia Loren at her best in a Corset in The Millionairess (1960):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPypUvF_a40

    I regularly trove through Jeff’s store One of a Kind  in Portobello Road Notting Hill, Madonna has, just as designers from La Perla have , and countless designers will continue to,  keeping the tradition alive as his wall of fame confirms.

You see Lingerie Design is about hope, about magic, about capturing that moment of precise femininity, empowering it, adorning it, allowing it, evoking it, seeing it, and transforming it. 

So with all of that in mind can our past really help the modern women that spends hours with tending to children, fighting traffic, fighting with the internet, the cable TV, finding food free from pesticides, finding time for herself just to be herself, let alone for her husband.

Lingerie is a luxury, and it is a necessity, it performs a practical function and also has a double property in that it can create a fantasy, it can engage the wearer to a new mindset, its fashion can transcend the wearer just for a moment if wearing the right piece for her at the right time.

For that is the customer in which the industry owes a duty to, it is the mother, the home maker, the creator of amazing children that inspire and captivate you from the moment you meet them. The single upcoming career city girl, knows what she wants, and she is not so afraid to try the new. The teenager is eager for anything that is fun fresh colourful and expresses although one might have a struggle with getting the right fit on someone so young.

So images of 50’s pinup girls, are helpful but will they allow the tigress and lioness hiding inside to break free of all that this modern world imposes upon her.  I would like the lingerie industry to challenge the allure of looking to the past, to start predicting the future, start creating again and start pushing the boundaries of society through intimate apparel.

Thats whay Harlette is heading fearlessly into the unknown and conducting tests into 3D scanning to create a future outlook for Harlette’s products. Once our tests are completed, they will be publsihed in this blog, please be patient. The process has required scans in Bracknell, UK, a visit to the London College of Fashion just of Oxford street in London and trial scans conducted in Sydney.

 

Resources 

For more details on  check out www.ted.com.

For more details on  checkout www.thoughtleaders.com.au.

For more details on  checkout  http://www.human-regenerator.com

Gigi’s or To D or DD that is The Question

 In Elizabethan times Shakespeare asked his generation  “To be or not to be : that is the question”. Hamlet Act 111 Scene 1. In 2009  to D or DD is the question that lingerie companies appear to be asking women of this generation. According to research conducted in UK and Australia 40% of women are a DD average size or above.

The headlines of most articles in newspapers today are discussing the question does the cup runneth over, or using the cliche boom or bust to possibly advertise the opinion of one multinational manufacturer. After reading the articles it suggests that 10G is the average size, reading a little closer into the article you will discover that 10G is the average bra sold by the manufacturer as they specialise in larger cups.

The lovely ladies with no need for more than an A or B cup please breathe easy tonight, you are still the top of the lingerie class and body type pyramid. Statistics in articles and headlines can be confusing and misleading so when reading articles in your paper, magazine dont skim the headlines and just take the figures for fact.

In 5 years an increase in DD sales has been confirmed by a major department store and a leading manufactuer at 8%, yet we are not given a comparison figure of the actual growth of the industry over the 5 years. You may find that all sizes have had an increase of 5 % to 7% as well.

Having fit many women, DD is a popular size, so is 10C and 12D, 30E and 12A, 12C etc.  By far the most requested size in any boutique or department store should be no surprise that it is 12B… That is a story I go into far more detail when I train people how to fit lingerie. Its comical…when you learn why…

Easter is in the air and the annual Inglis sales in Sydney have seen confidence in the Yearling Sales with a capital C over 17 yearlings have been sold for a price in excess of $700k and the four most impressive lots so far are as follows.

231 Colt

Encosta de Lago

Show Dancing (NZ)

Emirates Park, Murrurundi

Dynamic Syndications NSW

$1,800,000

 

90 Colt

Galileo (IRE)

Makybe Diva (GB) 

Makybe, Gnarwarre, Vic

Danny O’Brien Racing Vic 

$1,500,000

 

392 Colt

Redoute’s Choice

Winning Belle (NZ)

Twin Palms Stud, Lochinvar

James Bester Bloodstock NSW

$1,400,000

 

292 Colt

Redoute’s Choice

Tugela (USA)

Makybe, Gnarwarre, Vic

Patinack Farm Pty Ltd NSW

$1,200,000

 

Tally Ho…