The pieces do not seem to be named but here are a few of my favourites:

• A lovely dusty rose or salmon coloured bustier adorned with black lace flowers around the hem. Matching panties finish the set.
• An intriguing taupe coloured delicate bra with tiny cups beautifully embroidered with pink thread. Complete with matching panties and chemise.
• A grey baby doll style chemise with black lace hem and little adornments on the pretty shoulder straps.
• A vibrant bra, tanga shorts, chemise, and slippers group in lovely purple and black floral design.
• A gorgeous black, short bodysuit to be worn with dress slacks or skirt, the deep plunge neckline is sexy coupled with the sheer lace three-quarter length sleeves.

Lastly, you might wonder why the title says “AI 0809”. In Italian, autumn is “autunno” and winter is “inverno”, thus the AI and not AW.

Lucia Mizzoni hopes that Dolce V “will become addictive; one of those little secrets you will want to share with all your friends even though a side of you will want to keep it for yourself only!” Lucia Mizzoni spent nearly 8 years as the marketing manager of L’Oreal UK. Before L’Oreal she had a distinguished education including a Fullbright scholarship in 1998 for International Relations at Syracuse University. The Dolce V business started in January of 2008 and the online shop launched shortly there after. Head over to Dolce V and join their club for free. You’ll get a satin tape measure so you can measure your own bust and make sure you are getting the best fit. When you get your tape measure, use the Dolce V bra size calculator with three simple steps. Once you know your size, Dolce V handily offers a way to search their store for your size. If you are a fuller figured women, you may find that Dolce V offers a decent selection through 38E or 38F via brands like Freya and Fauve. I imagine that with early success, Dolce V will offer even more sizes in the future.The site is easy to navigate and offers search to help find pieces that interest you.

Each designer is broken out as a search filter and you can also shop by occasion or department. This level of flexibility is often skipped as some retail sites don’t break out by designer or don’t offer search. Dolce V offers tips for men and a break out section focusing on hot trends including a short Flash video. Unlike many online lingerie retailers, Dolce V offers free returns, so you can buy with the extra confidence that returns won’t be a hurdle.

One feature of the site I haven’t seen before is integrated zooming. Many sites open another window and launch a separate client to zoom in on details. Dolce V is using a technique to keep the zooming inside the same screen as the product details. When you land on a product page, you will see a medium size picture and two thumbnails. As the page loads, a larger version of the thumbnails is downloaded in the background. You can use the medium size picture to zoom in on details and use the thumbnails to change the picture. Besides having some great designers, I think this zoom feature makes online shopping easier and for now, makes Dolce V different than their competitors.

Lucia is offering a discount code DOLCE108L for 10% off. Go over to the site and buy some goodies.

Readers who have not yet heard about Pudding can be forgiven for thinking it’s an odd name for a lingerie shop! That’s because Pudding is far more than the average lingerie shop. Its owners, Helen and Paul Masters, describe it as ‘a luxury lingerie salon, where shopping should feel like a real treat…they want their customers to indulge!’

Their opening catwalk show featured an exclusive range of the world’s best brands, most of which are completely new to Reading. As Helen described, “Shoppers in Reading told us that they’d love to be able to treat themselves to world renowned luxury brands like Rigby and Peller, La Perla, Myla and Roberto Cavalli but until now that has meant a trip to Harrods or maybe an out of the way lingerie shop. There’s also a real demand for expert fitting and a wider size range than other high street stores offer – that’s where Pudding can help.”

Pudding was created to bring luxury lingerie to the high street for the first time and to offer a retail therapy treat for the woman who wants the best fitting and best looking bra , a divine pair of knickers or a stunning piece to wear on the beach that no-one else will have! Bras start at £32 so Pudding also have made luxury affordable to lots of shoppers.

Helen says she is very keen to encourage the women of Reading who haven’t been professionally fitted by a lingerie specialist to come and give it a go : ‘It’s free, fun and can instantly help you look half a stone slimmer and give you a trimmer waist . People often walk out of the salon wearing their new bra after a fitting because they love the change in shape it gives them so much that they don’t want to take it off!’ says Helen.

With more than 50% of Pudding’s research group admitting to having returned lingerie bought for them by their partner, Pudding also offers a tailored gift buying service for men, complete with gift buying advice; luxury gift wrapping and beautifully presented gift vouchers. As Paul, co-owner says “We also have a wish list that our customers can fill in to give some hints to their partner…so now there’s no excuses for buying dodgy gifts in the wrong colour or size!”

Pudding ~ Lingerie that’s good enough to eat

Additional notes
The Pudding range includes lingerie, swimwear, nightwear, hosiery, corsets, accessories and pamper products.
Brands stocked include: Le Mystere, La Perla, Myla, Pleasure State, Roberto Cavalli, Spoylt, Chantal Thomass, SPANK, Verde Veronica, Verdissima , Moontide, Maryann Mehlhorn, Hoola, Barbara, Edencoeur, Amoralia, Plie, Purelime, Girl From Ipanema, Esbelt, Soyelle. Free fitting and gift service available. The website: www.puddinglingerie.com, will be fully transactional from later in the year.

Yes Master
Igor Pacemski “Fashion, fashion, fashion..and Hollywood glamor… Seen through the eyes of a man, even though the end result is super-feminine…”

Verde Veronica
Verde Veronica will enhance every sensual curve, and every woman’s true essence of beauty.

Beau Bra
Gabrielle Ross “Beau Bra is all about how to charm, entice, tempt and tease!”

Bulb
Juile Lantry “The Bulb woman enjoys blurring the line with their beautiful adaptable loungewear by wearing them from bed to play to party. .”

Check them all out — and make sure your partner knows what to buy before he takes his credit card out!

I’m still waiting for more detail on the collection and hope to be able to feature them in a week or two – until then: enjoy these photo’s as a kind of preview !

If you like the photo’s, check out verdeveronica.com!

We’ll stick to the lingerie today (I promise to zoom in on the swimwear soon!). First set: the romantic and very feminine Sielei Sophie French Bra with matching shorty. The set was priced at £40 (that’s about $80), but it appears to be sold out at Silkstorm. I can see why: this is high quality lingerie with a great ribbon finish and floral embroidery on the cups at a great price… A pity, and I’m not sure whether or not Silkstorm is able to restock this…

Some sizes are still availbe for the Sielei Vintage plunge bra with matching brief. It has the exact same price tag. The candy stripe and cream lace detail is beautiful, and the plunged cups seem to work well in the cleavage enhancing department.