Artillerie – This great new company will bring you bags (with great pockets and compartments!) for all of your intimate apparel and swimwear.

Between the Sheets Lingerie and Layla L’obatti for Between the Sheets – The delightful loungewear and luxurious lingerie you’ve been seeing will finally hit stores.

Commando by Her Look – One of my all time favorite brands (including my new favorite, Commando Cotton) will continue to make better than nothing better than nothing with more colors, patterns, and designs.

Cosabella - Color, color, color!  Bright and beautiful swimwear, basics, fashion, and shapewear.  Look for Smooth by Cosabella at a store near you.

Daddy’s Favorite - Not just fantastic robes and wraps anymore!  Stay tuned for more on tanks, bloomers, and lounge pant options.

Damaris – Expect more of the signature bow and corset backs as well as exquisite jeweled accents in an opulent collection.

DuMi Shapewear – This company, which wowed us with pretty shapewear, will expand to include a new longer cami that can easily be worn as innerwear or outerwear!

Eucalan – An eco-friendly, no rinse delicates wash with yummy scents from essential oils.

OverBra – This innovention will give ladies of all different sizes a little extra lift.

RipT – A new body-sculpting undershirt for men.

Sassybax – The Pretty range will include a cami and chemise that will smooth and slim the silhouette just like the original collection.

Slimpressions – One of our favorite shapewear brands is now expanding to include the Bottom Line collection to lift and shape your lower half!  And we aren’t the only ones who are noticing…

The Little Bra Company – Spring will bring beautiful new colorways as well as convertible straps on bras for even more versatility.  Plus, a new non-padded option!

White Saki – A fun, city-themed line featuring novelty panties and matching flip flops.

Zielo – Soft, pima cotton sleepwear including women, maternity, and plus collections.  Awesome!

See below for some of my photos from the show.  And stay tuned for more details on the above listed brands and more in the upcoming months leading up to Spring!

“Times of uncertainty call for a return to the body and an acceptance of imperfection and transience.” For Fall/Winter 2009, New York designer Laura Mehlinger examined the Japanese ideal of wabi sabi, in which beauty is found in imperfection, impermanence and quirks. While referring to this concept, she continued the distinct aesthetics that are the hallmarks of Lola Haze: boldness, play, and the energy of New York City.

One of the visual themes of the collection is body ornamentation. In the Tattoo group, designs inspired by tribal and eastern body ornamentation are hand-painted onto sheer black mesh, a fabric that both veils and reveals the body underneath. The marks, imperfect themselves, caress and frame the body’s natural contours. But these Tattoos are transient ornamentation, and the revelation comes when the tattoos are skimmed off the body, leaving only the natural form.

Ornamentation and surface art appear in the collection also in the Peacock and Imperfect groups, in which luxurious silk charmeuse and metallic lace are appliquéd on top of sheer mesh and silk chiffon.

For Fall/Winter 2009, Lola Haze embraced the simplicity and appeal of one piece dressing: rompers, teddies, jumpsuits, body stockings, and plenty of chemises and slips. Alongside these modern silhouettes are updates to some Lola Haze favorites.

Mehlinger’s collaboration with New York artist Charlotte Pinson, announced in December 2008, continues with a series of quirky, elegant painted silk tops that will be shown alongside the Lola Haze Wabi Sabi City collection.

Mehlinger has been studying, designing and making clothing since the time she could hold a needle. Before launching Lola Haze, she held design positions at Gap, Inc. She received her BA from Harvard in English and was called “Harvard’s Ace Student of Fashion” by the Boston Globe for creating and showing her own line of women’s wear in the only one-person fashion show there in memory. She named her line after the title character in the novel Lolita, which she wrote her thesis about and which continues to intrigue and inspire her.

She finds difference and quirkiness -visual and otherwise- inspiring, and is driven in her designing by the idea of surprise.

“Design is molding juxtapositions: elegance and kitsch, innocence and seduction, playfulness and sophistication, and for Lola Haze, public and private. I love lingerie because it dances between public and private domains. It can be a woman’s own secret that makes her feel special or something beautiful for display. Lola Haze is for a playful, confident woman who loves the transformative power of clothing and dresses for herself. She can wear Lola Haze as innerwear, loungewear, or outerwear.”

Her designs have been the major silk collection at New York’s world famous Bergdorf Goodman for many years and she continues to set the trends with her selection of cosmetic colors and
luxurious prints. Proudly made in her own factory in beautiful Vancouver, this is a couture collection made by a small team of highly skilled seamstresses whose workmanship meets rivals the best European lingerie. Distribution is carefully controlled to maintain the exclusive cachet that’s so important for a deluxe brand. The collection can be found at special boutiques in London, Paris, Zurich, Spain, Germany and Japan.

A new collection of Patricia Fieldwalker limited edition beach covers and Kaftans will debut at the coming August/08, Curve Lingerie Show in New York. Visit her website for more photos and information: www.pfieldwalker.com

At the Curve NY show, I was able to view the Fall 2008 collection. And believe me, it does not disappoint! Rich fall colors like navy, maroon, and burnt orange are not only used as solids for the signature modal/silk collection, but are also incorporated as a new colorway for the sheandme print. In addition to new, beautiful colors, also be on the look out for new sheandme styles like a chic racerback chemise (with build in shelf bra!) and a cover wrap that looks great with jeans and also doubles as a robe.

So what do you do until those great pieces are available? Check out the amazing colors and cozy items available now. And soon, just in time for spring, look for sheandme in great pastel colors. Click here to find stores where sheandme is sold.

The “Carrie” collection is described as “whimsical and eclectic” and features a push up bra, bustier, and low rise thong in a black, floral print tulle. Of course, it wouldn’t be a “Carrie” look without the contrasting animal print trim! While the signature “Carrie” look is in Black Rose, the collection will also be available in Ivory Rose.

The “Samantha” collection is featured in juicy Passion Fruit and contains a spicy bra, low rise thong, and garter belt (of course!). Made with French Chantilly style lace with fine, micro-dot mesh, this collection is sure to please!

With contrasting Blue Violet and Sky Blue tulle and lace, the “Miranda” collection is chic and practical, just like the character. A molded bra, low rise hotpants, and a low rise thong are the signature items. Items will also be available in Magenta and Hot Pink.

And for the sweet and feminine, Charlotte, Cosabella has designed a camisole, long pant, and low rise thong made of soft modal and an eco-friendly bamboo fiber. The signature “Charlotte” collection will be featured in Ecru with Ecru accents, but also available in Black with Ecru accents.

I know these items will be worth the wait! Please let us know in our forums as soon as you see them at a store near you. In the meantime, buy other beautiful Cosabella camis, bras, thongs, and more at your local boutique or department store as well as online at Bare Necessities or Chic Mystique.

The machine washable (!) Slimpressions are available in Black, Brown, White, and Nude and in sizes 1, 2, and 3 which correspond with pant sizes. Why pant sizes? The torso of Slimpressions is long enough to cover your entire midriff so is sized to match that area of your body.

Want more information? The Slimpressions website is very thorough in detailing the specifics of the garments. While you are there, sign up for the preferred pre-sales customer list. In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted of the latest developments as we hear of them!

Can’t choose just one? Sign up for the Smart Ass Monthly Knickers delivered directly to the recipient’s door!

Smart Ass is not just fun, but functional and comfortable as well. In addition to the thongs, Smart Ass boasts a lightweight, flirty, and feminine Everyday Sexy Collection made of European-inspired mesh and beautiful stretch lace. Choose from the “finally-long-enough” cami, “girl’s-night-out” cami-doll, “it’s-a-wrap” robe, or “pretty-sexy” chemise. All can be mixed and matched with the low-rise thong, low-rise bikini, or low-rise gal short. With six sassy pattern choices, the options are limitless! The camisole and panties are already available in Pink Hearts and Black Scroll. Those items and the rest of the collection will soon be available in Cashmere Rose, Purple Zebra, Angel Blue, and Blue Flowers.

Purchase online at Smart Ass Intimates or at a store near you!

There are a number of other collections in this group I am eager to see in stores this Fall! “Enchanted” follows a unique, Carol Malony trend of matching muted colors with a pop of neon. Made of French stretch lace and silk chiffon in muted lavender, this seemingly sweet set shows its sassiness with a neon green edge to the Bloomer Panty as well as the same pop of color to the bra. This one-of-a-kind, Carol Malony “WOW” factor is also seen in the racy, leopard mesh, “Here Kitty Kitty” and the bright and colorful lace and silk satin, “Tropical Punch.”

Want to see more? See the full collection on the Carol Malony website.

In the Fall 2008 Carol Malony Signature collection, the glitz and glamour of the cabaret is evoked in each piece, while still retaining the Carol Malony flair. With bows, sequins, feathers, and fringe, you’ll have fun channeling your inner vixen in pieces like “Tiny Dancer,” “Heart Throb,” and “Well Red.”

Want to satisfy your Carol Malony craving now? A few of my favorites from the Spring 2008 collection are shown below. For more information on where you can purchase Carol Malony, see here.

The emotions go like this. I sit with the designers rep, flip through their look book and then I see it, the perfect ensemble. I have a quick breath (gasp), say “O My Goodness”, and look at partner. At this point the rep politely corrects my emotion by stating that it has been cut from the line. I then exhale and know that I need to settle for the other amazing creations which are set in front of me. An example of this is the OnGossamer Havana Lace Bodysuit, super cute but it didn’t work out.

Each season beautiful garments are cut from the season’s line sheets. A line sheet is the document which shows the styles and all the details which are available for purchase for a specific season. There are several reasons why styles are cut. When you sell special creations, sometimes the mass market isn’t interested in taking the risk. So out of a list of beautiful garments, the ones that didn’t get purchased by enough stores, do not get made. Then there is my favorite, “Americans don’t go for those types of styles”. In this case, the styles are not available to me to purchase. A store in Australia, however, can stock up on the design. Of course there are the situations that aren’t in anybody’s control. These instances can include the trim is no longer available, the cost of materials can’t stay with the budget, or the style is redundant within the collection.

It is that time of year. There are lingerie shows going on from Paris to New York to Las Vegas. Thousands of buyers will be going through the same process. As designers stretch their creative muscles, Project Managers (or however holds the gauntlet) can swiftly cut these brilliant pieces from the line. They get nervous that they can see enough pieces to make it worth while to produce. Sometimes they are right. But a select few of disappointed buyers like my partner and I mourn the loss of what could have been.

This is the launching off point to a season of anticipation and taking the leap of faith for our customers. We go, we buy, all in hopes that we are bringing in something that they can love, and gasp over as well.

Kristina Haas – Gigi’s Closet
Kristina Haas is co-owner of GigisCloset.com, an online lingerie boutique specializing in fashion lingerie. Armed with a passion for beautiful intimates and a desire to share it with the world, Gigi’s Closet captured the boutique feel to be enjoyed by all on the internet.

Read all posts by Kristina Haas right here!