The official Ari Dein site gives us more of a background on the talented designer Arielle Shapiro:

“Arielle blends her past design experience within luxury brands and her fine art background with hand-selected materials, bespoke tailoring and exquisite details that make her work truly unique to the modern lingerie market. She follows a rich and authentic family tradition of timeless elegance, refined attention to detail and tireless ambition as she carries on her family legacy and name, producing ARI DEIN in the very same New York City garment district where her great grandfather worked in a sweatshop before climbing to the top of the American fur industry four generations ago.”

We asked Arielle to pick us here six favorites from the collection for TLP.

I’m already excited about what we can expect next season!

Photos: (Copyright ARI DEIN LLC 2010) (Hannah Heinrich Photography)

Grown out of humble beginnings in her dining room, Annie Selke from Massachusetts, USA, has created a large home décor business that offers bedding, curtains, pillows, rugs and sleepwear. Included in the extensive sleepwear collection are robes made of linen, cotton, fleece, voile or willow knit, kaftans in cotton voile, lounging dresses, tank tops and tees in willow knit, as well as pyjamas in one hundred percent cotton.

The beautifully woven fabrics set this collection apart from other sleepwear labels. Such a range of colours and prints from plaids to florals, and stripes to dots, it will take some time to decide which pyjama set to purchase. Long pyjama pants come with drawstring waist and long-sleeved tops finished with a breast pocket. Capri sets are shorter pants with sleeveless tops.

All of the collection can be mixed and matched as each solid colour complements the designs of the colourful prints. The willow knit collection of dresses and tops is actually ninety-five percent bamboo and five percent spandex making these pieces comfortable for sleeping or for leisure wear on a hot summer day. Crew tops, pants and robes in “sheepy fleece” add depth to the collection by providing even more variety.

Initiated in 1993, Annie Selke has become a “whose-who” in the home décor business with her designs showcased in all the most respected magazines and on numerous television shows. One can quickly tell that she has a flair for fashion as her gorgeous sleepwear uses fabrics and designs that are not seen anywhere else.

Sheer Halter Gown

You’ll look and feel heavenly in this sheer halter gown with matching g-string. Available in black and white.
Regular Price: $32.95 – Sale Price: $29.65

Lace Ribbon Satin Corset

Be provocative and sensuous in this fuchsia satin corset with lace ribbon detail. Positively dazzling and perfect for wearing out or to the clubs.
Regular Price: $69.95 – Sale Price: $62.95

You’re getting 10% off by the Lover’s Lane people — just enter “TLP3″ at checkout for the 10% discount.

Let’s get the Do Not Buy List out of the way so we can move on to the more positive aspects of giving lingerie to our mothers. While some of you may not agree with all these points feeling perhaps that you are close enough to your mother to purchase taboo items, it is in most instances prudent, especially for male members of the family, to follow some form of decorum such as found in the following:

• Do not buy panties, thongs or g-strings. This is too intimate to be purchased by sons.
• Do not buy crotch-less or peek-a-boo numbers.
• If a daughter is purchasing the gift, do not buy items that are emblazoned with swear words, sexual innuendoes and vulgar connotations. These items are best left for your girlfriends.
• Stay away from flimsy and sexy items that are better suited as gifts from a husband or significant other on Valentine’s Day.

Acceptable and well appreciated lingerie that may be bought as gifts for mothers:

• Tasteful matching gown and robe.
• A pretty new flannelette nightgown or pair of cotton pyjamas.
• Mothers always like to receive new housecoats.
• A lovely kaftan, hand painted kimono or lounging outfit.
• A beach cover-up for mothers who travel, cruise or use the pool.
• Dainty lingerie bags, hangers and sachets for storing her fine lingerie
• A gift certificate from a lingerie company allowing Mother to choose the correct size, colour and style of her garment.

So please, the next time you think of purchasing lingerie for your mother, think tactfully and choose pieces that will be appreciated and will embarrass no one.

Flora Lastraioli lingerie reminds me of the nightdresses those ladies wore. Exquisitely made gowns displaying fastidiously embroidered masterpieces on expensive silks. How could anyone not look beautiful? The various collections use a combination of several of the best fabrics in the world. Silk, satin, jersey, cotton and georgette in whites, creams, canary yellows, vibrant greens with black trims, deep hues of orange, crimson and blue, and delicate pink, blue and green pastels.

Each piece is finely crafted. Robes with sleeves of embroidered flowers and petals, bodices with white intricate inlays in beautiful pink silk and thick embroidery down the front of the garments with little bows or buttons to close the garment. The individual ensembles come in a vast selection of dressing gowns and coats, tops and bottoms, camisoles, panties and jackets.

The 2008/2009 Autumn/Winter season of Matteo Pecchioli was seen in February 2008 at the Igedo Fashion Fairs Dusseldorf in Germany. Some of the gowns were so ornate, I really could not determine whether they were evening gowns or dressing gowns. This is how magnificent these pieces are.

When reading the family’s ancestry, it is no wonder the collections are queen-like. Although Flora Lastraioli Lingerie was not founded officially until 1932, the roots of the embroidery go back to the early 1800’s when the great-grandmother was named the official embroideress at the court of Leopoldo II, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Unquestionably, if real craftsmanship and art are important, Flora Lastraioli lingerie is truly the best money can buy.

Want to see more? Visit floralastraioli.com!

The Fall/Winter ’08 collection will even be featuring a maternity thong with buckles on the side – so very pregnant women don’t have to go through the lopsided torture of trying to bend down to put their panties on! By the end of the month, the site will be updated with a new collection and easy access to online purchasing. We’ll let you know as soon as the updates are complete!

Nerys really has done it again: a satin chiffon silk lingerie bag, super-soft silk cuffs for the ultimate spoildage (I invented the word!) and a gorgeous sheer silk kimono gown that’s guaranteed to make you feel like billionaire.

Excellent stuff, like last time. For more info and pictures, check out andgodcreatedwoman.co.uk!