Knickers in a twist

The clothes which are seen least often say the most about us. I wouldn’t go so far as to say a woman’s knicker drawer is a window to her soul, but it certainly says something about her life. Mine, for example, is colourful, overstuffed and full of things that scare children (literally – the books and toys that freak out my four-year-old inevitably find their way in there. Mad About Egyptians has been nestling beneath my bloomers since he took against the embalming sequence 18 months ago).

As a compulsive lingerie shopper, I’ve often thought that while Aristotle probably wasn’t talking about his loincloth when he said: “Well begun is half done”, he could have been. Things can only go so wrong when you’re wearing the appropriate underwear.

But what constitutes appropriate? It depends. Obviously a person’s personals are the furthest removed from the whims of fashion, dictated instead by their body shape. If only we chose all our clothes like we do our lingerie (what we love and what suits us), getting dressed in the morning would be a lot easier. For me, the best stuff is made either to be looked at, or to be invisible. They’re underclothes or insteadofclothes – anything in between is an unhappy compromise, either for your lover or the person behind you in Sainsbury’s who can’t stop staring at your VPL.

For lingerie that begs to be admired, three great British brands are Playful Promises, whose east London boutique and online store (playfulpromises.com) are equally fabulous – I like the Lucy lace bra and the Etti retro bra; northeast label Tallulah Love (tallulahlove.com), which makes beautiful silk pieces with touches of vintage lace (such as corsets), and Ayten Gasson (aytengasson.com), a luxurious ethical choice – try the lovely Lara bra in lemon. If you’ve got bigger boobs you’ve probably already discovered Bravissimo (bravissimo.com), and Mimi Holliday (damaris.co.uk) has pretty styles that go above a D cup – I only wish I had the figure for the hot-pink Kamikaze bra.

If you’d prefer your clothes to do the talking, try Fashion Forms (fashion forms.com). Its genius selection of solution-led lingerie and accessories includes stick-on bras, “breast petals” and a ton of other stuff you never knew you needed. MS’s Smoothlines bras are invisible under clothes, as are its No VPL shorts (marksandspencer.com).

If you can’t remember the last time you shopped for unmentionables, get out and get fitted – I recommend northeast legend Sadie the Bra Lady (sadiethebralady.com).

A lovely drawer of underpinnings is worth investing in – they make you happy and make the rest of your clothes look better, while a bad bra can – quite literally – let you down. They’re not called “foundation garments” for nothing.

Follow Lauren on Twitter @LaurenLaverne

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