‘Feminist’ lingerie is the sexiest thing I’ve seen in a while

_{One of Neon Moon’s designs}

Sure, a lot of it is pretty. But if you look at lingerie ads (and hey, David Gandy’s pants also fall into this category, so this swings both ways), underwear is almost invariably portrayed in a sexual setting, with much lip gloss, pouting and silk sheets involved. Perfect bodies are a given, which have then been air-brushed, for good measure.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s the really functional stuff, which never gets advertised. Bras – that carers go into MS to buy for their eightysomething charges. Sports bras, which are typically made of some kind of trampoline material and all appear to be advertised by strapping Sharron Davies lookalikes, portraying physical perfection of another kind – though I do quite like Berlei’s slogan ‘Because only the ball should bounce.’ Bras that you threw out when your great-aunt died, because there’s something not quite right about sending them to a charity shop.

(Although a charity called Breast Talk will indeed accept secondhand bras, to be sold either in the developing world or passed on to disadvantaged women, while Against Breast Cancer can even supply a ‘bra bank’, which encourages donations. Though I think Rachi would have something to say about the fact that the bra bank is – but of course! – pink.)

In between, though? Very, very little. And it’s this gap which Rachi seems to have identified, and is seeking to fill in an un-frilly way, with a capsule collection made in the UK out of comfy bamboo material. “The bamboo fabric and shape,” explains Rachi, “is designed to work around the body, instead of the other way around.”

_{Another Neon Moon lingerie set}

Now, I doubt it’ll work for me: as a CC cup, I definitely require more buttressing than what Neon Moon’s debut designs propose to offer. But what this fledgling brand’s pitch did was open my eyes to the reality that lingerie design and marketing remains very, very sexual indeed – despite the fact that the vast majority of real women I know are looking for something that won’t be used for seduction, but will do the job day after day without riding up/falling down/digging you in the ribs.

It’s not that most lingerie is designed by men; I know several talented female lingerie designers – yet they all seem to be set on perpetuating the idea that most lingerie is going to be flaunted in the boudoir, so it’d better be worthy at least of a soft porn film. I suspect that lingerie is the way it is because historically it’s been like this for a long, long time. And it’s about time someone questioned that.

What Neon Moon pledge is that “listening to young women’s feedback is what’s going to distinguish Neon Moon in the lingerie industry, and drive the brand forward.” Neon Moon, Richi explains, “won’t place pressure on girls… It’s important for girls not to compare themselves to unachievable standards of ‘beauty’, but to succeed in their own way, and not purely via the male gaze.” Hallelujah.

So: I hope Rachi raises the £5,000 she needs to get this off the ground, having already ploughed her life savings into getting the samples made. But its ripples really ought to extend beyond the world of online investment. Hayat Rachi – who acknowledges that one of her talents is for ‘getting fired’ from jobs – has dared to swim against the lace-trimmed tide.

And I say: more power to her bra straps.

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