Longline Bra

What a cute outfit. It isn't a real longline bra - those go right to the waist - but it is perfect for a strapless dress.

I love all the lace on the panty and the garter belt. Is this bridal? Myself, when I get married I am going to wear a very small, very tightly cinched corset and have my grandchildren marvel at my waist. But this is very much in the white stockings bridal tradition.

Because this is a model and not a bride she can be forgiven for having put her panties on under her garter belt....a real bride will know to put the garter belt on first so, if her new husband wishes, she can wear her stockings for his bedtime pleasure.

And yes, I am an oldfashioned girl...if he wants me in stockings, mine to obey.

A bit Strict; but Pretty

A really lush girl like this has to make some lingerie decisions...How much to reveal, how much to control.

This is just a very basic lace trimmed bra and panties with a lovely, and firm, probably shaping, garter belt and pretty white hose.

A great choice for everyday but delightful if the boss wants to be a little frisky at lunch.

I especially like how the girl is holding the garter tab to show off the metal rather than plastic construction. If you are buying garter belts always demand metal with rubber tabs...Your stockings will thank you.

Soft White

What a pretty bra...

And a great shot with the dark model and the very white, lightly underwired, bra.

These girls' expressions always intrigue me. This girl has that distant mixture of delight and contempt which I see on a lot of lingerie model's faces. I am never sure if I like it or not.

Lace

The idea of lace is to enhance, conceal and offer unintended glimpses. Well, not "unintended" exactly...more unpredictable.

What I love about this shot is the lace top is clinging to every inch of the girl. But it reveals the white triangle of her thong...

Glorious!

Picture Story

I love shots which leave a story behind.

Why is the girl sitting with her breast exposed? What is the slightly blonde girl with the cigarette saying? Why does the brunette look so captured and so downcast.

Does she keep her eyes averted because she has been trained to? Or is it that she knows she has no choice but to let her friend expose her to the gaze of whomever wants to look.

There are no answers in photographs; only questions...

Pretty Bra

The little blue bows at the join between strap an cup would sell this semi sheer bra to me.

Nicely underwired and the little bend of boning across the nipple would look lovely under a thin sweater.

What I really like about this bra is its sheer sass. This is a bra for a woman who loves her body and cares for it.

My only question is "where are the tan lines"...just kidding.

Have some Lunch!

Pretty as this girl is - and yes, she is a model with all that implies - there is something distictly unwomanly about those bony ribs.

I rather doubt lingerie would sell at all if women were actually made this way. We have curves and delightful indentations. Most of us jiggle a bit here and there and, depending on our mood, we might want to show that off or keep it all in strict confinement. Our choice.

But, for all that, it is a pretty outfit.

Grey Stockings

I love the way a pair of dove grey stockings look on my legs. A hint of smoke curling up to my thighs.

This girl is also wearing the sort of garter belt which actually works. Eye hooks beginning in the small of her back and resting on the swell of her hips. This sort of garter belt also has the delightful effect of flattening your tummy. A really gorgeous combination.

Doing her nails

Kate Moss again from a French Maxim. If you look carefully you'll see the start of a seam on her ultra sheer stocking.

I love the shots of women in the act of preparation. Creating beauty, attending to detail, enjoying the few minutes before the world is allowed to see the effect. Here is a world class beauty doing her nails, just slightly inattentively. It's routine. Or is it? Who's on the phone...Will she have to change?

The Joy of Chemise

Not quite a slip, more a bit of nightwear. If I had all the money in the world I would have a couple of dozen of these in a closet all their own. I think this is a Patricia Fieldwalker.

Pure silk. With just the little bit of detailing on the back. The long spagetti straps give these chemises a lovely swing when you walk from dressing room to bed. A little pair of mules, which can have four inch heels as they are only going thirty feet, and provocation is immediate.

[A note: the bandwidth restriction has dropped on Le Vie Parisienne for today...Thank you!!]

Sweet, Sexy

Pretty blue with the lovely sheer net and what look like lightly underwired cotton cups.

A young girl's bra. As much for flirtation and anything. She knows the straps and the sheer top of the cups are as much for other's pleasure as her own.

There is a sweetness to the little swish of emboidery on the cups...a reminder of the girl's bedroom rather than the grown woman's dressing room.

Night's End

A much younger woman on what looks like the steps to an appartment or the back entrance of a club. Pretty black stockings and shoes. Stayups but none the worse for that. I like her black bra.

I am not sure if that is a skirt or a half slip. Either way it falls fetchingly just at her stocking tops.

Black and Blonde

A pretty woman of a certain age...she's bottle blonde with roots needing work; but she has the essence of lingerie.

Simple black. A slightly sheer bra, lovely stockings (which she has put the back garter on a little too far forward) and a black garter belt.

Simple and moving towards elegant.

Sheer!

One of the essential choices a girl has to make about her bra is sheer or not? Depending on what she will be wearing, or not wearing on top, a sheer bra can be gorgeous.

Part of lingerie's alure is to come as close to naked as you can while still being deliciously wrapped in fabric. A sheer cup bra gives you the sensation and the look of being naked and then just the hint of control which makes your clothes fit all the better.

Sheer on sheer is fun...all those second looks.

Smokin'

Awful habit...But if I could avoid the smell and the watery eyes I might just have the occassional cigarette for the sheer elegance of the smoke.

Kate Moss again. I like the satin lingerie syle bodice and the spagetti strap dropped off the shoulder. Provocative, teasing and yet very demure.

Like this blog.

The Erotic Gaze

There are moments where a phtographer manages to capture the longing, the sense of desire a woman sometimes feels. Partially it is about beauty.

Wet and Silly - but Striking

The exagerated heels, the girl in the bath still in her stockings...yes, this must be art.

What I like about this shot is that it shows how much fashion is influenced by fetish. Fetish photographers have been taking shots of impossible heels for years and, every so often, they arrive in the stores again. Sky high, gorgeous and completely impossible to totter on - even from cab to restaurant table. So, of course, we all have to have them.

Pretty White for Everyday

In even the most decadent girl's lingerie drawers (and she will have several) there needs to be a few simple, hop out of the bath and out the door outfits. The only question is will her everyday lingerie match her night out?

This little bra and panty set is ideal. It can work under jeans or a skirt, has nice wide shoulder straps and pretty lace detailing which will not chafe. All smooth and delicious...

Match it with a sleek white garter belt and you have a hose solution. Better still, a light cotton top would show off your bra without revealing a thing. What fun.

Sheer Shape

One of the funniest things about lingerie advertising is that none of the girls in the ads needs the product. This pretty little shapewear slip does wonders for a beautiful girl with a naturally tiny, flat bottom.

For the rest of us shapewear is the modern equivilant of our mother's girdles. Lycra replaces rubber and boning. Nice; but I prefer the more old fashioned girdles because shapewear never has garter tabs.

Stocking Roll

A number of you have written asking for more shots of me.

With pleasure. This is a picture from a series I did a little while ago. Just black bra, thong and another Warner's girdle.

The stockings are antique. Original 15 denier fully fashioned - that is they actually fit your foot size - and deliciously seamed. You have to be very careful pulling them on and the best way is to roll them up your leg.

It feels rather wonderful too.

And I love getting email...I write back too.

Fun with Lace

There are essentially two schools of lingerie design: smooth or lacy. Practically, smooth makes a lot more sense under body conscious clothes...but lingerie is not always about practical. Thank God.

I like the boycut but leg loose panties and the light boning in the bodice...The detail is amazing. Under a pretty dress with a garter belt and stockings this would be a perfect summer choice.

It is also a welcome change from the day to day bra and panties.

Many women, but not me, want convienience and comfort above all. Which is fine I suppose; but not much fun and certainly not at all sexy. This outfit is a nice compromise.