Shine and shimmy like a star
Published: March 2005
by Gracey Hitchcock

Fashion has gone glam in the most romantic way. This season shopping at La Senza or La Perla you’ll find everything you need to look as romantic or as hot as you want in lovely lingerie.

After years of thongs, thongs and more thongs followed by those oh-so-cute, but terribly unflattering boy-shorts, designers have finally figured out what most women really want from lingerie: glamour.

As outerwear has become more demure on fashion’s catwalks as well as Hollywood’s red carpets, lingerie looks have heated up.

Under the tweed suits and old-style silver screen gowns lurk silk camis, tap pants, and Merry Widows with suspender stockings.

Oh la la! It’s enough to make Madonna blush.

(For those who need a translation — suspenders are British for garters. They hang from lacey belts over tiny g-string panties or from tightly boned lace or satin corsets. Merry Widows push-up your breasts, nip in your waist, and altogether take your breath away.)

Everyone has seen this stuff in Frederick’s of Hollywood’s or the windows of cheap sex shops. It can look as tacky as sin, but in French lace and fine silk, it’s entirely different. It’s what holds up the works under many of those glam strapless numbers you saw at the Golden Globes.

La Perla makes beautiful bustier bras, with matching panties and garter belts. When properly fitted, they magically uplift and enhance almost any woman’s silhouette and cleavage. It is an exquisite indulgence.

If that sounds too restrictive or contrived — and you’ve put time in at the gym — other options are silk or lace panties. Most lines offer several styles.

Particularly cute were the playful pink panties at La Senza. There was a pair that laced up the back, reminding me of saucy tavern wenches. Another had a swinging ’60s fringe. Still another sparkled with diamante. They also had a cute little pink and leopard print slip at $29. Perfect for the young seductress on a budget.

There are satin lounging pajamas for sporty girls — who feel more like Cate Blanchett playing Kate Hepburn in Aviator than Jane Russell or Marilyn Monroe.

And before anyone tuts at my frivolous reportage of sexy lingerie, the point is: This Valentine’s Day buy lingerie for you. Sure, the man in your life will enjoy it — at least I hope he will — but buy it for you.

Use it to unleash your inner movie star. That is what I think those young starlets in Hollywood are finally grasping.

Until recently, Hollywood hasn’t been very glamorous. Stars looked like serious young frumps or strippers. Then a few years ago, the sparkle finally returned to Oscar’s red carpet. I credit Catherine Zeta Jones and Nicole Kidman for helping bring back the shine.

Suddenly everyone glammed up; it started to look like Hollywood again.

Fashion and pop culture are symbiotic. They feed off each other. Hollywood’s style revival and fashion’s return to “real chic” are not coincidental. They are inevitable. We can tolerate tacky, drab, and other not-so-good ideas so long. Humans love beauty and glamour. We crave it, worship it, buy it, and get turned on by it.

This Valentine’s Day, go lingerie shopping. You may never want to wear Merry Widow, garters, or even a push-up bra, but how will you know if you never even try?

I believe there is a little Hollywood in all of us just begging to dress up and get out.

Shopping Tip: To glow like a star. Darphin and Sisley — lux skincare lines favoured by celebrities — are offering special pampering packages at Holt’s.