Frilly knickers are no sniggering matter

Press, 15 February 1989, Page 17

Frilly knickers are no sniggering matter

By

MICHAEL WRONG

of Reuters in Paris The scene: a stage in Paris. The cast: girls wearing nothing but black lace panties and bras. The audience: strictly businesslike. Not to be confused with the strip joints of Paris, the annual lingerie trade fair is a focal point for buyers and manufacturers who see nothing to snigger at in frilly knickers.

“You’re talking about

eight billion francs (SNZ2 billion) worth of turnover in France alone,” says trade fair spokeswoman, Elisabeth Delaigle. "It’s a very serious busi-' ness indeed.” Last week, 208 lingerie manufacturers from 65 countries came to display their wares in a sprawling hangar at the Porte do Versatile, on the southern outskirts of the capital. Organisers said up to 20,000 visitors, most of them professionals in the field, were expected during the four-day fair, striking important deals and contracts as they passed through. The highlight of the event is the twice-daily catwalk parade, in which models wearing little more than a smile and stamp-sized morsels of fabric show off the latest lines.

Meanwhile, at hundreds

of stalls, girls display body stockings, negligees and combinations. The heating is turned up high, and the atmosphere is stifling. As the French textile industry languishes in the doldrums, lingerie is one of the few sectors that is thriving. Although the domestic market is stagnant, exports are on a steady rise as manufacturers cash in on France’s international reputation for sophistication. Sales have been helped, says Delaigle, by a change in the image of lingerie. A few years ago, camisoles, lace bodices and frilly suspender ’ belts were often seen as items bought for women by men who find such garments sexy.

The hint of sexual exploitation alienated a generation of self-aware and feminist women, says Delaigle.

"Lingerie’s image has evolved bit by bit. It has lost a lot of its provocative overtones. Now women are buying lingerie for themselves, just because they want to feel beautiful.

“I think there’s a whole new young generation of women coming along who haven’t lived thought that syndrome of rejection and will enjoy it to the full,” says Delaigle.

And women are developing more expensive and sophisticated tastes — preferring silk and lace outfits to the cheaper nylon and cotton equivalents.

The Paris fair caters for all tastes — offering glossy silk combinations, frilly white camisoles or stripy bikini bras and knickers.

In the fair’s “Avantgarde” section, manufacturers offer corset-bras in

luminous green and shocking pink, halter tops in shiny reptile fabrics and camisoles edged with bird’s feathers. These are outfits for the extravagant — with prices ranging from 345 francs (SNZB9) upwards, while a pair of silk pyjamas could cost as much as 10,000 francs (SNZ2S7B).

As the manufacturers prepared to pack up their stalls, the organisers were congratulating themselves on another profitable trade fair.

But for Delaigle, the aim is more long-term. By attracting an increasing number of foreign visitors, she hopes to make the Paris show outstrip rival trade fairs in Florence and Duesseldorf.

“We want Paris to become the leading lingerie trade fair in the world. And bit by it, we’re getting there,” says Delaigle.