Intimate designer wears

As neglected pieces of clothes in the good old days and probably still overlooked today the most in women’s wardrobe, inner wears have surely come a long way, slowly but gradually in Nepal’s capital. Previously it was either a very few fancy stores or the corner shops of Khichha Pokhari and street vendors that included women inner wears in their selling list. [break]

Along with the increase in stores, colorful and trendy inner wears in range of fabrics have also been incorporated to the piles of those simple cotton bras and briefs in such stores. And the recent additions to the list are international designer labels.

At the outskirts of Royal Singhi Hotel at Kamaladi, a new clothing store, Chocolate & Victoria’s Secret, is officially launching today. The latter brand name is certain to raise quite a few eyebrows in town. A synonym for sexy and stylish – not to forget comfortable – women’s lingerie, this four-decade-old label epitomizes the revolution in the way the world looks at this particular apparel. With Victoria’s Secret, the feminists of the 60s are reluctant to burn their bras. Or so we think.

Chandrama Pun and Sanjay Gurung have completed almost all of the store’s setup. And at the far left corner of this 928-sq-ft clothing store, one third of the space has been reserved solely for women’s lingerie. Two mannequins stand displaying two different sets of inner wears: One in matching pink-laced knickers and bra, and the other in a night slip.

Wireless push-up, under wire, unlined demi, unlined full coverage priced between Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 4,000 are some of the designs that the store offers in the brassiere section. In the knickers list, mid-rise briefs, boyshorts, and bikinis tagged from Rs. 700 onwards are available. The omnipresent details involved in the designs of these inners are the laces.

For Chandrama, the reason to merge inner wears in her clothing store was due to the lack of stores that provided good inner wears.

“I was planning to open a clothing store. Then I wanted to include inner wears as well because I feel good clothes should be accompanied by good inners. So we created this particular section, keeping women of every age in mind,” claims Chandrama. “Moreover, a woman can try on the designs in the trial room, and our staffs will also help the costumers to select bras with the right cups and fitting body sizes,” informs the former beauty expert.

However, it’s not the first time that designer lingerie has entered the capital market. Previously, eight-year-old Femilines, an exclusive lingerie store at Pulchowk, introduced a few pieces of Victoria’s Secret. The store has both designer and non-designer inners on display. According to the store manager Anuj Joshi, the two stocks of Victoria’s Secret that Femilines previously imported have sold out.

“Because designer wears are expensive, the sale is less compared to inexpensive inners. The wedding season is the peak time for the sale of international brands. People who prefer high quality pieces also go for them.” The brand that Femilines sells the most now is Triumph from Germany.

Plum on Durbar Marg, which shares its space with the retail store D.S Collections, is the other such store that has been catering designer women’s lingerie since 2006.

“There was the demand of stylish inners in the market,” recalls Binisha Ranjitkar. Thus Plum was brought to existence. Her store includes such brands as Kyra and Wavily, and the recent lineup is Playboy bras tagged from Rs. 1,595 to 1,995. Apart from knickers and bras, a few attractive slips are also on display.

“We have regular clients who don’t argue on the prices. But still, for most , prices of such designer lingerie are still heavy,” shares Tara Lama, the store’s attendant. The store also tried its hand in selling Victoria’s Secret. A piece of pink VS knickers still hangs in the store. Binisha adds, “Lingerie is a necessity of every woman, which is more about the feel-good factor.”

While its business is in full bloom and even lingerie-inspired apparels for more feminine and sexy looks are floating in the international fashion scenes, the market of Kathmandu is still to plunge into and discover the array of designs available in the world of lingerie.