Evolution & Curve NY 2026: Innovation, Women Entrepreneurs, and the Future of Intimates

By ELLEN LEWIS

I returned recently from the Curve NY and Evolution Lingerie shows in NY, several hundred photos in hand. I go to these shows for the hunt. I am looking for a discovery, mining new products and posting pictures in this column. Showcasing styles are fine, but in a world held captive by social media, where multiple images are instantly revealed, it seems a bit superfluous to repeat the process. What interests me is the narrative beneath the surface, the story behind the story. This season, what resonated was not just product, but a palpable shift in the infrastructure of the intimate’s business and the female priorities propelling it forward. Innovation was not a buzzword; it was embedded in design, fabrication, and fit. Women entrepreneurs were not a sidebar. They were the headlines. Conversations around women’s health and self-esteem were not marketing copy, but mission statements.

There were brands that sparked my interest: Springrose, Figiúra and Symmetrista. Springrose addresses the difficulty of putting on a bra with movement limitation. Figiúra  meets the fit concerns of women with augmented breasts. Symmetrista takes on the female sensitivity to uneven breast sizes. Equally compelling was the juxtaposition between European ornamental artistry and the distinctly relaxed sensibility of the American consumer. Executed with new technologies and a disciplined understanding that less can indeed be more, the brands that truly understood intention were the ones that connected and sold. Trends were pretty much what we witnessed in Europe: artistry reinforced by ornamentation, transparency, and corsetry. But here in the USA, there was a distinct emphasis on the American quest for functionality, practicality, comfort and whimsy. I will let the images below speak for themselves.

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