Intimate Intelligence

Seeing Double

By Richard Vincente


You don’t have to look very hard these days to find examples of how the evolving universe of fashion lingerie — the undiverse, as I call it — conflicts with public standards and exposes our mixed feelings about how, when and where we display our bodies.

We live in a society that celebrates and peddles sexuality with an increasing lack of restraint … but that same society also has a collective … Read More


The Queen’s Knickers

Bestselling kids’ book has a special place in Jubilee celebrations

When the Queen visited a nursery school last winter near her Sandringham estate as part of her diamond anniversary activities, the giddy 3- and 4-year-old pupils had a surprise for her: they hung up hand-made replicas of her underwear for a display called ‘The Royal Laundry’.

“Oh,” the amused monarch commented, “they’re doing the washing.”

This sort of cheeky display might have earned you … Read More


by Richard Vincente


We seldom think of the lingerie industry as a microcosm of the fashion world or of society in general. But in France, at least, it’s both.

A recent poll showed that 91% of French women and 83% of men believe that lingerie is an important part of life and l’amour. But who knew that spirit would spill over into the historic election that returned the Socialists under François Hollande to power this … Read More


An Intimate Canvas

Lingerie designers turning to art world for inspiration

By Richard Vincente

“I have always liked painters. It seems to me that we are in the same trade.”
 French fashion designer Paul Poiret

Art and fashion have been inseparable ever since the first caveman decided to decorate his animal-hide wrap with a few charcoal stick figures.

But even the French couturier Poiret — whose affinity for artists and illustrators of the early 20th Century is … Read More


Learning to Embrace the Transgender Experience

by Richard Vincente

A year ago, a Toronto family made international headlines for their decision to not reveal the gender of their new baby to anyone outside the immediate family — in effect, raising a ‘genderless’ child.

It wasn’t a publicity stunt or provocation. The parents were highly educated and caring people who simply wanted their child to develop (at least in its early years) free from the gender-based … Read More


How to protect yourself from hackers and cyber-thieves.
by Richard Vincente

Elizabeth Taylor in 1956 - only known nude photo of her (as seen at Lingerie Briefs)
The picture above is believed to be the only nude photo of the late screen star Elizabeth Taylor, and you were never meant to see it.

Shot by a friend in 1956 when she was 24, the picture was an intimate engagement gift from Liz to her third husband, Mike Todd. When Todd died in a plane crash a year after their … Read More


by Richard Vincente

Censorship is a weapon that works best when it’s used sparingly, if at all. It’s the cultural equivalent of a nuclear deterrent.

Most people in marketing, advertising and programming understand this and play by the rules. But the shadowy group of individuals and quasi-legitimate authorities who monitor and enforce community standards have itchy trigger fingers. For them, censorship isn’t just a deterrent, it’s a way of defining what’s acceptable by shooting down … Read More


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