European lingerie brands have been eying the North American market hungrily for years, looking for post-recession expansion opportunities and hoping to capitalize on American women’s growing taste for old-world finery.

The Canadian label Blush probably can’t stop this invasion singlehandedly, but it won’t be for lack of trying.

For the past couple of seasons, Blush has set out to beat the great European labels at …

Our recent series ‘The Final Collection’ gave would-be lingerie designers a pretty good idea of the workload faced by students in college design programs.

But what comes next? How do you make the leap from school to launching your own lingerie brand? And is it even possible to become a designer without formal school-based training?

Shockingly, there are few resources available to help aspiring designers …

Does anyone in the fashion world have more fun than Jean Paul Gaultier?

The irrepressible (and undeniably loopy) designer also moonlights as creative director for Diet Coke in Europe, which has just released campaign images for JPG’s third bottle design. That’s right, lingerie-inspired couture Coke bottles!

This edition is called ‘Tattoo‘ and it channels the French designer’s fascination with body art. …

LAST IN A SERIES

Getting up at the crack of dawn on the day of the Contour Fashion student catwalk show, from all over the country we made our way to the Freemason’s Hall in Covent Garden, London.

By the time I arrived it was already an absolute hotbed of activity backstage. I had to literally tiptoe as I tried to navigate through all that …

‘THE FINAL COLLECTION’ – PART 8

The pre-selection for the Contour Catwalk Show was held a few days after students presented their final collections to industry experts. Pre-selection is what determines whose designs actually make it to the runway in London, where they’ll be seen by reps from many leading brands as well as students, family and friends.…