I’m a fashion-business student in London. You might think that this “fashion capital” has everything a fashionista could ever need—you’re wrong. Little did you know London is very deprived of cute panties. It doesn’t help when I receive a weekly email from Victoria’s Secret with a coupon for *Free Cheeksters* that I must sadly move to the recycle bin.
Ordinarily I would hop in my VW beetle and speed to the closest Vicky’s, about 2 miles from my apartment. But now, I would have to get on the underground “tube” and hope that it spits me out at a trashy lingerie store in the Red Light District. This really gets my undies in a bunch. Let me explain this UK lingerie disaster.
1. The nearest Victoria’s Secret is approximately… out of the country. Therefore, most women choose the department store, Marks & Spencers, for their lingerie needs. The M&S lingerie department is a mix between Wal-Mart, JCPenny, and your local hardware store. You shop at M&S if you are over 40 years old, or if you are extremely well-endowed. It’s not very cute, sexy, or “collegiette™.”
2. You have to go to the Red Light District in order to find something your grandma wouldn’t wear. Unless you want to buy a 6-pack of high-waisted granny knickers you have to shop in places like “Agent Provocateur” or “Simply Pleasure.” And no, I did not make up those names. Just make sure to wash the undergarments before you wear them. You don’t know who might have tried them on.
3. The “cool” stores have about 3 bras each. The lingerie selection at highstreet stores like Topshop or H&M is equivalent to the shoe selection at Express or J.Crew. It’s very small and overpriced. Not to mention, the sizes and colors are extremely limited.
4. Brits have not grasped the concept of “sweatpants.” Those favorite Victoria’s Secret sweatpants that you occasionally wear on late-night ice cream runs would be seen as totally “naff” in the U.K. “Naff” means fugly. The market for stylish VS Pink sweats in the UK is fairly nonexistent. If you are going to be in public, you had better be wearing proper trousers.
5. There is a subgroup of less-than-perky bra-less Brits. Perhaps it’s one of the cutting-edge fashion trends that will soon be hitting America, but I’d like to think otherwise. Since being in London, I have noticed proportionally more women who feel they need to get something off their chests—their bras—that is.
Soon America will be letting these Brits in on a little secret—Victoria’s Secret. In 2012, the lingerie powerhouse will be plopping a flagship store right in Central London. It’s about time. Cheers to that!
Photo Credit: http://brandstrategy.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/pants1dm_468x327.jpg