TRUE TO FORM
La Perla’s new creative director has a groundbreaking vision for the label that includes a body-sculpting clothing range
La Perla’s latest lines, designed by women for women
Pride feels no pain,’ the Duchess of Devonshire wrote stoically to a friend in 1778 about a particularly excruciating French corset. From the rib-crushing contraptions of past centuries to the waist-cinchers and push-up bras of today, women’s underwear has been designed for the male gaze, with style rather than comfort usually the first consideration.
Julia Haart, the new creative director of La Perla, has a different approach. ‘We can be feminine and feminist’ is her rallying cry. The latest La Perla advertising campaign, photographed by Steven Klein, epitomises her philosophy. Instead of an alluring, soft-focus image of a model clad in a diaphanous wisp of lace and silk, draping herself over a bed, the brand’s new face Kendall Jenner stares challengingly at the camera in a form-fitting black jacket against a backdrop of flying glass, or wearing a loosely laced dress in front of a set of old-fashioned boned stays. Another shot shows Isabeli Fontana posed with a burning bra. The clear message is of feminist liberation – an unusual departure, one might think, for a lingerie brand.
‘When you look in the mirror and you think, “Wow, I look incredible!” – there’s nothing more empowering,’ explains Haart, on the phone from Bologna, where La Perla is based.
Yet it is not only the appearance of her lingerie and the cut of her creations that gives a confidence boost. It is the fact that everything in the collection has been painstakingly designed, using luxurious stretch materials and expert craftsmanship, to ensure that the wearer is physically at ease.
‘It’s time for women to stop suffering to be beautiful. Why is it that you either have to look frumpy, or look great but be in pain? I want it all!’ Haart declares.
‘Why is someone who doesn’t wear high-heeled shoes or a bra making them for us?’
Consequently, she has introduced a brand-new ready-to-wear collection for S/S 17 featuring stylish shirts and jackets with inbuilt bras (‘I hate layers, because everything always needs to be adjusted’) that are offered in a choice of cup, as well as dress, sizes. A range of ergonomic high-heeled shoes have been designed that contain a layer of cooling, anti-shock gel used by Nasa. ‘You could sleep in them,’ she says enthusiastically. In addition, Haart has worked with the famous Leavers lace-makers in Calais to develop a luxury stretch lace, with which she plans to create control underwear that is simultaneously glamorous and enjoyable to wear.
‘Basically, I decided to change everything that bothered me about clothing,’ she says, laughing. ‘The other day, I was wearing a $5,000 jacket out to dinner, and I couldn’t reach the salt because my arm wouldn’t go higher than my shoulder. In the 18th century, women had to go sideways through doors – but this is 2017! It’s insane what we’ve allowed ourselves to get used to. Clothing should enhance your life, not detract from it.’
Haart was initially recruited in 2015 to oversee La Perla’s accessories, before being appointed creative director last May. Astonishingly, she is the first woman to occupy the position since the Italian corsetière Ada Masotti (nicknamed ‘Golden Scissors’ for her cutting skills) founded the brand in 1954. Yet it is hard to contest Haart’s claim that her gender gives her an advantage when it comes to knowing what her customers will enjoy wearing. ‘I don’t let anything out of the prototype stage until I’ve worn it myself, and I know I can run, jump, play in it without being uncomfortable.’
Thong underwear must pass what she calls the ‘face test’ (Haart rubs it against her cheek to ensure it’s ‘buttery-soft’), and she has introduced double-faced stretch silk to check that her clothing feels as smooth against the skin as it does to the touch.
‘I don’t like silk when it’s scratchy on the inside.
‘Women are realising, late: why is someone who doesn’t wear high-heeled shoes designing them, why is someone who doesn’t know what it’s like wearing a bra for 13 hours a day making them for us?’ she says.
Haart’s vision for La Perla is unquestionably forward-thinking; and she believes it is exactly what Masotti would have wanted. ‘She was very innovative herself,’ says Haart. ‘I feel really connected to her. She was a strong, powerful individual who started a company at a time when that was not the norm for women. While being a mother and a family person, she was also a pioneer. I recently had dinner with her son, and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life,’ she goes on, with feeling. ‘I told him that my concept was freedom, and allowing women to be feminine feminists; he said his mother would have loved that, and he told me that it was the first time in many years that he felt her presence in the company. She came to him in a dream and smiled, and he felt that the things she stood for were now being represented again. That was really beautiful.
‘I’m not a politician or a revolutionary,’ Haart concludes, ‘but I’ve got my clothing. And in my own way, I want to empower and liberate women.’