A note from the fashion cupboard

YOU magazine’s editor Jo Elvin asked me to write this week’s Editor’s Letter about our lingerie fashion special on page 16. It’s been a passion project of mine and so she kindly suggested I be the one to tell you about it. I feel strongly about how under-served our underwear needs are, which is why, when putting the special together, it was important to pick pieces that weren’t just pretty but addressed our different requirements, too.

We live in an age of self-gifting, with ‘Treat Yourself’ slogans on advertising campaigns making it easy for us to justify a spend on something that makes us feel good. I, for one, am very thankful for this (my wardrobe not so much), but there’s one area of my closet that I neglect – the underwear drawer. As part of the DD+ brigade, 80 per cent of my bras are ones that, to put it simply, just do the job. And I think that’s how many of us see underwear – as invisible scaffolding.

We also tend to associate special lingerie with Valentine’s Day. It appears once a year on 14 February in a box or in vast seas of pink and red in department stores, as we hunt down something with a bit of lace to look nice for someone else. However, this sort of lingerie usually disappoints on so many levels – I’m all for anything that makes you feel sexy, but not for spending a substantial sum on something that is impractical and you’ll wear for a few hours once a year.

Underwear is the first thing we put on each day. It’s our base layer and, OK, while maybe no one else is going to glimpse it, we do – we see ourselves in it every morning and every night. Scientific studies have shown that wearing the right underwear can be incredibly empowering and have a huge impact on our confidence.

This is why I want to show women of all shapes, sizes and needs that there is some stunning, delicate, elegant and feminine lingerie out there and that your underwear can be comfortable, practical and worn under your everyday clothes while making you feel incredible, too.

So rather than thinking about it once a year, how about we make an effort with our smalls every day? After all, whether you’re breastfeeding, a size 34H or recovering from mastectomy, everyone deserves to feel beautiful underneath.

editor’s picks

A few things Jo is coveting this week

Stephanie Sofokleous, Fashion Assistant