While for a lot of men, lingerie might be all about sex, it’s a different story for women. For the female population, lingerie is as luxurious as a crystal-encrusted evening gown or a fur coat. Even though they’re underwear and rarely seen outside the bedroom, owning a piece of fine lingerie is like owning a Birkin bag from Hermes. Such are the complexities of the woman’s wardrobe. If a lady is to live a life of luxury, sometimes, luxury has to encapsulate her very being. From the dress she wears, the perfume she sprints, down to the type of underwear she wears underneath. Lingerie is and can be luxurious, and that is one principle Chantal Thomass stands by.
Chantal Thomass’ lingerie is as iconic as her full-banged look. Her delicate designs and sultry style has had women spending the big bucks just for underwear. Beyond just giving the tease, she sees lingerie as another lucrative market of fashion, and one that should be treated as such. From the most exotic of laces to the finest of silks, her pieces are made out of high-quality materials that rival those of the haute couture from the Parisian houses. In fact, Chantal Thomass is a Parisienne herself and opened her brand in Paris. Her lingerie has dominated the fashion capital, as well as other major cities.
Best Places to Shop for Chantal Thomass Online
Signature sexy style
Chantal focuses more on flirty than ferocious when it comes to looking sexy. Her designs are feminine but refined and aren’t as aggressively sexy as other underwear brands. With such fine fabrications like silk, lace, and satin, her underwear is tantamount to the haute couture other fashion houses offer in the same City Of Lights. She also uses tender tones for her items, the likes of neutrals, baby pink, and crimson, among others. When looking at the brand’s ad campaigns, one can see that her identity is more on the woman’s style and look rather than “seducing her partner”.
How Chantal Thomass opened the brand
Chantal Thomass, French fashion designer, Wax Museum Grevin in Paris, France. Photo: Anton_Ivanov
Chantal Thomass was born to a seamstress mother and engineer father on September 5, 1947. It was through her mother that she developed a fascination for fashion and clothing construction. She eventually learned fine arts and fashion design through her education in various schools. Her career in fashion began in the 1960’s, with a ready-to-wear brand she opened with her husband, Bruce Thomass. It was called “Bantine Boutique” that sold various womenswear pieces to Parisienne customers. In 1975, she traded in her ready-to-wear brand to start a new lingerie and hosiery line, named after herself. Her label soon became a hit in Paris and personalities like actress Brigitte Bardot supported the brand.
In 1976, the label put up their first fashion show, debuting their latest collection for all the world to see. At the time, Thomass was among one of the first and only women who designed lingerie, which was highlighted by the emergence of feminism during that decade of the 1970’s. The designer also introduced more comfortable lingerie, playing around with cuts and using fine fabrications even for her underwear. She became a major figure in the underwear business in the 1980’s having recreated modernized such classics like the bra, the corset, and garters.
Diversification
Apart from her famous lingerie line, Thomass has also ventured into other areas to really expand her name and brand. In 2002, the brand released their first perfume, called “Chantal Thomass”. The bottle comes in two styles, one more girly and cute in pink tulle, and another in a sexier mood in black. The label also released a furniture line in line with their classic lingerie pieces. Their items evoke the look of classic boudoirs in vintage Paris, the likes one sees in period films and luxury cabarets. With this collection, they aim to revive a certain sexy lifestyle that was once the toast of all of Paris.
Philanthropy
Beyond their presence in fashion, both the designer and her brand pursue charitable causes. Since 2001, the designer had been designing dolls for the United Nations’ Children’s Fund. Along with other French fashion houses like Chanel and Lanvin, Chantal Thomass dolls are auctioned off and all the proceeds go to charitable institutions that focus on children and their health. Thomass also designed a series of plates to help earn money for the Action Against Hunger organization. Aside from these special projects, the brand has been donating portions of their profits to organizations that deal with children with autism and work to integrate them into society.
Even though women wear lingerie under their clothes or only in their bedrooms with their partners, they still want their pieces to look as beautiful and luxurious as their outer clothing. Chantal Thomass caters to such demands with her sophisticated and sexy designs. She once proclaimed herself as a fashion designer, because lingerie is fashion. All the skills and techniques she used to incorporate for other fashion brands and her former ready-to-wear label, she uses for her lingerie line as well.