Lingerie Bargains

Archive for the ‘Marika Vera’ Category

It hardly seems possible, but 2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of Barbarella, the sex-in-outer-space saga featuring an underclad superheroine determined to create intergalactic peace, one orgasm at a time.

Barbarella began as a French comic book and was later turned into a memorably goofy 1968 film starring a very Bardot-esque Jane Fonda. Her iconic go-go-boots-and-plastic-bra ensemble has been a staple of adult Hallowe’en costumes ever since, and it’s inspired more than a few campy lingerie designs over the years as well.

Despite its unabashed silliness, Barbarella became a kind of tongue-in-cheek manifesto for erotic exploration and one of many artistic landmarks that defined the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Unfortunately, today Barbarella is more often viewed as a kitschy cartoon figure than a cultural icon.

This European wonder woman is long overdue for a critical reappraisal and stylistic re-interpretation. And who better to undertake that task than one of the most forward-looking lingerie designers working today?

Marika Vera, the young Mexican designer whose signature label launched last summer, has made Barbarella the central inspiration for her hotly anticipated sophomore collection, called Queen of the Galaxy.

The new set will debut next week at the Lingerie Collective exhibition in London, and will reach stores for the Autumn-Winter 2012 season.

Below are some preview images from Queen of the Galaxy, and you can spot of Marika’s style signatures: overlapping fabrics, daring hip cuts and minimalist lines that are carefully configured to accentuate the body’s erotic contours. A full lookbook and product information will be available next week.

For those unfamiliar with Marika Vera, her sensuous debut range called Venus In Furs was one last year’s most admired and heralded the arrival of a major new design talent. You can read about it here.

We’ll take a closer look at Marika and her Queen of the Galaxy once it reaches the market.

In the meantime, we’ll be busy petitioning the French to find an appropriate way to mark the Barbarella anniversary. Would a national holiday be out of the question?

Marika Vera takes her sensuality seriously.

Not only has the young Mexican designer created one of the most sensuous and erotic luxury lingerie collections of the year, she’s also provided a helpful reading list to keep you amused while lounging around in those gorgeous garments.

You’ll find it on her new website, marikavera.com, under the heading “ABC … Y” — a comprehensive list of books, films, art and other inspirations that are by or about strong and erotically expressive women. From sizzling indie films like 9 Songs and When Night Is Falling to quotes from Germaine Greer and Anais Nin, with plenty of artists, photographers, writers and illustrators thrown in, Marika’s list may be the best catalogue of erotic inspirations you’ll ever find. Start working your way through it and, I guarantee, winter will pass unnoticed this year.

And you’ll discover the same kind of intoxicating sensuality in Marika’s debut lingerie collection, Venus In Furs, which will reach stores this fall. It’s stunningly pretty and very purposeful. These pieces are meant to inspire erotic adventures, and many come with discreet overlay openings to, in Marika’s words, “give a lover full access.”

Marika works mainly with monochrome colorways and minimalist lines, but most of her pieces include creative and unexpected detailing: an elasticized satin waistband on the Lena silk knickers, for instance, or the snap crotch on the gorgeous taupe Bella teddy (above). There’s a lovely silk dressing gown called Sam with surprising detachable leather trim and an incredibly revealing ankle-length silk kimono called Cecilia which seems to involve a lot of fabric but very little coverage.

Marika’s signature piece, though, probably won’t come from her lingerie range. Instead, it’s the unique silver chain necklace Ana, with gold plate, pearls and leather embellishments. You can see it in the photo above, paired with the Avigail high-waisted (and snap-crotch) culotte in an NSFW look with a heart-stopping impact. You just know that stylists and editorial photographers are going to love this.

Venus In Furs — named for an 1870 erotic novel of the same name — is a bold and extremely confident debut from a young designer with an impressive CV. Although she’s from Mexico, Marika studied in Australia and later at the Istituto Marangoni in London, where her graduate collection earned her a job with the Paris fashion label Vanessa Bruno (you’ll see a lot of the Bruno influence in Marika’s aethestic).

In 2009 her swimwear collection was showcased at Cannes during Mare di Moda, which led her to design gigs with fashion-forward UK brand Yes Master and the swim label Barocco Jade.

And just how confident is the 29-year-old Marika about her eponymous new label? Well, anyone who uses “better than naked” as her slogan certainly isn’t shy about her prospects!

Venus In Furs will reach market in October at some luxury boutiques in Mexico as well as the Lingerie Collective in London. Online, it will be available through the designer showcase NotJustALabel.com. (And don’t be shy about asking your favorite luxury boutique to import MV!)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some reading to catch up on …