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Uplifting fashion: the secret to lingerie house Cadolle’s long success
Herminie Cadolle created the first ever bra in 1889. Today, the family-run lingerie couture house in Paris is still the go-to for high fashion – and stars like Beyoncé and Lady Gaga
Down a passageway on the Rue Saint-Honoré, in Paris, sandwiched between the startling glamour of Chanel and Saint Laurent, there is a glass door stuck with peeling photographs that make up the Cadolle family tree. Poupie learned how to fit and design first from her mother, then from two mentors in the 1980s, Monsieur Bernardin, dressing nude dancers at the Crazy Horse Saloon, and the couturier Azzedine Alaïa, “Genius men who were in love with the women’s figure.” “The market is shrinking, but we’re still here, because we’re still loyal to who we are, and what we represent.” While other luxury brands, they say, have tried to be competitive and lower their prices, “We didn’t, because we are very small and because we are not able to do a bra with bad lace.” Poupie shudders gently at the thought.
Or read this on The Guardian