A curve-hugging little black dress, that classic black Birkin bag, your perfect black bra; some design classics make you go back to black, again and again. But what exactly makes something a style classic? How I came up with my iconic black bras.

Black stockings on creamy thighs (my mouth is watering as I type this); is there a more iconic erotic image? I could hardly imagine, but still, that’s what I set out to create when I designed my first black bra. A new mouth-watering icon, based on a similar contrast between skin and fabric. At the same time, this sexy black bra had to be a style classic: the lingerie-version of that infallible Little Black Dress.

According to French philosopher Roland Barthes, the sexiness of stockings is in the unveiling, the interplay between what’s seen and unseen. That became the key to that designing my first black bra, and the use of straps turned out to be the perfect tool to create this delicious tension! Traditional underwear, -let’s say a lace bra- stops where your skin starts. My black bras are interactive: the wearer completes my designs with her body and being. For example, the first time I saw the black push up bra from my Dame de Paris collection come to life on a woman’s body, I was mesmerized. Through the visual rhythm of the design –skin, black strap, skin, black strap- her body had actually become part of the design!

This play with erotic contrast has very much become my signature look. By unlocking more erogenous zones on a woman’s body, I want to give women more ways to feel beautiful, strong and sexy. There is no better way to understand this dynamic than to experience it for yourself.

Go ahead, put on a black plunge balcony bra from my Femme Fatale collection (so perfect for a bold black look), or a black balcony bra in my classic Leading Strings design. Admiring yourself in the mirror you’ll see that only 10% is my design. 90% is made up by your own body and being! More importantly: don’t you look mouth-wateringly good?