The striking Lisa Blue one piece featured in Grazia, is availble now to pre-order from Gwenie Rocks Ltd
Striking Lisa Blue one piece featured in Grazia
Darker Skinned Ladies
Nude lingerie for darker skinned woman………..ladies let me know if your interested
The Artisanship of La Perla | Part 3: All about Fabrics
This is the last in a series of three posts taking a closer look at the fabrics and finishes used by La Perla, In Parts 1 and 2 we have already seen about the beautiful finishing touches including highly sophisticated and specialised techniques such as Soutache, and the difference in laces. This final post explains some of the fabric compositions, their uses and advantages, as fabrics and fabric mixes are chosen on the basis of their properties for purpose.
Natural or Chemical Fibres
Natural Fibres – Natural fibres are those that exist directly in nature and can be divided into;
- Plant fibres e.g. cotton, linen, hemp
- Animal fibres e.g. silk, wool
Chemical Fibres – Chemical fibres are those that DO NOT exist in nature and are divided into;
- Artificial fibres: that result from processing of products that exist in nature. e.g. Modal, Viscose, Tencel
- Synthetic fibres: that come from products of a chemical origin, mainly by-products of oil synthesis e.g. polyester, polyamide (nylon), elastane
The most commonly used fibres
Cotton
Natural plant fibre that is ideal for people that tend to have allergies.
The key advantages of cotton is its softness, comfort and great absorbency.
The disadvantages, however, are it creases easily, shrinks when washed, loses its colour, dries slowly, always has to be ironed.
Tencel
(Technical name Lyocell). Created in the late 80s, this is a fibre of natural origin which is extremely soft and flowing with a base of wood cellulose.
It is breathable and absorbs humidity, it is also Thermal insulating (protects against the heat and protects from the cold). The wood, following processing, is also used for producing Modal and Viscose.
Silk
Natural animal fibre, very compact and shiny. The silk used for making fabrics is obtained from the cocoon produced by the silkworm.
It gives the product extreme softness, brightness and elegance. As it is quite stiff it is mainly used for lingerie and much less for corsetry.
Microfibre
Contray to popular belief, the term microfibre does not indicate any one fabric in particular. The name derives from the thickness of the strands used are extremely fine (6 times thinner than a strand of hair).
Therefore, the label should not read 100% microfibre, but rather 100% polyester microfibre, for example.
It is soft and very breathable and is often mixed with elastane to give suppleness.
Elastane
Synthetic fibre. This fibre revolutionised the world of lingerie. It is used together with other fibres, as a very small percentage of elastane (even 2%) is enough to give the product extreme elasticity. Consumers know it better by its brand names (e.g. lyrca)
The Artisanship of La Perla | Part 2: Embroidery
This the second in a series of posts about the Artisanship and craftsmanship of La Perla. This post takes a look at the techniques used to created the beautiful and fine detail on La Perla products.
Embroidery
This is a decorative pattern created on a material with different stitches.
It is an essential element of corsetry.
The fibres used for embroidery can change the appearance of the material by making it look shiny or opaque. It can be added to lace or created directly onto tulle.
Macrame Embroidery
This is a precious lace with Moorish origins that is obtained by knotting the threads that form the design and the background at the same time. If made as lace today it would be very expensive, so an embroidery technique has been adopted.
The design is made on a base of non-oven fabric or polyvinyl. The background is then eliminated with water or chemically, with acetone.
Frastaglio
Frastaglio technique is an antique type of Florentine workmanship. It is a precious flat-stitch embroidery characteristic of eighteenth century spun yarn is trimmed to cord yarn on a veil of tulle and then attached onto silk or other fabric by means of a meticulous stitching process that is still today carried out completely by hand. The effect obtained is that of a refined motif of inlays that seem to be climbing up the fabric.
Soutache
The Soutache process consists of a loop similar to a ribbon, made of silk or other material, which is meticulously attached by hand onto a fabric base in such a way as to form a design.
Soutache is used both in underwear and in swimwear and it represents one of the most sophisticated types of workmanship of the La Perla world.
The Artisanship of LA PERLA | Part 1: Lace
This is the first in a series of posts about the Artisanship and craftsmanship of La Perla, taking a detailed look at the different types of fabrics, lace and finishing touches and details used by La Perla today.
Lace
Lace is a particular case of material produced using specific machinery; looms.
The different working techniques and different types of looms used allow various qualities of lace to be obtained. The weft and warp are created together – the effect is three dimensional: the design seems to stand out from the background.
Leavers lace (the most previous)
Jacquard lace (the most common)
Lace is often given support by being doubled with tulle.
Leavers lace
The name “Leavers” comes from the name of the loom on which the lace is produced. These are antique looms that were first used in England in the early nineteenth century and later arrived in France, at Calais, where the greatest concentration of fine lace production can still be found today. Calais currently holds the world record for producing Leavers lace and has about 1,000 of the existing 1,200 looms currently in use. Characterised by very elaborate processes to weave the weft and warp, the ability of the leavers loom to work with a very high number of threads means that the lace created stands out thanks to the high definition of the pattern and a particularly fine gauge.
Jacquard lace
The name “Jacquard” comes from the name given to the family of looms invented in Germany following the Second World War. The simple, quite unrefined lace produced on the first loom in this series was gradually improved on subsequent looms, from Jacquard, to Jacquardtronic, to Textronic to conclude with the most recent creation, the Super Textronic.
The common characteristic of all these looms is the tricot stitch from which the lace is created, a stitch that is easier and quicker than the weft and warp of the Leavers looms, but which gives a thicker lace, with a less defined pattern, a rather uniform background and a “flat” appearance with little depth
The History of LA PERLA
In Bologna 1954 with the energy and desire to achieve typical of the postwar period, Ada Masotti opened a little corsetry laboratory with name, La Perla, meaning ‘The Pearl’
Bologna was and had been for four centuries host to a solid tradition of silk factories and refined textile manufacturers, which had given rise in the seventeenth century, to a renowned artisan school of feminine corsetry.
Ada Masotti was trained by the best city atelier becoming a skilled corset maker, at a time when corsetry relied on expert tailoring on the body, rather than on elastic fibres. Thanks to this “artisan” training, Ada Masotti laid down the foundations of the unique know-how that is still today an integral part of the La Perla philosophy.
The first La Perla creations were transported by her in a case lined with red velvet resembling those used by jewellers. This first act began the process of launching the La Perla products to a future that could not be imagined.
The artisan matrix, the in-depth knowledge of the body, the fusion of spectacular innovation and tradition and the continuous quest for quality are the elements that have transformed the little corstry laboratory founded by Ada Masotti in 1954, and later run by her son Alberto Masotti, into La Perla, a market leader in the lingerie and swimwear sectors.
Today, in Italy where the La Perla product is produced skilled seamstresses still work on the product by hand. The following photos show some of the intricate work that goes into the ‘Maison’ pieces. Maison is a classic La Perla design which has been in production since the 1970’s and remains timelessly beautiful today.
The Pearl
During the Quattrocento, the golden age of art and creativity, the Italian painters and sculptors invented the Italian contemporary femininity and sensuality.
In the arts, the iconic Pearl in the shell became the metaphoric way to express the uniqueness of the Italian woman: seductive, pure and attractive.
Through this hertiage, by a natural evolution, La Perla became one of the most important brands to embody the ultimate in Italian seduction, being the iconic brand of the contemporary Italian femininity.
Lisa Blue in the Press
McFly’s Danny Jones whisks his Miss England to Cyprus for romantic sunshine break
See article to Lisa Blue’s latest collection pictured in the press already..but its not surprising with these stunning bikini’s and swimsuits.
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