I tried this on and it made me feel so brilliant. "This was the 1990s, and everyone just wanted to be skinny, and I had these big boobs and bum. That's how I learned." Shortly after joining the company, Shotton, a redhaired bombshell who resembles an English rose Christina Hendricks, tried on her first proper lingerie set, in turquoise tulle. I did everything, helping out with design or windows or admin or in the shop. Fourteen years ago, after studying fashion at Central Saint Martins, she took a job as an office junior at the brand, "which was kind of like an apprenticeship. Shotton's Agent Provocateur story is a beguiling one. I feel strongly about this, because work was my big opportunity – it was through being at work that I got my chance." When I suggested to Shotton that a work-based charity is not the most obvious link-up for a lingerie company, she was adamant that "this felt right because it's a charity about empowering women, giving them confidence. This week's Agent Provocateur catwalk show, Lingerie London, will raise funds for the Seven Bar Foundation, which funds microfinancing for women around the UK to start or grow their own businesses. It is silly, but funny, and the heroine is undoubtedly strong and feisty. The young woman gives chase, and most of her clothes somehow fall off in the process, so that she chases and overpowers the mugger in her bra and knickers. Its most recent promotional video starts with a young woman waiting at a bus stop when an elderly lady is mugged for her handbag. Yet Shotton makes a case for the brand being a positive force for women. (Apparently, the Whitney bra (£110) and knickers (£95), whose multiple elastic straps can be arranged in various permutations from the vaguely bondage-influenced to the properly rude, is flying off the shelves.) Agent Provocateur is a highly sexualised brand – never more so than now, when the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon has led to a boom in sales of what creative director Sarah Shotton cheerfully refers to as "the kinky stuff". This is not a simple matter of berating the hypersexualisation of our culture. The politics of the lingerie market are complex. Bridget Jones namechecked the shop in her diary Kate Moss appeared in a promotional video that crashed the website. ![]() Founded in 1994 by Joe Corre, son of Vivienne Westwood, and his then-wife Serena Rees, Agent Provocateur became a symbol of an aspirational, decadent London lifestyle. With underwear sets starting at around £100, it will always be a relatively niche product, but by tapping into the zeitgeist, it has created a brand that feels much bigger than it really is. ![]() It is because of this that Agent Provocateur can punch way above its weight in our popular culture. The way lingerie is sold is a reflection of the sexual culture at that moment in time. M&S, meanwhile, has kept itself firmly in the field with an upscale range launched under the name of the young supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, which became the store's fastest-selling lingerie range of all time when it hit stores in August. Agent Provocateur, the cult high-end British brand, has made two bold countermoves in response: this week it will stage its first fashion show in four years, while its own Mayfair flagship – just a few hundred yards away from Victoria's Secret – will open in time for Christmas. Taking advantage of this opportunity, competition has hotted up this season with the arrival of two Victoria's Secret stores, including a Bond Street flagship. The UK underwear market is now worth £1.52bn, according to Drapers. Over the past four years clothing sales have been flat, but lingerie sales have risen slightly, by 0.6%. Knickers, being a cheap and cheering treat, tend to be recession-proof. ![]() These are what your mum meant by Having Standards. Times may be hard, but there are certain things you just can't scrimp on: always buying your round, and wearing nice knickers in case you get run over. Women who have defected to value retailers for their kids' clothes and their winter woollies still buy knickers in M&S because they feel profoundly comfortable with the brand. Underwear is an emotional purchase, and that extends to five-packs of practical knickers cut to minimise VPL rather than maximise sex appeal. M&S retains an impressive 27.4% of the lingerie market. Note, for instance, that while Marks & Spencer has found its market share in clothing eroded, underwear is one realm in which British women show a remarkable fidelity. Y ou can tell a great deal about a nation by a peek in the collective knicker drawer.
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