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"Underneath your clothes, there's an endless story." Shakira Click To TweetHello there! I’m Paris.
My first memory of lingerie was in the Junior Miss section of Target. At 13, my older sister took me shopping to buy my very first training bra. I remember the nervous anticipation and overflowing excitement of finally owning this mythological and magical item. The long-awaited bra would transform me, I was certain, into the ultimate version of myself. Like a butterfly emerging from my cocoon, I felt alive with my fated metamorphosis and the promise of infinite possibility.
Of course, reality set in quickly after checking out at Target. The strap rubbed into the soft skin of my shoulders. The hook chafed at my back. The underwire stabbed me in the armpit. Needless to say, my bubble was burst. This dashed hope and unfulfilled expectations prophesized how my relationship with underwear would evolve over the next decade, as I “grew up”. My romantic notion of lingerie whittled down to a begrudging acquiescence to necessity. My shiny pink piece from Target morphed into tattered panties and stretched-out, shapeless bras.
And then, the pandemic hit. Sitting inside for a year, in the company of my dog, suddenly, I was liberated from any preconceived underwear responsibility. I was off the hook – and so I unhooked. I spent the year naked under my pajamas. The sheer relief soon made way for enjoyment. I started to explore which fabrics gently glided across my most sensitive areas, which cuts sat naturally on my curves, which closures my hands intuitively preferred. I realized that I had spent the last 15 years holding myself prisoner to arbitrary rules about underwear that had been so unconsciously socially ingrained and reinforced that I didn’t think to question them. Now, I am questioning and seeking answers.
Lingerie is what lies underneath. It is vulnerable and intimate, revelatory and protective. It has the power to be an expression of our most private self-love. In that vein, it can be a representation of our deepest shame: hidden, neglected, and subordinated. My thematic question in this blog, dear reader, is as follows, “how can we honor who we are when no one is looking, by what we wear where no one can see?”
This blog is, in some ways, a shared diary. I hope you all will join me in rediscovering and redefining our relationships with lingerie and, thus, with ourselves – by prioritizing what lies underneath and what feels good.
You will find a wide variety of content here. Some of my goals are to leverage this platform to explore, expose, and engage critically with the commercial lingerie industry, dismantle the male gaze and heteronormative constructs in fashion and beauty, promote equity, diversity, and inclusivity, and spread love, humor, and whimsy.
All towards honoring you – from the inside out.
