Frustrated with the lack of delicate but functional bras available on the market for fuller cup sizes, Alice Warner embarked on a mission. Designing from her studio the Cotswolds, she creates underwear for sizes 30-34, D-GG in beautiful silks, high quality laces and embroidery, with emphasis on the perfect fit. Being of a fuller bust size myself, I was excited to catch up with Alice and find out a little more about her beautiful brand, Beaujais.
Hello Alice, in your own words please describe the Beaujais ethos
It is all about giving women of bigger cup sizes but smaller back sizes luxurious, sexy, desirable styles, which fit and support fantastically. The pieces embody everyday glamour – supportive enough for everyday wear, yet sensual enough for the boudoir. The silks, laces and embroideries used are all top quality and each garment is handmade in the UK.
What inspired the brand name, Beaujais?
The brand name, Beaujais, came about through a combination of an old family name, a subversion of the French language and a few glasses of wine!
Were you always interested in lingerie design, or were you driven by your ongoing search for beautiful fuller cup lingerie?
I have always been interested in lingerie design, but chose to do a degree in Fashion Design at university in order to give me a greater breadth of experience. However, I always gravitated back towards lingerie design, creating a lingerie-based final collection and working in the lingerie design industry.
At the same time, being a plus-cup size, I struggled to find lingerie that not only fitted well, but also looked beautiful. With Beaujais I hope that women of plus-cup sizes can enjoy finding fashion-led, luxurious lingerie in their size, and hope they will be as excited as I am at the prospect of wearing stunning styles every day that provide ample support for fuller busts.
How do you work? What is your process?
I start off with trend, colour and fabric research for the season, combining this with what is inspiring me at the time. Often inspiration comes through travel or architecture and I love experimenting with different textures and colour-ways. Forming a mood board of my ideas for the season really helps to shape and define the direction of the collection and I spend a lot of time selecting trims that will compliment this, while being suitable for the sizes that we cater to.
The design process is really exciting, sketching out ideas and finalising these into technical drawings, but I also really enjoy sourcing the fabrics and materials, especially choosing from selections of stunning French and English laces and embroideries. A large and often tricky part of the process revolves around perfecting the fit of the bras, especially due to the larger cup sizes we provide, and when this is finalised it is a real sense of achievement.
You’ve just launched with an AW11 collection, what was the inspiration for this?
For the AW11 collection the inspiration was ‘Bad Romance’. The pieces are romantic and beautiful, but with a dark undercurrent to the mood, as seen in shadowy grey lace overlays or heavy corded embroideries. I was lucky enough to be involved in archiving Alexander McQueen’s collections last year and these incredible pieces, especially a decaying but beautiful dress covered in real flowers, really influenced and inspired me.
What are your biggest challenges as a new designer?
As a new brand, raising customer awareness is the biggest challenge. It is difficult to get people knowing about the brand but I hope customers will love the fit and quality as much as I do and will recommend Beaujais to family and friends as a result.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I love what I do and all the small, everyday highlights of setting up the business and designing and creating the lingerie. I don’t think I could pick a definite highlight, but seeing the results from the photo shoot of the AW11 collection made all the hard work worthwhile, and then to subsequently get such fantastic feedback from buyers has made it an incredible experience.
Where are you based and where can us fuller bust ladies purchase your lingerie?
I am based in a small village in Gloucestershire, where the beautiful surroundings really help to inspire me.
Beaujais lingerie can currently be purchased online via our website, http://www.beaujais.com, as well as at Glamorous Amorous and there is interest from boutiques and stores both nationally and internationally. We stock lingerie in bra sizes 30D-GG, 32D-GG and 34D-G and knicker sizes 8-14. We also offer a bespoke bridal service, including bras, knickers, suspenders and bridal garters. Other bra sizes may be available to make to order – for this or any other queries or enquiries please feel free to get in touch at info@beaujais.com.
Links:
Website: http://www.beaujais.com/
Email: info@beaujais.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beaujais/194445257246878
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Beaujais
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