French lingerie - 19-21th century

This is the tale of French lingerie. Invented in France, treasured the world over, the history of French lingerie chronicles over a hundred years of creative ingenuity, celebrated here with wit and verve. Through more than a century of innovation, expertise, and attention to luxury and seduction, this book traces the amazing inventiveness and savoir-faire of corset makers through their successive creations: the corset made of elastic fabric, the first bra, the girdle, all the way to "smart' lingerie which is capable of memorizing the curves of the body. A concentration of glamor in just a few grams of fine fabric. In addition to the classic corsets, girdles, and bras, lingerie now includes basques, panties, tangas, thongs, and the chameleon garter belt, which has undergone so many rejuvenating transformations. Enhanced by Gilles Berquet's beautiful photos that reflect a style, not only of lingerie but of living, that is uniquely French.