The Lingerie Project: Meet Dani.
This week, Dani opens with a set from her own collection, FYI.
“I started my own company in December and showed in February. It’s something that’s very fresh to me and I’m focusing a lot of my attentions on right now. I feel like I have a real understanding for what women are looking for after working in the lingerie industry for so long. I also feel that my collection is reaching out to a different woman and a different perspective. I’m designing for women to feel empowered and to dress in a provocative and erotic way for herself and not for a partner. I’m intentionally taking a very feminist perspective on lingerie. It’s by a woman, for women to feel strong and bold and borderline intimidating.”
“It’s called lingerie for a reason, besides the fact that it’s close to your body; It makes you take on a certain kind of character. And a lot of women feel more confident when they’re dressed in lingerie that make them feel sexy. That’s not necessarily for someone else, it really isn’t when you’re wearing something underneath your clothing that you know makes you feel good, whether you like the way it shapes your body or looks on your body. When you don’t have clothing on, it allows you to kind of almost play a role. I think sometimes when women see something on a shelf, they identify with it, and that’s why they have to have it. It’s intimate apparel. They wear it close to their body and display it at their most vulnerable, whether it’s alone or with a partner, they’re showing off their bodies in these pieces. It’s a very comforting thought to know that you’re involved with something you admire.”
“Lingerie is definitely a form of expression for me. I feel like I found my niche within the market in lingerie because women feel so attached to it. Because it makes you feel completely different. It changes your perspective of yourself, which is really important; to be able to control the way you feel about yourself is key.”
Vintage Mink from her recent trip to the UK
“I am absolutely a feminist. I’ve considered myself a feminist since I knew what that word meant, since I was probably about 10. I have an Aunt that was women’s studies major and I was very much influenced by her. I met a lot of her feminist friends while I was growing up and I looked up to them. I would go to rallies with them when I was a pre-teen. My favorite was the March for Women’s lives in 2004, and marched for women’s reproductive rights.” ”I was at the rally in NY for Planned Parenthood. It was pretty inspirational because of the dire circumstances. What they are threatening to do with Planned Parenthood is kind of unfathomable. I don’t think people realize the severity of it. If Planned Parenthood doesn’t have government funding, it’s not abolishing them, per say, but it would ultimately destroy them. Without government funding there is no Planned Parenthood…When I was in high school everyone was getting their birth control from them. I grew up in a very conservative town in Indiana and young girls don’t feel comfortable talking to their parents. Planned Parenthood is just such a wonderful thing for women in particular, but men as well.”
“Music is a big inspiration to me as a designer as well, because it is such a big part of my life. I’ve been a bass player since I was 17. I picked up and base and thought, ‘Oh, this is what I’m meant to do…’My next venture in music is to revive riot girl music. I don’t think the sentiment is dead. We’re talking about feminism here, and body issues, the foundation of Riot girl music. It’s a genre that no one has payed attention to since the late 90’s. There’s still an audience for it, and no one is really doing it, or doing it well. The obvious choice I riot girl music is Kathleen Hanna from bikini kill. Her message, especially in her fist two albums, people were kind of scared to hear and offended by it. She was playing punk rock, but she was playing issues like rape and anorexia, incest even; things that people were not ready to talk about and not ready to hear. She was kind of famous for trying to take back the word slut and saying, ‘I can be a slut if I want to, and you can call me that and treat me however you want to, it doesn’t bother me.’”
Lascivious bra, Kiki De Monparnarsse panty
“I am Queer, is what I usually call it. A lot of people call it bisexual. In my history I usually just date men, but I really like having relationships with women. I’m involved with someone right now that made me realize that I was missing a lot by being with men all the time. I feel like I’m understood in a way that I never have been before. She notices things about me that a male partner never would, like things about my mood and my condition in life. She’ll notice when I’m not doing okay, even when I think I am. That’s been a really refreshing thing for me.I’ve had experiences with men, where I’ve ended up feeling really disrespected and in a hindsight very mistreated. I was lucky enough to never really struggle with my sexuality. I’ve been attracted to women for a very long time, and before getting involved with women, it wasn’t something that I was ashamed to admit, it was just something that I hadn’t really gotten around to yet. I’m very lucky to have a family that is very open minded and very supportive of all of my decisions. They are very open minded about sexuality, and I think that’s just so rare. I’m really lucky to have a mom, dad and even my mother’s parents that are completely supportive of everything that I do. You’d think they’d be a little shocked, but they’re not. ”
Marlies Dekkers
“I think that not enough women feel comfortable with [masturbation]. It’s funny how its almost becoming a trend now, because there are so many companies that sell sex toys that market towards women, and it’s about damn time. I have feel like the sex market has always been directed towards men, it’s very misguided to think that men are the only ones that need to be appealed to in the sex industry. As far as toys and pornography and anything like that. I think women should feel just as comfortable pleasuring themselves as men do. It still feels like this slightly taboo thing to talk about and its not. I’ve become very comfortable talking about it from working at Kiki De Montparnarsse. I’ve heard it all.”
“Advice I always got from my mom was to date around and never settle. She told me she was dating around while she was seeing my dad until he proposed to her. She always said, ‘Until I have a ring on my finger I’m not settling down with anybody. I’m leaving my options open.’ I never really understood that concept until recently. I always thought that was something my mom just didn’t get. I always thought I’d have to live with that person, and do everything together, and it doesn’t need to be that way. I totally dismissed the idea as ‘mom advice’. But that’s not what its about. It’s about you getting what you want.”
“Don’t be afraid to be who you are. Don’t be afraid to be selfish. Especially when you’re young. It’s really important for you to focus on yourself. That’s definitely something that I’ve been guilty of loosing sight of once or twice in my life, and it can get you in a lot of ways and it can really hold you back. So don’t let what other people think hold you back from what you feel is right. Whether it be sexually or any other issues. Just try and listen to yourself, and its okay to be selfish.”
[originally posted 4/12/11]
