In honor of Valentine’s Day, we are offering 15% off our entire stock of Eres lingerie from February 1st through the 14th. This is a rare opportunity, as our Eres prices are already well below our competitors’. But we really feel the need to point men in the right direction this Valentine’s - that is, toward the most impeccably crafted, elegent bras in the store. Every time we encourage our female shoppers to try on an Eres bra, the inevitable response, after the revelatory gasp is, “This bra fits better than any I’ve ever worn.” Indeed.

Hey all you lovebirds! Valentine’s Day is coming. That means that we’re getting more nervous male shoppers coming in. I love them, they’re adorable. So nervous. You can tell that a lingerie store is the last place in the world that they want to be. That’s why it’s pretty great that we have an online store. Hey local guy! You don’t actually have to come in and feel all “weirded out” by the wall-o-panties. You can peruse our web store and order from home. If you are having trouble picking something out, or finding the right size you can always either check our shopping tips, or e-mail (info@lilleboutique.com) us, or, of course, go for the old gift certificate. If you don’t want to pay extra for shipping, then we can simply process your order and set your gift aside. Then you can send your assistant over on his lunch break and he can pick it up for you (poor sap). Easy as pie. Do you not love that? How can you not love that? It’s the season of love. LOVE IT! That’s an order. (get it? order? wokka wokka wokka)

As most of our customers can attest, Lille is not your typical lingerie store. We don’t carry any adult toys, we stray from thongs and costumes, and none of the lingerie is “Made in China of 100% nylon.” We tend to appeal more to women than men; a fact that we think means we’re doing our jobs right. That’s not to say we don’t carry sexy lingerie - it’s just not our focus. There are hundreds of shops out there that offer Hanky Panky thongs; very few offer a vast selection of pima cotton and silk options, handmade in New York and Paris. This is seldom an issue, but occasionally, we run into a customer or company that just doesn’t understand where we’re coming from. (more…)

Part Five: Camisoles

Versatile and comfortable, camisoles or camis are a staple in any wardrobe. This sleeveless, close-fitting garment can be worm with or without a bra, under clothing or on its own, and makes an excellent layering piece for the winter months. Pair it with leggings under dress pants and a sweater, and you have the feminine equivalent of men’s long underwear. (more…)

This Friday, February 1, from 6pm to 9pm, Lille Boutique will be hosting the first in a series of art shows coinciding with First Friday on East Burnside. “New Work in Fibers” by Portland native, Sarah E. LaBarre will kick off the series. (more…)

There was a customer in here today who purchased a Lake & Stars Divorcee Bikini. That’s not so unusual; it’s a very cute and unique garment. The reason she was blog-worthy is because she was incredibly excited about the date that she was buying the panties for. It was a big date with a guy who she really liked and she was just giddy, giddy, giddy. She was telling me that she hadn’t been on the market for a long time and really wanted something special to wear to give her a little oomph. I know what she means. (more…)

The long-anticipated No Pressure sets from The Lake and Stars arrived today, and I think the image speaks for itself - they are, in a word, adorable! One happy lady squealed in delight when she saw them coming out of the package and bought a bralette and garterpanty in shortbread/silver (pictured above) on the spot. They also come in jet/stone, which is a gorgeous charcoal gray mesh with black lace overlay and contrasting yellow trim. This might be my favorite collection from them, but alas, they will surely sell out immediately with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, so get yours quick (no pressure!)

I’m in the process of catching a nice little cold. I’ve been fighting it off for a couple of days, but it’s being a tenacious bugger. I’ve taken most of my usual cold precautions. I have been eating cloves of raw garlic (not for the faint of heart, but usually quite effective if you don’t have anything you need to not stink like garlic for), I’ve been drinking gallons of water, and taking immune system support dietary supplements. I used to love using Quantum’s Elderberry C-Syrup for my immune system, but my local natural grocery store has informed me that this wonder product has been discontinued. Just my luck. So, now all I can do it take it as easy as possible. This basically means that I need to dedicate every moment of my spare time to putting on my cuddliest nightshirt and my warmest socks, lighting a cozy scented candle, making some tea with honey, and curling up on the couch to watch the entire series of The OC. Sometimes comfort is the best medicine. As much as I’d like to use this blog spot to talk about all the smoking hot items we have for the approaching Valentine’s Day, I have to get better before I’m in that frame of mind. Fortunately for me our sexy/comfy ratio is about 50/50 with a little bit of Venn Diagram type overlap, so I technically have something to talk about no matter how I’m feeling. Yaa…cough cough…aay!

We’re pleased to announce the addition of the first local lingerie collection to Lille Boutique - Birds of Prey is a new intimate apparel label recently launched by Sabrina Peterson, a Wisconsin native (like me!) Comprised of sleep sets and loungewear made of natural and sustainable fibers, it fits right in beside Kumi Kookoon silk nighties and robes, Poet pima cotton camis and boyshorts, and Araks silk/cotton crepe bralettes and panties. The sets shown above (Spring, Lilac and Wren) are handmade with 100% china silk and inspired by animals, stones and other aspects of nature Sabrina experienced growing up in the country. (more…)

I just got a brand new sewing machine that does embroidery, and I must say - I’m addicted.  I’ve always been a sucker for carefully crafted embellishments that enhance, rather than detract from a garment.  If you’re looking for a way to put a personal touch on your new lingerie set, I highly recommend a custom monogram or floral embroidery pattern.  This is a great option for brides who want something special for their wedding lingerie, but it’s also just a great way to personalize your intimates.  It makes the lingerie truly yours.  Modern technology has made this a surprisingly affordable option, and starting this February, Lille Boutique will be featuring this service for any lingerie purchased in the store, at very reasonable rates.  More info soon to come…

Part Four: Rompers

There are a lot of different names for this one-piece garment that connects at the crotch: romper, teddy, pant-slip, onesie…you get the picture. Essentially, it is a pair of panties connected to a camisole, but within that definition, the styles vary dramatically. (more…)

It’s cold here in Portland! Brrr. East Coast level cold, even. People look at me like I’m a crazy person when I’m riding my bike cold. It’s kind of nice. I think winter should have at least a few bone chillingly cold days. Besides, with the globe warming up the way it is, it might not be long before we’ll all be looking back fondly on the good old days when we’d freeze our patooties off in January. (more…)

For the record Lille is not a cutesy way of spelling “lily”, it’s pronounced lēl, like wheel. The name comes from a city in France that is known for it’s textile industry. We chose to name the shop Lille because:

a) lingerie is historically french

b) the shop (hopfully) has a bit of a french feel to it

c) it’s a clothing store so the textile thing kind of makes sense to us

d) the word looks very nice in print

e) it’s short and sweet

f) of the many many french type names we were discussing, lille seemed like it would be easy to pronounce, oops. I’d say that 9 times out of 10 when someone says the name they say lily. It’s not a big deal, lily is a perfectly nice name too, it’s just not what it is. Oh I hope I don’t sound snotty, I really don’t mean to. I’ll say that conversely, when people ask me the name of my store I say “Lille” and they say “what?” and I say “Lille, l-i-l-l-e?” and they go “Oh… Lille. That’s nice.”

It’s very hard to come up with a good name for a store or product that hasn’t already been taken. We didn’t want to be too tongue-in-cheek, but we didn’t want to come off as hyper-pretentious either, because our shop is neither thing. I don’t know, I guess I’m just making this an informative little public service blog post. Here’s a fun game, if you’re reading this. Leave us a comment with what you would call your lingerie shop. I’d love to hear what other people come up with!

Sara was right about one thing: flying is awful. Don’t get me wrong - I love to travel, but the whole act of getting there really impacts my wanderlust. I tend to fly only a few times a year, and I’ve gotten rather rigid and unyielding in my expectations. They are as follows:

1. Number of acceptable transfers for continental flights: 0.

2. In-flight entertainment = personal direct tv. Call me crazy, but if I can’t watch back-to-back episodes of Project Runway, it’s a deal-breaker.

3. The cost of the ticket must be close to, if not less than, the cheapest fare on orbitz or travelocity.

4. Plush, cushy leather seats and plenty of legroom are not necessarily mandatory, but strongly impact the decision making process.

5. The fare must be refundable, and cancellations or exchanges must be quick, affordable and painless. (more…)

Here’s a funny little commercial I found on Youtube. Sorry I don’t know how to embed the file, hopefully it will still be enjoyable to watch…

Selling lingerie to men 

Ha, that’s sort of not a terrible sales strategy. I’m pretty sure I was throwing around (wokka wokka) a similar idea for merchandising when we were first opening the store. This was back when we were talking about having an old brass bed in the shop window. Of course, as much as I still think that a brass bed would be cute, it’s probably for the best that we ultimately decided against it because I’m afraid that it would be tempting to nap in occasionally. Still, an antique bed with the Elise Aucouturier Crepuscule Camisole casually tossed over the headboard while the frilly little matching boyshorts are hanging out closer to the foot or something like that, well, I just think it would be cute and a bit *wink wink*. I could be wrong though… I’m not really the merchandising genius that Sarah is, it’s not my thing.

Now that I am living 3000 miles away from my family and most of the friends I’ve made in my lifetime, I find that I am traveling quite a bit more than I used to. I’m making at the very least 2 cross country trips a year. I’m sure for people who travel extensively a whopping 4 10 hour flights with at least 2 layovers a piece is a 48 hour walk in the park, but for me it’s the pits. I don’t think that I’m making a bold statement by saying that flying is great and all, but it’s kind of awful too. The mess at the airport, the security checking, not being able to take your favorite perfume along because it’s in a 3.4oz bottle, getting assigned the dreaded middle seat, starving, not sleeping, packing, unpacking, repacking, having your nice neatly packed bag torn apart by the guy who decided that you are somehow a threat to national security. It’s worth the hassle to get to see my loved ones, but man, it makes me cranky too. (more…)

I’d like to give a little head nod to the Poet Lilly Boyshort today. I don’t think the Lilly gets as much attention as it should because it tends to look unflattering on the hanger. I’m not going to lie, I’m looking at it on the hanger right now and it reminds me of the great big shapeless bloomers I used to have to stuff under the elastic leg holes in my gymnastics leotards when I was eleven… but hangers can be very deceitful. Those bloomers were gross, these bloomers are pretty amazing. Yes, the Lilly is plain and understated and there’s quite a bit of coverage, but there is a subtlety in the cut that is not having justice done to it by being wantonly strung up by a couple of alligator clips. The cut of the leg comes up just a little bit, like a very slight bikini cut, which helps alleviate that “shortened thigh illusion” problem that some boyshorts have. (more…)

Though I may stray occasionally, I always return to Princesse Tam Tam. Their bras are so beautiful, so affordable, so French! Like a great pair of heels, they fit so perfectly that they are almost impossible to resist. The latest batch from our dear friends at Tam Tam is from the Reviens and Idylle lines. Those of you who missed out on the Delicate Gray Underwire Triangle Bra will be thrilled to find out that we’ve received three gorgeous bras in the same flattering cut. (more…)

Ok, so there’s something about bra sizing that I could never wrap my brain around. Before learning how to do a proper fitting, I had always assumed that the number in a bra size was a literal representation of the number of inches around your rib cage and that the cup size was determined by the difference in inches between the measurement of the actual bust and the ribcage number. I was right about the cup part, but apparently I was a little confused about the ribcage part. (more…)

Part Three: Bralettes

A bralette is a brassiere that has not been outfitted with underwire. Any soft cup bra fits into this category, as long as there is no boning, metal or plastic sewn into the garment. Bralettes do not typically provide the amount of support that an underwire bra can offer, but that depends on the material used. Lace and cotton do little to hold things in place without any structure to adhere to. That’s when a little lycra and elastic goes a long way… (more…)