Lingerie is perhaps the only category of clothing where people ask this question. I feel like even couture gets off on this one.

So often people will see an incredible piece of lingerie, sheer, open cut, bandage-like, or perhaps strappy/studded and say [this] with a roll of the eyes. The better question to me is perhaps, why all the eye-rolling?

Aren’t we all too obsessed with what we look like on the outside? Will people get to see your bags and shoes - do your sizes in these ever change? Nope. No wonder the typical fashion splurge goes to these items.

So why the judging when the lingerie obsessed gush about their frilly underthings. My thoughts? In a world so obsessed with what OTHERS are wearing and doing, or who is dating whom whether its a celebrity focused magazine or facebook - the instinct to peer over your fence at your neighbors proverbial yard has never been greater. So much so, that for someone to break from the norm and gush about something that reveals an obsession with *gasp* themselves and their most intimate attire, elicits a “are you serious?” response.

To the “It’s just going to come off anyways” and the “There’s nothing left to the imagination” or the “What does it do?” - yes, some lingerie does stuff like nip and tuck, and some “does” nothing, it exists.

Maybe lingerie IS more like couture, a fantasy, a luxury - what we love about couture is the fantasy world it lives in, and lingerie creates very vivid fantasies in much the same way. Albeit they lean more towards the adult than the fairy tale of couture, gowns worn once to balls or galas/awards and then sent to a museum. Even the most expensive lingerie can be more attainable than couture (which you know costs about as much as a house), making it an attainable fantasy.

Does art have a point? Does music have a POINT? They make you feel, and so too does lingerie. It can transform your body, transform your personality even for a night… but the real catch is that its not for public consumption, so in some ways spending money on it seems to point to some extreme form of narcissism. Good. That’s exactly what women need- narcissism. To LOVE themselves and to stop obsessing over the size of their thighs or chest, and to flaunt it instead. Learning to love yourself is a GOOD thing, right?!

So rock on lingerie lovers, and when someone asks what’s the point - just smile wickedly and say “EXACTLY”.

(an evolution of my thoughts in The Lingerie Manifesto)