Introducing Flimsymoon Lingerie
Image via Flimsy Moon
This article is by Phoebe Waller.
I caught up with lingerie designer Freyia Lilian Porteous, who gave me the lowdown on her current collection.
Since graduating University and studying a BA (Hons) Embroidery degree, (which sadly no longer exists), Freyia has kept the ball rolling. By day Miss Porteous works as an au pair in Kington Upon Thames looking after two young children --- "Lola is two and loves makeup, (plastic) shoes and Mickey Mouse; Luca is five and is obsessed with space, shares my love of Adventuretime (best cartoon ever by Pendleton Ward) and I can imagine him taking over the world one day." --- and lives in a little cabin at the bottom of the family's garden, which she says, "Makes me sound like a bit of a troll! I think I'm more of a fairy." However, in her spare time, this charming young woman is working on her own lingerie label Flimsymoon.
Image via Flimsy Moon
This talented 23-year-old creates everything lovingly by hand and currently, with just her own fair hands --- although she is in the process of recruiting some elves. Freyia enjoys using technology to help her creative process; she is a self-confessed Pinterest addict and uses Photoshop to create mood boards. However, she likes to keep it traditional; her design work is done by hand, and a 2B pencil and tracing paper are her favourite materials for getting her ideas down.
Freyia has always been interested in "intrinsically feminine garments" and has a love for beautiful things, and loves that lingerie is, as she calls it, "the most intimate of all the clothes!" She has always been fascinated by the ethereal and otherworldly portrayal of women in visual culture and literature: "The idea of a dream woman, a nymph." She goes on to explain, "Someone who is alluring and an object of desire, both familiar and unattainable. My whole education in the arts was a pursual of this woman through ideas, concepts and visuals!" Porteous realised all of her interests consisted of sex, dressing up, and the notion of the super feminine. "And what better a way to express that, than through lingerie design?" she asks.
Image via Flimsy Moon
A lot can be said in a name and the name for Freyia's lingerie label was thought up many moons ago. When Miss Porteous was about 14, a school project asked her to write an 'Island Story' based on the ones the Brontes wrote when they were young. In her story, Freyia used the description 'theflimsy moon' as it had a "wistful sort of beauty." She also discovered Ted Hughes (one of her favourite poets) uses the same description in his poem 'The Warm and the Cold.' She made it her email address, and vowed from then on that her label would be called Flimsymoon; proving dreams really do come true.
Freyia is inspired by many things: romance, being a woman, the way men look at women, love, communication/
Image via Flimsy Moon
Flimsymoon's current collection, 'Kiss Me Under Flimsymoon,' is inspired by the heroines of the Romantic Ballet which typify the female archetype that fascinates Freyia. Think nudes, hand embellishments, detailed embroidery, reveal and conceal, silk and sheer, and playful innocence --- and pour all of this into Swan Lake while your hair is being braided by fairy folk, and when you dip your vial into the ethereal waters, it will fill with the essence of Flimsymoon.
Freyia thinks the kind of woman who would wear Flimsymoon would be someone who is playful, subtly sexy, fun, and enjoys dressing up. She imagines this person would wear lingerie for herself as well as for her partner and they would enjoy the way fabric feels on her skin. She explains, "My designs are made with love and intended to be special, so someone who'd think of the garment as something emotional, something to keep."
Image via Flimsy Moon
Porteous wants her collection to give the wearer a sense of freedom in her own skin and rebel against more restricting, architectural lingerie, which contorts the body and forces it to undergo a metamorphosis. A really important consideration in the design stages was the notion of comfort and movement. Freyia says, "My lingerie is for the boudoir, it's not designed to make your tits look great in a tight top. I'm not nearly technically skilled enough to do that, and that's not the point." She adds, "It sounds cheesy but I want my lingerie to make the wearer appear and feel like a precious woman. Just like the characters that inspired it."
Image via Flimsy Moon
Currently, you can purchase Flimsymoon directly from Freyia. She is in the process of trying to get funding to put her lingerie into production on a small batch scale, and she'll hopefully be launching a crowd-funding campaign at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014 on Kickstarter. She adds, "In the meantime if you contact me directly, I'd be happy to make one off pieces!" Porteous is currently in the process of working out how her pieces would be priced commercially. As for one-offs, prices are negotiable.
So if you want to feel like the special, unique individual that you are, while also feeling ultra feminine and ethereal, get in touch with Freyia for your own bespoke Flimsymoon design. If I were you, I'd hurry, 'cause this petite young woman is big news.
Enquiries: [email protected]
Follow Flimsymoon’s adventures at: www.facebook.com/
Photography: India Hobson
Models: Annabel Collins and Hannah Shkandrij
Styling & Words from the Flimsymoon Lookbook by Freyia Lilian Porteous
