Belle de Jour

Underwear as Outerwear

Belle de Jour, Luis Bunnuel, 1967

Underwear as outerwear is a persistent trend that continues to come around, getting reworked for whatever the decade. By now we have a lot of options for how to participate if we so choose… whether that be an elevated slip dress or slipping back to the cone bras and Vivienne Westwood corsets of the 80s. Seeing more and more the current resurgence found me wanting to make my own take on it. And so, finding a fittingly sexy film to draw such inspiration, I re-watched Belle de Jour. This is a movie that on first watch many years ago went over my head and was quite unsettling to me in it’s portrayal of sexuality and the complexities of desire, but it did stick with me in it’s imagery and intrigue and I was happy to revisit it.

Belle de Jour is a study of sexuality and character and the bounds by which erotic energy is expressed by one woman. That woman is Severine, played by Catherine Deneuve, who is by all outwards appearances an innocent bourgeois young wife. She is beautiful, posh, rigid, and admired by men for these qualities and the sense that she is immaculate. As an audience we get to see beyond this impenetrable wall of virtue and into the deep world of her fantasies and memories. In life, she has a rather chaste marriage of separate beds and pecks on the cheek, but what Severine can’t express in the confines of her relationship is explored through a myriad of masochistic fantasies. Curiosity leads her to pursue an outlet for these desires and she begins working as a prostitute, where she takes on the name Belle de Jour, beauty of the day. In this anonymous way she is free to bring her full sexual self to the surface… though a double life is never an easy thing to maintain, no? And if it’s in secret is it sexual liberation?

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The looks in this film are divine! Severine’s wardrobe was designed by Yves Saint Laurent, and her stylish ensembles give the best of the ‘60s. Everything she wore would make a great basis for sewing inspiration, but for today’s purposes we will be looking at a lingerie ensemble she dons during her first day working at the maison close.

I’ve thought the garter belt, a particularly seductive piece of lingerie. In this set that Severine wears, it is simple and casual as it is employed in the everyday task of holding up her stockings. Now that hose is not much worn, the garter is not such a casual statement, and as such is much more provocative!

Sandy Liang

Sandy Liang on Instagram: ”🎱”

August 20, 2021

I am obsessed with these pieces from Sandy Liang (Spring-Summer ‘23 collection)!! And how she borrows the shape of the garter belt and translates it into a less overt underwear look. It brings something unexpected to the dress, but only on closer inspection. As someone who feels timid in revealing clothes much of the time, this was an inspiring way to take on the look.

I had two tones of eyelet fabric in my stash— a white piece that was a button up shirt ready for transformation, and a length in pale pink. The bodice in white was created using a vintage bra top pattern I had and extending the band to my waist, and continuing it over my hips in the shape of a garter belt. I outlined this silhouette with additional eyelet trim and added straps for my imaginary stockings to make the reference clear and have a little fun ;). Attaching a long skirt made into a fun dress up look. This project really felt like a level up in my sewing, as it is the first time that I’ve willing and of my own accord given a dress a full lining (doubling the work, but making the inside look just as good as the outside!), and it’s the best fit I’ve gotten on myself. Getting to wear this out on a fancy dinner date for my anniversary last weekend was a real treat… I felt confident and just the right wink of subversive cool.

If you watch Belle de Jour let me know… second watch (or a more open mind!) improved it by a landslide. I’m thinking about how the forbidden continues to loom large in desire culturally. A video-essayist I enjoy, Alice Capelle, recently released a piece concerning this theme, and how taboo drives desire, clicks, and political discourse. Fantasy made real or granted easy access in daily life can be seen on one hand as liberation… on the other hand it can give an outsized platform to ideas that perpetuate harm as they “educate” the public. Is underwear as outerwear a cultural response? Does it bring desire out of the shadows? In it’s current incarnation does it demand that the respect garnered in the outer world follow us into the bedroom? Or does it perpetuate a narrow view of male gaze dominated beauty? A fascinating take for those interested!!