Nightwear - Treat Yourself and Express Your Style

Sheer nightwear is for more than just sleeping. Don't let the word "nightwear" fool you. Chemises and nighties can be just as sexy as any other piece of lingerie. Cuddling up in a pair of plaid flannel pajamas is fine on a cold winter's night. But special occasions call for special nightwear.

Sheer nightwear can also serve a more functional purpose. It's very breathable, and it will keep you cool on hot, humid nights. The sheer fabric is even more breathable than cotton.

Silk lingerie is another staple in any nightwear collection. Silk slips and slides along with your body when you roll over in bed. You won't wake up in the morning to find your nightgown twisted up around your armpits.

We all love the look and feel of silk lingerie. It's hard to believe that a fabric so lovely and luxurious comes from worms! We have Chinese princess Xi Liu Shi to thank for silk lingerie. Legend says that way back in 2600 BC she was enjoying a cup of tea under a mulberry tree when out of nowhere a silk cocoon fell into her cup. Her tea was ruined, but it was worth it when she made a discovery that would one day sweep the world of intimate apparel. Xiu Liu Shi saw that the cocoon was actually made of a single strand of delicate thread.

Maybe a fly in your soup isn't so bad after all. You might just discover the next fabulous fabric for ladies nightwear!

Beautiful ladies nightwear isn't just for impressing your husband or boyfriend. It's something you should do for yourself. Next time you want to treat yourself, do your thighs a favor and opt for a luxurious nightie instead of triple chocolate fudge ice cream.

Sleeping in a pair of boxers and an over-sized t-shirt has the affordable factor going for it. It costs nothing to steal a shirt from your hubby's closet. You might think that luxurious ladies nightwear is an indulgence you can't afford. Perhaps that was once the case, but not anymore. With advent of the Internet came the advent of online discount retailers. With a quick search of the web, you'll find discount lingerie in every shape, size, style, and color.

Discount lingerie doesn't necessarily mean sacrificing quality for price. Nightwear from some of your favorite designers is available in outlet stores both on the web and in shopping centers. In fact, even high-end department stores regularly have lingerie sales. Keep an eye out for bargains. Then you can treat yourself to some fancy ladies nightwear guilt-free!

For all the style mavens out there, your nightwear has the potential to make quite a fashion statement. Consumer studies have shown that comfort and price are becomingly increasingly less important to those purchasing lingerie. Fashion and style are becoming top priorities, and designers are responding to this trend. They're looking to clothing trends to inspire their nightwear collections.

So retire that pilled terry cloth robe and cast aside the stained, size XXL t-shirt. It's time to make room for some fabulous nightwear!

Swimsuit shopping with Shoshanna

New York designer offers swimwear based on bust size for hard-to-fit customers.

For most women, shopping for a bathing suit is not on top of the list of favorite tasks. There are unflattering lights to deal with, flashes of skin left dull and dry by the winter and sizing that seems to make no sense, bringing up all sorts of body image issues.

The least swimsuit manufacturers can do is offer a full range of shapes and styles upping the odds that eventually shoppers will find the best one, right?

Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss thought so. But as a tween and then a teen, Gruss struggled finding a suit that would fit her frame that was petite everywhere but her bust. It was a source of frustration and embarrassment. When she chose a career in fashion design, she made rethinking bathing suits a priority.

"It didn't make sense that swimsuits were in sets. You wouldn't buy your lingerie in sets," she says.

On a recent browsing expedition through the swimwear department at the flagship Bloomingdale's on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Gruss points out that many companies now offer bathing suit separates and tops based on bust size, as her line does, instead of dress size.

She's not claiming to be the first designer to do these things but she does think the rapid growth of her swimwear collection since it was introduced in 2001 certainly helped nudge the industry forward. She began with only a handful of bikini styles and has seen it grow to include 40 prints each season, tankinis and one-piece suits, which she added after she became a mother in 2005.

Gruss thinks she owes that success for not only understanding her customers but because she is her customer.

"I remember being here with my mom. I looked 29 when I'd put on a bathing suit because the styles that fit me were either too old, too sexy or nothing fit. That was the worst feeling in the world when you're 13," she recalls.

Because she was athletic and wanted to be able to move around without worrying about falling out of her bathing suit, she often resorted to a big baggy sweatshirt as a cover-up that rarely came off. Again, not really a look coveted by teens.

Gruss went on to the University of California Los Angeles -- bathing-suit country -- and earned degrees in history and art history. After that she went to work at a lingerie factory to learn about fabric, construction and design. Her personal experience as a hard-to-fit figure has influenced everything she's done since launching the Shoshanna label in 1998.

She first produced sundresses because they were easier to market. In 2001, when she introduced swimwear, it was a personally important moment. Then, following the birth of her daughter with husband Josh Gruss, she added children's swimwear under the label of Shoshanna BabyGirl.

Now that she's 31, Gruss is looking for something different from her bathing suits than she did in her sexier single days. She's still trim and petite -- and she's still busty -- but now she needs to be able carry around her daughter, build sandcastles and even dive in the water on little Sienna's command. However, she doesn't want to sacrifice style.

Gruss is, after all, part of the socialite set that is photographed regularly, including when she's at play in the Hamptons and elsewhere. For a recent -- and childless -- trip to Jamaica for a wedding, Gruss packed five suits: a pink gingham triangle bikini, two bandeau bikinis, a black eyelet bikini with a halter top and a white eyelet one with a strapless bra top.

"This is to look cool in front of my friends. If my daughter was coming, I'd have a one piece."

The Bloomingdale's tour starts in her own section. Gruss emphasized that her tops, both for one-piece and two-piece suits, are offered with A-DDD cup sizes and in either petite/small or medium/large back widths, similar to bras. (The line is primarily intended for women who wear a dress size of 0-12.)

By using an underwire bra construction with 26 components, including boning on the sides, silicone gripper tape at the top and a classic hook-and-eye closure in the back, Gruss is confident her strapless tops will stay up on women of all bust sizes. They won't flatten a large chest nor slip down on a small one, she said.

When you're in the dressing room, stand up, sit down and move your arms to make sure the suit fits, she suggests. "If you think you might fall out in the dressing room, it's definitely not a suit for racing or swimming laps."

Gruss thinks a teenager might gravitate toward a halter top, perhaps in eyelet or a madras print, because that silhouette offers the most coverage if she chooses to play a little beach volleyball or actually swim.

Conversely, though, the coverage from a halter might also appeal to an older woman who isn't interested in baring as much as she used to.

That doesn't mean this woman isn't sexy, Gruss says. She says a halter-style one piece, especially one with ruching and boning -- both tools to give support and flatter one's figure -- conjures up images of Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s.

A triangle top, especially as part of a string bikini, defines your shape for you, Gruss says, so it works well on a woman who feels her breasts are of unequal size. Also, she adds, since it's often adjustable at the neck, it's appealing for someone looking for a little lift.

In general, suits with higher backs have more support, and crisscross straps are sturdier than tank straps.

Gruss points out a green one-piece by La Blanca with a shirred bodice, which hides a multitude of flaws, and then a Michael Kors one-piece with a plunging V front that's laced together with a chain.

The Kors suit creates the "illusion of perfection," she said, because who else would dare wear such a risque suit than a perfect woman?

Except that, upon close examination, it's not that racy. Gruss highlights the high back, built-in cups and full-coverage bottom.

The tankini is a phenomenon that Gruss doesn't quite get. She sees the appeal of a sportier style but it often comes off as a little matronly, she said. If you're going to wear one, make sure the top meets or covers the bottom and try a youthful, trend-right baby-doll style.

Gruss identifies other key looks for the summer of 2007: geometric or nautical prints that have a 1970s' jet-set vibe; the sweet sexiness of a full-coverage, Brigitte Bardot-style bikini in a gingham or eyelet fabric; or metallics. Gold, she says, is flattering on almost any skin tone.

"Swimwear is always all over the place but this year is very feminine, very celebratory of the body," Gruss said.

source:By Samantha Critchell Associated Press Writer

Wholesale Handbags- Your Search For The Right Supplier

Buying wholesale handbags, while not necessarily a breeze, should prove not to be too difficult. There are many wholesalers out there who are capable of providing retailers with adequate supplies of quality handbags at moderate prices. Convenience and reliability in the process of delivery is your other consideration, besides quality and price, when choosing the right vendor or merchant to purchase wholesale handbags. Additionally, the supplier you choose should be capable of meeting the requirements of discriminating clients.

Wholesaler Track Records

Before purchasing wholesale handbags from a particular supplier, check on the history of the wholesaler. How long have they been in the business of selling wholesale handbags? Is the enterprise financially stable? Do they care about the quality and workmanship of the wholesale handbags that they selling? If you yourself are not yet very experienced in purchasing wholesale handbags, choose a supplier with a track record of no less than 10 years. That should at least assure you that their products are of proven quality.

Be discriminating yourself in your choice of supplier for wholesale handbags. Remember that you are choosing from a pool of thousands of prospective sellers in the market. One route you can take is via the Internet. There are online enterprises, such as wholesalemart.net, that specialize in supplier dealings. Created by Wholesale Buyers, wholesalemart.net counts some of the biggest U.S. companies in its roster of manufacturers, so being part of the list is justifiable cause for a supplier to be pleased with themselves.

Ensuring the Quality of the Wholesale Handbags

Your choice of supplier of wholesale handbags can't be independent of your choice of handbags to buy and retail. The quality of the bags should be evident. At the very least they should good enough to be displayed as merchandise with pride. The design of the bags themselves and their functionality are also prime considerations.

Wholesale handbags can range from the very cheap to the exorbitant designer handbags that sport such signature names as Gucci or Coach. The handbags can be found in a variety of places, including discount outlets, department stores, wholesale warehouse clubs and specialty stores. The Internet is one other place to check out wholesale handbags. The World Wide Web is abuzz with a gamut of sites operated by vendors out to sell their wares. Wholesale handbags happens to be one of them.

Silk For Lingerie, Where Does It Come From

We all know what silk feels and looks like, but how many of us know anything about its extraordinary history. It was first developed over five thousand years ago in China and was initially reserved for the emperors. It came from the tiny silkworm, which feeds on mulberry leaves, whose cocoon was made of a silken thread which could be unravelled. Over time silk spread throughout the country and finally began to be heard of beyond China's borders. The Emperors were desperate to keep the skills and secrets of silk making secret, but inevitably it seeped out. By 300 BC the Koreans had begun to manufacture silk and five hundred years later the skills had reached as far as India.

Although the Romans are believed to have traded in silk, the secrets of the industry were not to reach Europe until five hundred years after Christ. It is said that monks working for the Emperor Justinian were the first to bring silkworm eggs to Constantinople in hollow canes.

Merchants from Venice traded extensively in silk and encouraged silk growers to settle in Italy. By the 13th century, Italian silk was a significant source of trade. Since that period, the silk worked in the Como region has been the most valuable silk in the world. Italian silk was so popular in Europe that Francis I of France invited Italian silk makers to France to create a French silk industry. Mass emigration during periods of religious dispute seriously damaged French industry and introduced the various textile skills, including silk, to other countries…