CurveNY New Find: Sunday Intimates

Whew, Lingerie Fashion Week, the Lingerie Collective, and CurveNY have all drawn to a close. Over the course of the last week, New York City has been an absolute haven for lingerie brands, writers, retailers, and general enthusiasts, and I have had a disgracefully good time seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and ogling All the Lingerie Ever. All of my Lingerie Fashion Week coverage is now live, so I’m going to turn my attention to the brands who presented their Spring/Summer 2014 collections to retailers at the CurveNY trade show. Many of these brands will also present their collections in a few weeks at CurveNV (Las Vegas), so even more people will have a chance to check them out!

In February I did some Curve overview and trend forecasting first before covering my favorite New Find, but this time around I couldn’t wait to share a new brand with you right away.

On Monday afternoon I was wandering around the expo for a few minutes in between appointments, when a young woman approached and handed me a card for her booth. In true New Yorker mode, I accepted it without making eye contact, mumbled some thanks, and kept going without breaking my stride. When I rounded the corner I glanced down. “Sunday Intimates”. Made in L.A. Huh, that sounds familiar. Flipped the card over and read: “Band sizes 28-34, Cup sizes D-H”.

Pause.

“Hello again, I’m the one who was kind of rude about thirty seconds ago. Can I ask you if your bras come in US or UK sizes?”

“Our bras are in UK sizes.”

“OKAY, LET’S TALK, I ALREADY LOVE YOU.”

I grabbed Caro of The Lingerie Lesbian (and later Cecily of Miss Underpinnings, although we’d misplaced her at the time), and we sat down to meet Tannis Mann and Simonette Lowy, the delightful co-owners and masterminds of Sunday Intimates.  As full-bust women themselves (we compared a lot of notes on our favorite Panache and Miss Mandalay bras), they understand the challenges involved in finding a bra that fits both your body and your personal style, and they developed their new line out of a desire for fashion-forward, directional, high-end lingerie for the full-bust market.

As they walked us through their debut collection, I kept thinking to myself “yep, I want to wear that … and that … and that … and oh my gosh, that is so pretty.”  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a collection that I loved in its entirety the way I loved Sunday’s debut collection.

For example, “Tuesday” is a sheer basic black lace bra.  No big deal, right?  Except I have been looking for a sheer basic black lace bra in my size that fit well for a while now (I want to wear it with my Kiss Me Deadly Pink Alouette set, you see), and apart from Panache’s Andorra, which isn’t exactly sheer, I’ve come up empty-handed.  And lo, here it is, available with a matching lace brief or thong:

While Sunday’s focus is on stylish intimates for full-bust figures, Tannis and Simonette also wanted to create a true lifestyle brand.  “Dottie”, therefore, is available in two of my favorite colors for lingerie, navy and blush pink, with adorable matching pajamas and a kimono.

I love this concept, and I love the lookbook image even more.  I want to be this girl, in this kitchen, wearing this darling kimono with contrasting sizes of polka dots, eating peanut butter with a giant fluffy dog (sorry Gus):

We next moved on to “Marie”, the range that I can’t help but feel will put Sunday Intimates on the map.  Available in two different chiffon prints with black satin trim, Marie is available as a bra, high-waisted brief (with light shaping), thong, kimono, PJ top, and PJ shorts.

You guys, I don’t think I realized how much I want a kimono that matches my undies and my pajamas until I saw this set.  I will swan around my apartment in it, being stylish and … blogging, I guess.  But blogging glamorously.  You can mix and match all the pieces to create a huge variety of lingerie and loungewear ensembles, and even take some of the pieces into beautiful day or evening wear.  Check out Tannis’ adorable outfit for proof!

Over the past week I repeatedly saw that more classic shapes like longline bras and high-waist briefs are here to stay, but that the execution is becoming decidedly modern, veering away from slightly kitschy styles to embrace more sophisticated looks.  The high-waist knickers, in warm peach or green floral prints with black side panels, are 100% in keeping with this updated-retro trend.   The black fabric trimming the bra is a little special, which brings me to:

So, it’s just a black bra, right?  Actually, it’s a little more: a great, streamlined black bra with a lovely rounded shape, free of embellishment and rendered in a black satin that looks almost like leather.  In February I remember noting that there are not a lot of badass/edgy/androgynous options for full-bust women who don’t want to wear ruffles or pink or frills or bows.  Here is that option, available in black, blush pink, grape wine trimmed with blush, and navy trimmed with black.  I would like one of each color, naturally.

See the gold jacket in the lookbook image above?  Yeah, that goes with this:

I know, right?  I was not previously aware that I needed a gold lace longline bra with a matching high-waist brief and a matching tuxedo bed jacket.  I now feel like it’s really, really important that one day these become a part of my life.  I got to try on the jacket, and it felt so silky and sumptuous, and I kind of didn’t want to give it back.

Sunday’s continuity colors include black, white, navy, blush pink (I’m calling it blush pink, while the line sheets call it “Sunday Nude”, and you know how I feel about calling beige/blush “nude”, so I’m going to pretend like it’s called blush pink, or ballet pink, or dusty rose, or anything other than nude, and we’ll carry on), with the aforementioned gold, floral, and purple fashion colors.  All bras are available in sizes 28 DD-H and 30-34 D-H (UK), with knickers in sizes XS-L and kimonos in S/M and M/L.

Sunday Intimates is definitely a higher-end luxury brand, which will be reflected in higher prices.  However, I did get to speak with Tannis and Simonette once Curve was over, and they told me that they’re going to investigate new suppliers for their powermesh, to bring the first season into a slightly more modest price point.  While the prices are higher than many full-bust customers may be used to, I for one wasn’t surprised by them.  Panache and Freya are enormous brands with a lot of muscle and history behind them, and their designs are mass-market-oriented and produced in China.  They’re going to produce slightly more generic prints (yes, even Freya) and slightly less daring styles, simply because they have to make products with broad appeal.  I would be thrilled to go into a small, indie lingerie boutique and have the opportunity, as my smaller-busted sisters are able to do regularly, to try an independent brand made in the USA that’s offering me something unique and special that’s more in keeping with the rest of my fashion choices.

So, hurray, right?  Well, here’s the exciting/frustrating thing about discovering new brands:

They’re brand new!  Strong new voices and awesome designs!  Some of my favorite colors!  Made in Los Angeles!  Great indie feel!  Fashion-forward!  Woohoo!  It’s really, really fun welcoming new talent, but if the stores don’t place orders, we won’t be able to try the products come Spring/Summer 2014.  This means Tannis and Simonette have to start thinking about an Autumn/Winter 2014 and Spring/Summer 2015 collection right now, without knowing if the current collection will even go to production.  If you have a local boutique you know will be at CurveNV, and you want them to look at Sunday Intimates, start spreading the word!  Let them know in person, drop them a tweet or an email, and who knows– you could be one of the voices that helps launch your new favorite lingerie brand!  Assuming the collection goes into production, e-commerce will launch in Spring 2014.  I kind of want to start saving my pennies just in case.

And Simonette DID mention something about film noir as an inspiration for Autumn/Winter 2014 …

Official Site (with the full lookbook, for more pretty pictures)
Sunday on Facebook
Sunday on Twitter
Sunday on Instagram

What do you think of this exciting new brand?

August 9, 2013 by Sweets | 14 Comments