Rethinking lingerie: Rita Intimates second hand and female gaze

Paris - Valentine Cascailh, creator of the Rita Intimates concept, opened a pop-up store recently in Paris. Rita Intimates brings an eco-responsible approach, featuring second-hand lingerie and underwear (knickers and bras) from unsold collections and adds to that the benevolence of the ‘female gaze’.

The female gaze is the art of a new generation of women reclaiming their bodies, looking back at the years during which men seized them to shape them in the image of their fantasies (sexualisation, objectification, submission, etc.).

This is precisely the approach that motivates Cascailh. A graduate of the 'Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg', in her thesis she already criticised beauty standards. She then joined the team at Maison Margiela, before joining creative agency 'Maybe' as a freelance artistic director and graphic designer.

Her motivation for creating Rita Intimates came from the need to consume sustainably (vintage, second hand) and to bring the perspective of a modern woman, free with her body, to this sector.

In concrete terms, this translates into a selection of pieces (nightdresses, bodies, thongs, bras) found here and there, branded (La Perla, Aubade, Miu Miu, Prada, Balenciaga, etc.) or unbranded, and from unsold stock (as is the case with the knickers, which are new). All priced between 30 and 400 euros.

Rita Intimates: high-end feminine lingerie for an expression of sensuality far removed from stereotypes

To showcase her selection, Cascailh chose to exhibit briefly in a Parisian pop-up. The venue gave her the opportunity to show her vision of femininity, notably through visuals that contrasted with the hypersexualised images we find in most lingerie campaigns.

Here, body positivism is expressed through showing pubic hair and nipples through the transparency of an old rose synthetic fabric. It also shows the acceptance of a stomach that bears the marks of an ovarian operation, adorned with two scars. But also through the expression of extreme sensuality, women to women, because what counts is the benevolent gaze that women cast on their bodies and not the reflection of a magic mirror or a prince who is not always so charming.

For the inauguration of her pop-up, Cascailh called on French performance artist Charlotte Fourneuf-Niel for a symbolic undressing. She explores the links between body, memory and identity and concludes: “In Rita Intimates, the performer slowly undressed the ambivalent power of lingerie, exploring what it does to our bodies and to our identity”.

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