Quelle horreur!

Photo: First international mass-marketing poster/ad of the bra copied from the designed of  Cadolle.

Quelle horreur!" But Ms. Cadolle admits that even her grandmother, Marguerite (by then in charge in this matriarchy, all called Cadolle) had to sell the flattening devices to fit the flapper fashion. Marguerite was a dynamo who kept the business flourishing by providing lingerie for clients like Mata Hari, the famous spy who supposedly removed live boas she wore as jewelry to be measured for her bras. "I can't verify that story," says Poupie, "but I think she did have secret pockets in her bras." Poupie's mother, Alice, presided over underpinnings for the wasp-waisted New Look after World War II -- a bonanza for the corset makers. "And my maman is still very chic," says the daughter, "though she's retired, and doesn't usually wear a corset any more." Poupie is happy to see so much underwear coming out of the closet and clients still coming into the rather pokey little Paris shop. She has plenty of sociological observations: "French men and women aren't embarrassed, and the women love things like dainty garter belts -- which the men adore, too.  "Americans have loosened up a bit, but the women still aren't much interested in garter belts and seem to want seamless bras made on molds, which I simply won't sell. They don't give any support." The Japanese are important new customers, "but they have a different kind of prudery. Men and women never come in as couples, only in one-sex groups." There is apparently a lot of ogling and pawing of merchandise. She thinks the women love corsets, since the Japanese figure is not notably curvy. "But for some reason, they hate transparency, even tulle. I'll have to find out why that is. They all just giggle like mad -- even sophisticated movie stars -- if they see transparency." And she is ecstatic about her new market in the U.S. West and Southwest. "The East is a little more prudish," she says. "They don't take as much pleasure in pretty lingerie." "But out there in Hollywood, they keep fit and are screaming with delight at sexy underwear." She keeps her present famous clients a secret, except for Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks's wife: "She told Women's Wear Daily her clothes look so great on her because of our lingerie underpinnings. That makes me feel very happy, to be recognized as part of the fashion scene!"

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