Fashion News Flash

THE MEN’S LINGERIE MARKET

HEADLINES

• The Men’s Lingerie Market
• An underpainting was found beneath Vermeer ‘Milkmaid’ painting

THE MEN’S LINGERIE MARKET

• Not the usual selection of plain boxer briefs or men’s briefs, but rather lacey, thongs, garter belts, and satin robes made specifically for men.
• Some women’s lingerie manufacturers have offered this category as an addition to the core collections in the era of diversity and inclusion, despite it being mostly nonexistent in the mainstream fashion world until recently.
• However, the sudden growth of men’s lingerie has led certain firms to view the market differently, while other brands have had to reconsider how they feel about men’s privates.
• The emergence of gender-neutral clothing, which includes innerwear, has further raised awareness of the category. Happy Nation, a gender-neutral preteen brand, was introduced by lingerie behemoth Victoria’s Secret in April. In the same month, Victoria’s Secret’s Pink introduced a gender-neutral line and made Darren Barnet the brand’s first male ambassador.

AN UNDERPAINTING WAS FOUND BENEATH VERMEER ‘MILKMAID’ PAINTING

• Two items that were later covered up by paint in Johannes Vermeer’s The Milkmaid, painted in 1657–1658, have been discovered thanks to advanced scanning technology, offering fresh insight into the Dutch painter’s creative process.
• At a press conference held on Thursday at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which is organizing a significant Vermeer show for the following year, these “startling finds” were revealed. An underpainting, or an early sketch of the composition that serves as the foundation for later layers of the painting. This underpainting originally featured a fire basket and a jug holder, which Vermeer later painted over.
• Experts had previously believed that Vermeer had created his little body of work extremely slowly and precisely. These scans of The Milkmaid reveal that the artist first added a thick black drawing and bright and dark values before going on to further develop the intricate canvas.