Getting into intimate apparel

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As women, we make a really big deal about our outfits. We worry whether our skirt matches the blouse, whether the material feels soft on our skin or whether the clothes flatter our figure.

What if the clothes you wear cost half of your monthly salary? No problem. Or what if the clothes are grossly overrated because the brand is being worn on hips and chests from New York to New Delhi? Well, we're only human.

But what about the things we wear underneath it all?

I admit that my own lingerie-awareness only emerged a couple of years ago. Before that, as long as the underwear didn't make my breasts look like ruined pancakes, the material didn't make me itch and it didn't cost any more than a blouse, it was fine with me.

Whether the bra matched the panties or which was the best material, well, it never really crossed my mind.

Thankfully, I am not alone in my disregard for the clothes we wear closest to our skin.

According to lingerie designer Nico Genze, people here are not conscious about what they wear under their clothes, unlike in the United States and particularly in Europe.

But he said we should care more about it because it really is our most "intimate" clothing.

"Especially in this climate, it has to be very good quality and suitable," said the 27-year-old designer.

A German native who has spent half of his life in Jakarta with his consultant parents, Genze is the owner of a new lingerie boutique, niconico intimo.

First opened last October, the boutique has four outlets: one in Bali, one at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and two in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

The boutique offers high quality couture lingerie.

"I don't really want to make a mass product, but instead produce affordable couture," Genze said.

He has four labels: niconico intimo, or the premium men's line, niconico intima, or the premium women's line, niconico blue for the men's line and niconico missimi for younger women.

"The premium men's line doesn't exist yet, and it's not going to be truly premium. I mean, men don't really wear very high quality lingerie, unlike women."

Genze's experience with lingerie was obtained from working at Victoria's Secret, which took lingerie out of the closet and brought it respectability and class, and then later on at Jockey, both in the United States, after he graduated from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

"At first I was more into swimwear, but then turned to lingerie," Genze said.

Genze quit his job in January last year and then went to Germany where he did some research before returning to Indonesia to study market needs.

"I want to produce upscale or high class lingerie. There is not much of it here," he said.

In September, he went back to Germany and found a family business which has been manufacturing lingerie for 50 years. Genze then collaborated with them to produce his designs.

Most of the lingerie is produced in France. Genze designs the lingerie here, make the samples and sends them off to France for production.

Designing lingerie, according to him, is difficult. Couture and lingerie also do not really go together.

"Famous brands like DKNY, Dior and Calvin Klein have lingerie but it's under license, they give the brand to somebody else. That's because producing lingerie has certain difficulties, because it's closer to your body," he said.

The price for lingerie in niconico intimo starts at Rp 170,000 (US$15.45) for a pair of panties, while the price range for a bra is Rp 260,000 to Rp 400,000.

Men's underwear starts from Rp 45,000. The boutique also offers sleepwear, swimwear, bikinis and also sheets and pillow cases.

Most of the lingerie is in basic colors with some accents. There is also a bra filled with liquid silicon to help those women who wish they were better endowed.

"We're only starting. But we plan to produce more varied styles and funkier stuff," Genze said.

But don't ask for kinky stuff, please.

"I'm not saying that the kinky stuff is not good. It's fun but it's not our image. We want to focus on upscale, classy stuff of high quality. Sexy yes, there is even lingerie with garter belts or something. But still, it has to be classy."

So far, he added, sales have been quite good, with most customers coming from the "young executive" set.

"It (the business) is slowly moving. I think the awareness is improving," he said.

Improving, perhaps, but even fashion models may be a bit wary of lingerie.

Genze is scheduled to launch his outlet in Kemang Timur, South Jakarta, next Saturday at the Venue cafe, but has found it hard to find models.

"The models don't want to wear them so we have to give them overcoats. And the organizer has said that no men or journalists are allowed while this is, of course, aimed at promoting things, you know," he said.

"I don't have a problem with that. I live in this country and I want to respect the culture. But I can't show my lingerie without someone to model it. Another thing is, the models are too slim while, abroad, there are underwear models who are fleshier."

Beside kinky stuff, don't ask Genze about which brand in department stores is top because he would point to Prada as the best premium line.

"I don't think I'm doing any harm in telling you this. The mass produced products are imported but they are just too similar and of much the same quality; they're not really good," he said.

Well, in that case, it looks like I'll have to be the same old me who would not buy underwear that cost much more than my other outfits.