Victoria’s Secret has a new beau.
It’s French designer Lisa Chavy, whose Livy collection will be sold in select Victoria’s Secret stores starting Wednesday.
See-through bras, lace panties, skinny cross-stitch backing and bold lines plastered across the chest in black and strawberry-colored red embody the collection. The Parisian designer said the flirty pieces are a little bit like her hometown, a little bit mysterious.
“You don’t have to show everything just to show something,” Chavy told WWD.
A full-back bra embroidered with a tiger is peeking out of the designer’s own backless sweater as she speaks. The tiger, like Chavy’s collection, resembles the modern woman, “wild, but not beyond the limits or isolated.”
That is who Chavy is designing for: the modern woman; she doesn’t have just one personality type, but instead, “is multifaceted.”
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“Sometimes she would like to feel sexy. Sometimes she would like to shun the lingerie and be very modern. And sometimes she would like to be more relaxed,” Chavy said. “That’s why we developed the brand.”
Starting this month, two Victoria’s Secret locations — New York City’s flagship along Fifth Avenue and London’s New Bond Street store — will have Livy boutiques in house. Pieces from the collection will also be available in select Victoria’s Secret locations across the country as well as the web site. Prices range from around $50 to nearly $500.
Chavy started Livy two years ago after working in the fashion industry for more than a decade, creating, among other things, swimwear and nightwear. But it was lingerie that “fascinated” her. The Livy brand, Chavy said, was inspired by women in three cities, Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Different garments are meant to evoke different moods.
“It was very important for me to launch my very personal project,” Chavy said. “What I love is lingerie.”
The Angels seem to love the lineup, too.
“It almost feels like you’re not wearing anything,” said Victoria’s Secret angel Sara Sampaio, who was wearing a lacy Livy bra while in New York. “The way it forms on your body; I feel very sexy wearing it.”
Livy’s launch within Victoria’s Secret comes at a time when the brand continues to lose market share to smaller start-ups like American Eagle Outfitters’ Aerie and Knix. Parent company L Brands’ revenues, which includes the Bath & Body Works business, slipped from $1 billion in January 2018 to roughly $780 million last month. The stock is also down more than 44 percent year-over-year.
Victoria’s Secret would not comment for the story. Some analysts argue the lingerie company needs to expand its assortment in order to continue appealing to changing shoppers.
Livy might help. As the brand’s popularity continues to grow, so does its distribution. The collection can be found in department stores and retailers in Europe and the U.S., such as Le Bon Marché in Paris, Galeries Lafayette, Coco de Mer London and New York’s Bergdorf Goodman. Chavy also has three Livy stores in France and plans to open a fourth in Paris later this year.
But just how long the collection will stay with Victoria’s Secret is a mystery.
“This is the beginning of our love story,” Chavy said.