Where Have I Been All Your Life?

In my almost 2 years of blogging about all things lingerie, I've spent most of my time avoiding the thousand pound elephant in the room (aka. Victoria's Secret). It's not that I hate VS (hey, they make lingerie after all...some of it is even nice lingerie), it's more that I hate the Starbucks effect they've had on the rest of the lingerie market (ironically, nobody likes Starbucks more than me...as a matter or fact, I'm going to need a non-fat latte just to get me through the rest of this post). But what has been okay, in my opinion, for coffee (ie. Starbucks wiping out the majority of 'mom and pop' coffee shops nationwide), has been borderline horrendous when it comes to Victoria's Secret's annihilation of the corner lingerie boutiques.

I thought it was because I'd rather ignore the corporate mass-produced lingerie of Victoria's Secret and dig deeper for harder-to-find but infinitely-more-rewarding lines of lingerie. I think that's been pretty well outlined in this blog in the past...at least in terms of what I've found online. But when it comes to the brick-and-mortar variety, I must begrudgingly admit, VS has made me just as lazy as everyone else. Often times 'harder-to-find' ultimately means 'to-hard-to-bother'. On the other hand, at least in Boston, when a lingerie shop opens, it's either not really my-type-of-people friendly (read: Agent Provocateur) or donate-an-organ-to-afford-anything-type of expensive (read: La Perla).

In my combined laziness and frustration, however, I spent years overlooking a store that encompassed everything I was looking for. To make matters worse, it stood smack in the middle of where I spent most of my time working, and all of my time going to school. The good news? Better late than never, I guess.

That store? French Dressing, smack in the middle of Beacon Hill, perhaps Boston's nicest neighborhood. I finally found it with huge assists from blogging friend Petra, and Boston Fashionista Miss Neira.

If I had to draw up what the perfect lingerie boutique would look like, this is what it would be: gorgeous lingerie that is both high quality and reasonably priced; personalized service that is both friendly and highly knowledgeable; private, discreet boutique shopping on one of Beacon Hill's many charming little side streets; and great brands such as Le Mystere, Desleigh Ann, Aubade, and many, many others. French Dressing has it all.

In a matter of moments it reminded me why a guy like me liked lingerie so much. In an instant, I recalled why I blogged about lingerie so much, and why I had to get back into it.