DEAR DIETRICH

Article excerpted from stylebubble.co.uk

Frederika Cook set up Dietrich in 2008 with the philosophy that she would create a niche in lingerie, drawing inspiration from haute couture and old Hollywood glamor. She set out to create lingerie as a parfumeur would craft a fragrance, taking a base note as structure, middle note as fabrics and the top note as the finishing touches (trims, skins, leathers....), all made in England or France. 

The concept of old Hollywood glamor really shouldn't be resonating with me, with my very non-hourglass bod and a distaste for things that veer too much towards a retro cliche.  However, both Dietrich's F/W 09-10 and S/S 10 collections seem to embody a retro spirit without being overtaken by it.  The use of leather and sting ray, for example, adds something more robust and modern to the pieces.  Traditional corsets are inverted by being constructed with exoskeletal boning.  There's something there that balances between sickeningly girly and vampishly sexy that strikes a chord with me.

I feel like a visit to Cook is necessary to really grasp the full details of what Dietrich is all about, and also to try the stuff on.  I suppose I should be scared that lingerie features in outerwear always seem to rock my boat, because clearly I would need to stop myself from wearing Dietrich on the outside and keep it firmly behind closed doors.