Via Luna: Designing the Details

Lucy Oganessian envisions that the Via Luna printed-mesh, leopard-print bodysuit she designed would be worn with a tailored blazer and pencil skirt. Another lacy bra connected to a high-waisted, microfiber girdle could pass for a body-conscious party dress. If Via Luna’s lingerie appears to have a ready-to-wear styling sense, it’s because the designer never planned on designing lingerie.

“I just wanted a job,” Oganessian said of her first gig “cutting swatches for boards” at Esportia, a Duarte, Calif.–based manufacturer. She learned to love the medium and went on to work as a lingerie and sleepwear designer at companies that include Felina and Clothing for Modern Times.

“I have worked with really great women that have experience in years of lingerie. It’s very detailed. It’s so much more specific. All the elements that go into constructing a lingerie garment are so much more than anything else you want to make. One-eighth [of an inch] makes a difference,” Oganessian said.

Oganessian will launch her own line Via Luna in partnership with a privately owned lingerie company with offices in Los Angeles and Hong Kong. It will ship to select stores for Holiday 2010 and Valentines 2011 deliveries. She plans to unveil the official launch at the February 2011 trade shows with an added plus-size range. Wholesale price points will range from $12–$25 for bras, $8–$15 for bottoms and bodysuits for $25–$34.

Via Luna skips the basics side of foundations and is just pure fashion in sizes S to XL; and 32 to 38, A to C cups. On top of her ready-to-wear fashion point-of-view, Oganessian considered her friend’s requests for lingerie that was “sexy without being trashy.” The key component of balancing that scale was to design items that accentuated assets and minimized flaws. For example, a nylon/spandex power-mesh bustier “has a lot of good support so it will suck a lot of things in, but it’s short enough and shows off the booty.”

Slimmer body types are not forgotten. “Some girls don’t have big cups, where a lot of my bodysuits will enhance that,” Oganessian said.

For more information, call (818) 455-6971, e-mail vialunalingerie@gmail.com or visit www.vialunalingerie.com.—Rhea Cortado