Private Arts: Artistic Graphics
The trio of friends behind Private Arts wanted to express a little bit more color, humor, graphic art and role playing in their intimates—minus the over-embellished frills seen on a Halloween-costume corset. The solution was cheeky and playful graphics sublimation-printed on flat lace thongs, bootie shorts and bandeau tops.
The company is based out of Huntington Beach, Calif., and it makes sense that co-owners Michelle Alexander, Jeffeny Hughes and Meaghan Walker would have a graphic approach to print design that’s closer to swimwear than lingerie. Alexander, an Art Center College and Design graduate, manipulates her own hand drawings, photographs and digital illustrations in Adobe Photoshop to create the prints.
“There’s T-shirts with arts and graphics, but there’s no intimates,” said Alexander, who has previously designed graphics for companies such as RVCA and Billabong.
Each style has a theme, such as “American Woman” for an American-flag print, as well as “Preps Cool,” a play on the sexy schoolgirl outfit with a bowtie drawing on the bandeau top and plaid boyshort bottoms.
“We say, ‘What girl do you want to be in the bedroom tonight?’ Normally, you might be like a surfer girl, but tonight in the bedroom when you take your clothes off, you want to be a cowgirl,” Alexander said.
Hughes, a Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising graduate, handles the technical design. The team’s mandatory concern was that the lingerie was comfortable and had ready-to-wear flexibility. The bandeaus in bright colors can be visible under skimpy tops and look like part of the outfit. For Fall 2012, the brand expands further into the innerwear/outwear crossover by adding loungewear off-the-shoulder boyfriend tees and tops that utilize the same print stories seen on the lingerie.
“We want our undies to be flat so that you can wear them under your clothes. We don’t want them to press on you; we don’t want them to give you a muffin top. If they are all lacy and embellished and have buttons on them, you’re not going to be able to wear them every day,” Alexander said.
Private Arts started shipping in 2010 and has been sold to stores such as Fred Segal and Molly Brown. Retail price points average $34 for underwear, $32 for bandeaus and $42 for a mini-bandeau.
For more information, call Private Arts at (714) 890-0099 or visit www.privateartsla.com.—Rhea Cortado
