Fw: The latest accessory: beyond cleavage ~ Chicago Trib

[Guest guest]

All I can say is, how frivilous, how stupid, how sleazy...

Patty

From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 11:14 PM

Subject: The latest accessory: beyond cleavage ~ Chicago Trib

> Latest News The latest accessory: beyond cleavage

>

>

http://www.chicagotribune.com/leisure/tempo/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-

0105

> 080010,FF.html

>

> The latest accessory: beyond cleavage

>

> By Judy Hevrdejs

> Tribune staff reporter

> May 8, 2001

>

> Scan the magazine racks. You can't help noticing them. Charlize Theron's

> are revealed on Esquire. Aniston's tease from the cover of May's

> Vanity Fair.

>

> And they have been popping up on TV and in movies - 's, if

> you recall, made a notable appearance at the s.

>

> What gives with all the nipples?

>

> " I think nipples are just there now as a part of fashion, " says

> Steele, acting director of the museum at the Fashion Institute of

> Technology in New York. " They have really become an acceptable part of

> fashion for at least the high-fashion and street-style worlds. "

>

> But will the trend reach the rest of America? Lori Barghini is banking on

it.

>

> Last summer, Barghini plus pals Cobbs, and Bill Glaeser

> launched a Web site (www.bodyperks.com) to sell bodyperks -basically,

> erect silicone nipples ($20 a set) that are meant to be tucked inside a

> bra.

>

> The quartet from Minneapolis-St. sought funding for their endeavor

> ( " A lot of people looked at us like we were nuts, " Barghini recalls), then

> sold more than 1,000 pairs at a South Dakota motorcycle rally.

>

> Next, they went to Vegas, where they did their own market research. " We

> had someone dressed really provocatively, with cleavage. And someone else

> in a short skirt, high heels. And then we put a girl in khakis and a nice

> little sweater with pearls. I mean real prim, but wearing the 'perks.

> Guess who gets all the attention? " asks Barghini.

>

> The woman wearing the pearls and the bodyperks, according to Barghini,

> noting " for men, it's almost like a subliminal thing. They're drawn to it

> like bees to honey. "

>

> She wasn't talking about the pearls.

>

> Last month, the bodyperks team attended a lingerie industry show in Las

> Vegas and with at least one major retailer interested in the product, says

> Barghini, bodyperks could be available at a lingerie department near you

> soon.

>

> " Movie stars and all those in that area are a little more forward in

> that, " says Cyndi Salat, at Schwartz's Intimate Apparel in Wilmette. " As

> far as the general public? For every day [wear], they're looking for a

> little more coverage. "

>

> Barghini is quick to note that bodyperks are not meant for the office or

> boardroom, but instead as a fun accessory. " It's to go out and be sexy and

> flirt, " she says.

>

> Those who consider a funky faux diamond brooch from your granny a fun

> accessory might not feel the same way about these faux nipples. As Steele

> points out, the appearance of nipples in fashion can evoke strong

> emotions.

>

> " Because of the way that they stand up like that, they can be a little

> embarrassing because they are showing that you are having some kind of

> physiological response, " Steele says. " So I think that in that way, they

> are more revealing and, therefore, maybe more taboo than cleavage. . . .

> The nipples are a like a blush on the breasts. I think most women would be

> more embarrassed or anxious about that than about other forms of breast

> exposure. "

>

> While Barghini calls bodyperks a fashion accouterment and puts them in the

> same category as a padded bra, she also thinks a woman who has had a

> mastectomy or is contemplating reconstruction could try them to see if

> they want that look.

>

> New Yorker Liz Carr has tried them.

>

> " I've worn them at work a couple times and about five times clubbing, "

> says Carr, a manager at Field, an eclectic New York boutique --

> yes, the same Field who is costume designer for HBO's " Sex and

> the City. "

>

> And the reaction?

>

> " I got a lot of looks from men and women and a lot of women asking me

> about them, " says Carr, who says the boutique has sold about 10 pairs in

> the six months they've carried them. " When I was wearing them out, I was

> really happy about it. [You] just pop them inside your bra and it's more

> subtle or just right in your T-shirt and that's more of statement. It's

> like a toy thing. A fun way to slip out of yourself and be something

> different. "

>

>