Charlott' Lingerie

Charlott' is a French lingerie brand founded in 1994 by Veronique Garnodier, who drew her first designs in her own kitchen. It sells through home parties run by independent advisers rather than through shops, and describes itself as France's number one in home selling of lingerie. Until 2017 it traded as Charlott' Lingerie, the name under which it appears in this encyclopedia.

A kitchen start in 1994

The brand's own history page tells the founding story simply. Garnodier began designing lingerie at her kitchen table in 1994 and built the company from there. The career-change site Rebondir, which profiled the company on its 25th anniversary, gives the same account.

One widely copied directory entry says Charlott' was founded in Paris in the early 2000s. That is wrong on the date, and nothing in the sources ties the founding to Paris. The brand started in 1994, and it marked its 25th anniversary in 2019 and passed 30 years in 2024.

Lingerie sold at home

Charlott' does not depend on a chain of boutiques or department-store counters. Its sales are made by independent advisers, called "conseilleres" in French, who hold gatherings in private homes. A host invites friends, the adviser brings samples, the guests try pieces on and place orders, and the goods are delivered afterward.

The method has advantages that suit lingerie in particular. Trying on a bra in a friend's living room is more relaxed than in a shop fitting room, and the adviser is on hand to help with size and fit. It is the model that made party-plan selling popular for household goods in the mid-twentieth century, and in Britain Ann Summers used a similar party network for decades.

The claim to be number one in French home selling of lingerie is the company's own, and no independent figure was found to confirm or contest it. What the record does show is a business that has kept the same sales model for more than thirty years.

From Charlott' Lingerie to Charlott'

In 2017 the company dropped "Lingerie" from its name and became simply Charlott'. The French trade publication Intima, writing for the 25th anniversary in April 2019, explained the change: the brand had added ready-to-wear clothing to its range, and the old name no longer covered everything the advisers sold. Lingerie stayed at the center of the offer, but customers could now buy tops and other garments at the same home party.

The change matches what many French lingerie names have done. A brand that starts in bras and briefs often moves into nightwear, loungewear and then clothing, as Etam did on the high street, so that a single customer relationship can carry more products.

Dressing every body shape

In its 30th-anniversary messages Charlott' presented itself as an inclusive brand that dresses all body shapes. For a home-selling brand that position follows from the method. An adviser fitting a group of friends in a living room meets every size and shape at once, and a range that only works for one body type would fail at the first party.

The pitch is aimed at women who want help with fit and would rather not shop for a bra in a store. The lace bra and brief, the staple of French lingerie, travels well to a home party, where it can be passed round, tried on and ordered on the spot.

Thirty years on the same model

Garnodier's company has now passed thirty years. It has changed its name and widened its range into clothing, but it has kept the home-party network it started with. Charlott' still sells the way it did when its founder carried her first samples out of the kitchen.

Last updated October 7, 2026