Maison Close

Maison Close was not born in Paris. The French seduction-lingerie label was founded in Marseille in 2006 by designer Nicolas Busnel, who works under the name Monsieur le Francais, and in July 2026 it changed its name to Scandale, after an old French corsetry brand it had bought the year before.

A Marseille accessories label that grew

By the company's own account, Maison Close started almost by accident, with no business plan and no investors. It was meant to be a small accessories brand with a few lingerie pieces on the side. The name is the French euphemism for a licensed brothel, the "closed house" of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and it set the tone: boudoir rather than bridal, staged photographs rather than catalog shots.

Busnel has been the house's only designer since the start, which is rare for a brand of its size and shows in how consistent the look has stayed across twenty years.

Signatures: stockings, catsuits and the triangle bra

Legwear, 2007

The first signature pieces were for the legs. Busnel designed a rolled-top cut stocking meant to reach just below the buttock, lengthening the leg under the pull of a suspender belt, along with fully fashioned seamed nylons in unusual colors and layered, calendered sheers that give a moire effect.

The catsuit, 2009

In 2009 the label moved into larger pieces: dresses, bodysuits, jumpsuits. The house says this began as a way to use up fabric bought to meet mill minimum orders. Busnel called the all-in-one sheer bodysuit a catsuit, after Catwoman, comic books, the circus and dance costumes. The house claims its use of the word spread from there; whatever the origin, the sheer catsuit became one of the label's best-known products.

The triangle bra

In August 2009 Maison Close brought back the soft triangle bra at a time when the padded push-up dominated the market. The pitch was aimed at small busts and at showing lingerie rather than hiding it. Visible suspender clips, open cups and harness strapping followed, and they are what the label is now known for.

Kate Moss, Madonna and a SoHo shop

The British trade gave Maison Close its first big award in 2014, when it was named Boudoir Brand of the Year at the UK Lingerie Awards. The same year Kate Moss wore the brand in LUI magazine, photographed by Steven Meisel.

In 2015 the label opened its first store in New York, in SoHo, in the space once occupied by the Cafe Noir. It marks 22 April, the anniversary of that opening, as its "Day of the Muse". Meisel shot Madonna in Maison Close for Harper's Bazaar in 2017, and the house lists Rihanna, Bella Hadid, Cara Delevingne and Gisele Bundchen among other famous wearers. In 2021 Miley Cyrus wore pieces from its Blue Angel collection, an iridescent blue foil inspired by the Morpho butterfly, on an album cover, on tour and at the Super Bowl.

Collections with plots

Between 2018 and 2020 the collections took on stronger themes. Pure Tentation was second-skin and sensory, Chambre Noire openly fetishist, Inspiration Divine built around a gold cross and a visible suspender clasp, and Corps a Corps introduced neon colors and interchangeable straps. In 2020 Lize.K joined as artistic director, and the brand's photography and films grew more cinematic. A Bunny motif inspired by Helmut Newton's photographs had been part of the look since 2016.

The business also widened. Ready-to-wear arrived in 2023 under the name Le Vestiaire, and the company moved its creative headquarters into the former Noilly Prat distillery in Marseille. In 2024 it staged The Crazy Catwalk Show for its eighteenth birthday, and in 2025 it launched Le Bain, its first swim and resort line.

From Maison Close to Scandale

In 2025 Busnel bought Scandale, a French lingerie house founded in 1932 with its own archive of corsetry. In February 2026 Maison Close released Rococo, the first collection in homage to the older name, reworking archive corset construction. In July 2026 the company officially changed its name to Scandale, saying it wanted a heritage name that would travel better internationally while keeping the same product and design. The twentieth anniversary was marked with a private show at the Theatre Le Trianon in Paris.

The first Scandale boutique opened at 5 rue Cambon in Paris. That puts the former Maison Close directly across the street from Maison Cadolle at number 4, the house that claims the invention of the bra.

Last updated October 7, 2026