Princesse tam.tam

Princesse tam.tam is a French lingerie, swimwear and homewear brand founded in Paris on April 1, 1985, by the sisters Loumia and Shama Hiridjee. It grew from a single gift shop on the Left Bank into one of France's largest lingerie chains, was bought by Fast Retailing, the Japanese owner of Uniqlo, in 2005, and went through store closures and court-supervised restructuring in the 2020s.

The name is the same as the title of a 1935 French film starring Joséphine Baker, a fact that gives the brand a playful, slightly theatrical air, though no source we read says the sisters named the company after it.

A gift shop on rue Bréa

The Hiridjee sisters did not open with underwear. Their first shop, on rue Bréa in the sixth arrondissement of Paris, was a gift shop. Lingerie arrived two years later, in 1987, with the first Princesse tam.tam collection.

The brand built its name on color and print rather than black lace and corsetry. That put it closer to the fashion chains than to the old Paris ateliers, and it explains why the shops could sell a nightshirt and a bra from the same table.

From lingerie to swimwear and homewear

The range widened quickly through the following decade. A homewear line came in 1991, built on pajamas and loungewear. Swimwear followed in 1993, and it suited the brand: the same prints and colors that worked on a cotton bralette moved easily onto a bikini top and a bikini bottom.

The company also began designing for other names. In 1996 it took the license for Lulu Castagnette lingerie, and in 2003 it added lingerie licenses for Kookaï and Daniel Hechter. Design stayed in France, while production was subcontracted to Morocco, Tunisia, Portugal, Madagascar, Mauritius and Asia.

Princesse tam.tam timeline

Year	Event
1985	Gift shop opens on rue Bréa, Paris, on April 1
1987	First lingerie collection
1991	Homewear line
1993	First swimwear collection
1996	Lulu Castagnette lingerie license
2003	Kookaï and Daniel Hechter lingerie licenses
2005	Fast Retailing buys 95 percent
2025	Receivership proceedings announced in June

The Fast Retailing purchase

On December 1, 2005, Fast Retailing bought 95 percent of Princesse tam.tam for 70 million euros. At that point French Wikipedia describes it as the second-largest French distribution chain in its lingerie sector, with 157 shops in France and 12 abroad. Its competitors on French shopping streets included national chains such as Etam, and the store count shows how far a Left Bank gift shop had come in twenty years.

The brand is still run through Fast Retailing France, and the current website is shared with Comptoir des Cotonniers, another French label held by the same group.

November 2008

On November 27, 2008, Loumia Hiridjee and her husband were killed in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The co-founder's death came three years after the sale, and the brand passed its next decade without either of its founders at the head of the business.

Closures and receivership

The 2020s were hard on French lingerie retail, and Princesse tam.tam was not spared. Between 2021 and 2025 its owner closed stores and presented several restructuring plans. In June 2025, judicial receivership proceedings were announced, according to French Wikipedia.

The brand has not disappeared. Its website is live in October 2026, operated by Fast Retailing France from 151 rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, and still sells bras, briefs, bodysuits, swimwear, pajamas, loungewear and some ready-to-wear. It now also sells pieces from Uniqlo's HEATTECH heat-retaining fabric line, a sign of how closely the French brand has been tied to its Japanese parent.

Last updated October 7, 2026