People of Lingerie

Founder · French

Herminie Cadolle

1845-1926

Paris corsetiere whose 1889 corselet-gorge split the corset in two; founder of Maison Cadolle, first in Buenos Aires in 1887.

Founder · French

Simone Pérèle

Founded 1948

French corsetière who founded the Simone Pérèle lingerie house with her husband Wolf in Paris in 1948.

Designer · French

Chantal Thomass

Born 1947

French designer who put lingerie into her ready-to-wear shows from 1976 and has run the Chantal Thomass lingerie label since 1975.

Founder · American

Mary Phelps Jacob

1892-1970

New York socialite who patented the backless brassiere in 1914 and sold the patent to Warner's for $1,500; later Caresse Crosby.

Founder · American

Roy Raymond

1947-1993

American founder of Victoria's Secret, which he opened in Palo Alto in 1977 and sold to Les Wexner for $1 million in 1982.

Founder · American

Frederick Mellinger

1913-1990

Founder of Frederick's of Hollywood, the mail-order lingerie house he started in 1946, and seller of the 1948 Rising Star push-up bra.

Founder · American

Sara Blakely

Born 1971

Founder of Spanx, the Atlanta shapewear company she started in 2000 with $5,000 and a pair of footless control-top pantyhose.

Founder · American

Ida Rosenthal

1886-1973

Co-founder of Maidenform in 1922 and its president from 1958, who built the cup-sized bra into an American mass-market product.

Founder · Barbadian

Rihanna

Born 1988

Barbadian singer and businesswoman who founded the lingerie brand Savage X Fenty with TechStyle Fashion Group in May 2018.

Founder · American

Kim Kardashian

Born 1980

Co-founder of Skims, the Los Angeles shapewear and underwear company launched in 2019 with shapewear in nine skin-tone shades.

Founder · Italian

Ada Masotti

1904-1996

Bologna dressmaker and corset maker who founded La Perla in 1954 and ran it until her son Alberto took over in 1981.

Founder · American

Heidi Zak

Born 1981

Co-founder and CEO of ThirdLove, the San Francisco bra brand that sold half-cup sizes online from 2014.

Founder · American

Michelle Cordeiro Grant

Born 1980

Former Victoria's Secret merchant who founded Lively in 2016 and sold it to Wacoal in 2019 for 85 million dollars up front.

Founder · Canadian

Joanna Griffiths

Born 1986

Canadian founder of Knix (2013), the Toronto brand that made leakproof underwear a mainstream lingerie category.

Founder · Colombian-American

Sofia Vergara

Born 1972

Colombian-American actress who co-founded EBY, a seamless underwear subscription that funds microloans, with Renata Black in 2017.

Founder · British

Joseph Corré

Born 1967

British businessman who co-founded Agent Provocateur with Serena Rees in Soho in 1994 and sold control of it in 2007.

Founder · British

Serena Rees

Born 1968

British co-founder of Agent Provocateur, opened in Soho in 1994, and later founder of the underwear label Les Girls Les Boys.

Founder · Filipino-American

Josie Cruz Natori

Born 1947

Manila-born former Merrill Lynch banker who founded the Natori lingerie and sleepwear house in New York in 1977.

Founder · Polish

Ewa Michalak

Polish bra designer who built a made-to-order underwire range of more than 300 sizes from a workshop in Lodz, starting in 2009.

Founder · Colombian

Leonisa Family

Est. 1956

The four Urrea Urrea brothers from Guatape, who founded the Colombian lingerie and shapewear maker Leonisa in Medellin in 1956.

Founder · Australian

Nicky Zimmermann

Born 1967

Australian designer who co-founded the Zimmermann label with her sister Simone in Sydney in 1991, starting at Paddington Markets.

Founder · American

Francesca Aiello

Born 1995

Co-founded Frankies Bikinis with her mother Mimi in Malibu in 2012 and leads design for the swimwear label.

Designer · French

Coco Chanel

1883-1971

French couturier whose jersey clothes and unboned silhouettes of the 1910s and 1920s helped end the corset's hold on fashion.

Designer · French

Christian Dior

1905-1957

French couturier whose 1947 New Look put the narrow waist and structured foundation garments back at the center of fashion.

Designer · French

Jean Paul Gaultier

Born 1952

French designer who made corsetry outerwear in the 1980s and created the cone-bra corsets for Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition tour.

Designer · British

Stella McCartney

Born 1971

British designer whose house launched a licensed lingerie line in 2008, made by Bendon until 2017 and by ISA Spa from 2018.

Designer · French

Thierry Mugler

1948-2022

French couturier, 1948 to 2022, whose wasp-waisted, corseted silhouettes and stage corsets turned lingerie construction into fashion.

Designer · British

Vivienne Westwood

1941-2022

British designer (1941-2022) whose corsets and crinolines of the 1980s and 1990s brought historical underwear back as outerwear.

Designer · Italian

Donatella Versace

Born 1955

Italian designer who led Versace from 1997 to 2025, kept corsetry on its runway and launched Versace Underwear in 2013.

Designer · Belgian

Carine Gilson

Belgian designer who has made couture lingerie in Brussels since 1990, known for Chantilly lace hand-inlaid into silk.

Designer · British

Sarah Shotton

Creative director of Agent Provocateur since 2010, who started at the brand answering phones in one of its shops.

Model · Brazilian

Gisele Bündchen

Born 1980

Brazilian supermodel and Victoria's Secret Angel from 1999 to 2006 who wore the $15 million Red Hot Fantasy Bra in 2000.

Model · Brazilian

Adriana Lima

Born 1981

Brazilian model who walked 18 Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows and held an Angel contract from 2000 to 2018.

Model · American

Tyra Banks

Born 1973

First African American on the Victoria's Secret catalog cover (1997), Angel from 1997 to 2005 and creator of America's Next Top Model.

Model · British

Naomi Campbell

Born 1970

British supermodel who opened the 1996 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, the first Black model to do so, and walked it until 2005.

Model · German-American

Heidi Klum

Born 1973

German model and TV host, Victoria's Secret Angel from 1999 to 2010, who wore the 2003 Fantasy Bra and hosted the show five times.

Model · German

Claudia Schiffer

Born 1970

German supermodel of the 1990s who wore the first Victoria's Secret Fantasy Bra, the 1996 Million Dollar Miracle Bra.

Model · American

Cindy Crawford

Born 1966

American supermodel of the 1980s and 1990s whose lingerie record runs from Playboy covers to Savage X Fenty in 2021.

Model · Czech

Eva Herzigová

Born 1973

Czech model, born 1973, the face of Wonderbra's 1994 "Hello Boys" poster, one of the best-known bra advertisements ever made.

Model · Dutch

Doutzen Kroes

Born 1985

Dutch model and Victoria's Secret Angel from 2008 to 2014, later the face of Hunkemoller's Doutzen's Stories lingerie line.

Model · Brazilian

Alessandra Ambrosio

Born 1981

Brazilian model, Victoria's Secret Angel from 2004 to 2017, first PINK spokesmodel and two-time Fantasy Bra wearer.

Model · Australian

Miranda Kerr

Born 1983

Australian model, Victoria's Secret's first Australian Angel (2007 to 2013), PINK face from 2006 and founder of KORA Organics.

Model · South African

Candice Swanepoel

Born 1988

South African model, Victoria's Secret Angel from 2010, wearer of the 2013 Royal Fantasy Bra and founder of the swimwear label Tropic of C.

Model · Namibian

Behati Prinsloo

Born 1988

Namibian model, Victoria's Secret Angel from 2009, who walked twelve Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows between 2007 and 2025.

Model · American

Jasmine Tookes

Born 1991

American model and Victoria's Secret Angel from 2015 who wore the $3 million Bright Night Fantasy Bra at the 2016 Paris show.

Model · Brazilian

Lais Ribeiro

Born 1989

Brazilian model, Victoria's Secret Angel from 2015, who wore the $2 million Champagne Nights Fantasy Bra in Shanghai in 2017.

Model · Czech

Karolína Kurková

Born 1984

Czech model who walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show from 2000 to 2008 and in 2010, and was a contracted Angel from 2005 to 2009.

Model · American

Lily Aldridge

Born 1985

American model who walked every Victoria's Secret Fashion Show from 2009 to 2018, an Angel from 2010, and wore the 2015 Fantasy Bra.

Model · Swedish

Elsa Hosk

Born 1988

Swedish model and former pro basketball player who wore the $1 million Dream Angels Fantasy Bra at the 2018 Victoria's Secret show.

Model · Hungarian

Barbara Palvin

Born 1993

Hungarian model, first Hungarian Victoria's Secret Angel (2019 to 2021), who walked the show in 2012, 2018 and the relaunch.

Model · Northern Irish-New Zealander

Stella Maxwell

Born 1990

Belgian-born model who walked her first Victoria's Secret show in 2014, was an Angel from 2015, and returned to the runway in 2025.

Model · American

Taylor Hill

Born 1996

American model who walked her first Victoria's Secret show at 18 in 2014 and became an Angel in 2015, after starting in an Intimissimi catalog.

Model · Portuguese

Sara Sampaio

Born 1991

Portuguese model from Porto, the first Portuguese Victoria's Secret Angel (2015 to 2021), and SI Swimsuit Rookie of the Year 2014.

Model · Dutch

Romee Strijd

Born 1995

Dutch model who walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show from 2014 to 2018 and became the brand's third Dutch Angel in 2015.

Model · Danish

Josephine Skriver

Born 1993

Danish model, Victoria's Secret Angel from 2016, who walked every Victoria's Secret Fashion Show from 2013 to 2018.

Model · Brazilian

Izabel Goulart

Born 1984

Brazilian model, Victoria's Secret Angel from 2005 to 2008, who walked every Victoria's Secret Fashion Show from 2005 to 2016.

Model · American

Ashley Graham

Born 1987

American model whose lingerie and swimwear work took plus-size bodies from a banned 2010 Lane Bryant ad to the Victoria's Secret runway.

Model · British-American

Paloma Elsesser

Born 1992

London-born model who walked Rihanna's Savage X Fenty shows and the revived Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2024 and 2025.

Model · Brazilian

Valentina Sampaio

Born 1996

Brazilian model, the first openly transgender model for Victoria's Secret (2019) and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (2020).

Model · Canadian

Winnie Harlow

Born 1994

Canadian model who in 2018 became the first model with vitiligo to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Model · American

Precious Lee

Born 1990

American curve model, the first Black curve model to walk for Versace, and a Savage X Fenty Show cast member in 2021 and 2022.

Model · Dutch

Jill Kortleve

Born 1993

Dutch curve model who walked Chanel, Fendi and Alexander McQueen from 2018 to 2020 and the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2024.

Model · American

Leyna Bloom

Born 1994

American model and actress, the first openly transgender cover model of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, in 2021.

Model · American

Hunter Schafer

Born 1998

Model and actress (Euphoria). Fashion and lingerie campaigns for Shiseido, Prada, Calvin Klein.

Model · South Sudanese-Australian

Adut Akech

Born 1999

South Sudanese-Australian model, twice models.com Model of the Year, cast in Victoria's Secret campaigns in 2022 and 2023.

Model · South Sudanese-American

Anok Yai

Born 1997

American model discovered at Howard homecoming in 2017, the second Black model to open Prada, and a Victoria's Secret runway model in 2024 and 2025.

Activists & Icon · American

Amelia Bloomer

1818-1894

Newspaper editor whose 1850s campaign for trousers under a short skirt put the word bloomers into the language.

Designer · American

Dita Von Teese

Born 1972

American burlesque performer and former lingerie buyer whose own vintage-style lingerie label launched in 2010.

Model · American

Bettie Page

1923-2008

American pin-up model of the 1950s whose stockings, garter belts and lingerie photographs set the look of the era.

Founder · American

Wallace Hume Carothers

1896-1937

DuPont research chemist whose Wilmington polymer group first made nylon in 1935, the fiber behind the nylon stocking.

Founder · American

Marie Tucek

Active 1890s

New York inventor who patented a "breast supporter" with separate cups on a curved metal plate in 1893, an early ancestor of the underwire bra.

Designer · British

Lady Duff-Gordon (Lucile)

1863-1935

London couturier behind Lucile (1893-1922), known for lingerie, tea gowns, softer corsets and the first staged mannequin parades.

Founder · French

Louis Réard

1896-1984

French engineer and lingerie shop owner who introduced the bikini in Paris on 5 July 1946 and named it after Bikini Atoll.

Model · French

Micheline Bernardini

Born 1927

Casino de Paris dancer who modeled Louis Reard's first bikini at the Piscine Molitor in Paris on 5 July 1946, aged 18.

Activists & Icon · American

Madonna

Born 1958

American singer whose 1990 Blond Ambition tour, dressed by Jean Paul Gaultier in a cone-bra corset, made underwear a stage costume.

Executive · American

Leslie Wexner

Born 1937

Ohio retailer who bought Victoria's Secret in 1982 and ran it within L Brands until stepping down as CEO in 2020.

Executive · American

Jan Singer

American apparel executive, CEO of Spanx from 2014 and chief executive at Victoria's Secret from 2016 until late 2018.

Executive · British

Martin Waters

British retail executive who was CEO of Victoria's Secret from November 2020 to September 2024, through its 2021 spin-off.