The Corset Maker Who Set Women Free
In 1948, in a Paris still rebuilding from the war, a master corset maker named Simone Pérèle opened a small atelier with a radical idea: lingerie should embrace a woman's natural shape, not imprison it.
Breaking with Tradition
This was revolutionary. For centuries, the purpose of intimate garments had been to reshape the body — to flatten, to cinch, to lift, to compress. Pérèle, who had spent years studying the craft of corset-making, understood the engineering better than anyone. And she concluded that the engineering was wrong.
Her designs moved away from rigid structure and toward soft construction — using the natural properties of silk, lace, and carefully placed seaming to support without constraining.
The Advertising Revolution
Pérèle was as innovative in marketing as she was in design. In an era when lingerie advertisements showed static, formal poses, she made her models pose seductively with a telephone in their hands — suggesting a real woman in a real moment, rather than a mannequin on display.
It was scandalous. It was effective. It changed how lingerie was sold.
A Family Business
The house of Simone Pérèle remains family-owned and operated, now in its third generation. The brand produces in France and is available in over 80 countries.
The Philosophy
What makes Simone Pérèle's contribution lasting is not a single garment but a philosophy: that lingerie should be designed around the body as it is, not the body as fashion dictates it should be. In 1948, this was heresy. By 2025, it had become the industry standard.
She didn't just make beautiful lingerie. She changed what beautiful lingerie was supposed to do.
The house of Simone Pérèle: French craftsmanship since 1948, available in 80+ countries worldwide.