I spent last week in India working on samples in
our main factory. Normally I go alone, but this year I was joined by wholesale
manager Richard who instantly fell in love with the country (although he's still
coming to terms with the traffic which makes London rush hour look like a quiet
Sunday afternoon drive). A lot of lingerie companies make samples in the UK
before going into production overseas. We find it a lot easier to work on
samples in the actual factory that will be producing the garment, that way we're
instantly aware of any problems that might arise: and generally there are a few!
Spending time in the factories we work with also allows us to get to know
everyone and get to know the manufacturing process. It really is fascinating
seeing everything being made: it takes 6 different machines just to make a
bullet bra!

One of the most difficult things when starting a
lingerie company is finding a reliable factory: especially when you start at a
tiny scale like we did. Although initially we worked with a British factory we
had lots of quality issues (when we complained we were told our customers were
too fat, causing seams to break - as a footnote the factory is no longer in
business!) As we were so tiny no other British factory would even talk to us.
We've been working with our Indian factory for nearly 10 years and now there are
about 22 people who work on What Katie Did lingerie exclusively (a third row of
machinists to the left hand side isn't shown).

We spent our time working on our AW11 collection (which  we're keeping
under wraps a the moment) and also revamping some of our Glamour shapewear.
Richard is so excited about the new Glamour additions that instead of waiting
for the launch of our SS11 collection, he wants them out as soon as possible -
all being well by the beginning of December in time for the party season.

We've been so busy preparing for the launch of our AW10 collection that we've forgotten to invite you to our little soiree! We're having a little get together in our London boutique on Sunday 5th September to celebrate the launch. There will be a 10% discount on all purchases made in the boutique on the day and refreshments will be served between 2 and 4pm. You'll also be able to pick up our brand new catalogue if you're not on our mailing list. Hope to see you there!

Where: What Katie Did boutique, 26 Portobello Green, 281 Portobello Road, London W10 5TZ

Contact: 0845 430 8943 or londonboutique@whatkatiedid.com

I've been a big fan of Viva Van Story's photography for several years now and thought I was finally going to meet her at Viva Las Vegas this year. Alas, things got a little crazy and the closest we got was when two of her glamorous assistants arrived at my hotel room to pick up a bag of WKD goodies. Viva sent over some of the pictures this week which, I'm sure you'll agree, look absolutely stunning. The model is wearing our Cabaret Morticia Corset with Harlow lingerie.

You'd be right in thinking that there is a little bit of competition between pin up photographers but I'm pleased to say that Tony Nylons (who is responsible for most of the photography on our site) is also a huge fan of Viva and has even gone so far as to put her new book on sale via his website. The book is slightly more risque than Tony's work, which should please Mr X who complained to him last week that his pictures weren't saucy enough! In case you're wondering, Amazon aren't discounting it (and currently don't even have stock) so you can support a small business without loosing out financially...

It's not often you come across a swanky looking wine stall at a hotrod show (especially one where the wine is not supposed to be consumed there and then), but they tend to do things a little different in Vegas. We stumbled upon 'Sort This Out' cellars, a Californian winery which not only takes its' wine, but also it's bottle labels very seriously. We were delighted to see Jami Deadly decorating a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in our pink Maitresse lingerie set (now discontinued, but is still available in black or white).

We like the way they talk too: 'Tired of the traditional wine country narrative, we wanted to move beyond the iconic family winery, or estate grown grape paradigms that have dominated the California wine landscape and instead make wines that looked more like the people who drank them. Inspired by an old picture of the Rat Pack outside The Sands hotel in 1961, we called upon the values of a time when men had character, and women had curves. A time when you could smoke, drink, curse, and have a good time without apology. We built our wines around this classic American adult spirit, so eroded by political correctness and fear, to create wines that were unapologetic in their character. Wines that pair with good times and friends. We make wines that are just as at home at the poker table as the dinner table.'
 

Our peach ballet knickers were featured in the Sunday Express's S magazine a couple of weeks ago as part of a cute pin up inspired shoot. Unfortunately they're not £14 as printed, but the good news is that they're not orange either!

I'm sure you won't have missed the influx of vintage inspired lingerie on the catwalks recently. A few months ago I came across a vintage bra with an art deco inspired sunburst detail on the cup. I'd never seen anything like it but guessed it dated back to the 1940s. I had it on my mannequin in the office for weeks and everyone loved it, but agreed that it would be very uncomfortable to wear as there is vertical boning along the sunburst design on the cup. In the end I incorporated the stitching design into, what became, our Deco bra. Imagine my surprise when I opened February's Vogue to find bra almost identical to my original vintage piece parading down Just Cavalli's runway.

It's hard to escape the incessant doom and gloom of recession when it's plastered all over the newspapers and beaming out from every television set. The good news is that there are a few products which can truly be deemed 'recession proof', and one that is a legendary morale booster... lipstick! The idea of using makeup to 'put on a brave face' has seen us through two World Wars and several recessions. And the 'Lipstick Effect' is clearly in force today, where, despite many luxury brands suffering, makeup sales are still going strong.

Just like What Katie Did, Besame produces products with a real old Hollywood flair. The beautifully crafted metal containers, etched with art deco flourishescontain period perfect lipstick shades like Carmine and Noir Red and blusher that would produce cheeks as peachy as Rita Hayworth's. The chic little Classic Enchanting Lipsticks come in a 1940s style bullet-shaped tube (perfect for a small evening bag), and are specially shaped to help you create a film star pout. The newly introduced Voluptuous Lip Colour sets contain a full-sized, black enamel-clad lipstick, along with a matching lip pencil and ergonomically designed brush... the ultimate gift for a glamorous girlfriend! The rest of the line features equally stunning products with evocative names: Enriching Lip Glaze, Vintage Boudoir Rouge, Vintage Alluring Eye Shadows, Classic Masterliner Pencil and the Signature Compact with Cashmere Pressed Powder – which looks equally at home on a dressing table or being pulled out of your vintage handbag! If that wasn't enough to tempt you, Besame pride themselves on only using the purest, natural ingredients, and never test on animals meaning their products are as ethical as they are elegant.

The What Katie Did boutique is stocking a wide range of the luxurious Besame products, all of which are not only highly collectible, but take the art of perfect grooming from carefully covert to an overt fashion statement. And if you fancy a pillar-box red pout, but don't know where to start, you'll be delighted to hear that almost every staff member at the boutique is a trained makeup artist! We guarantee you won't find any better vintage makeup advice anywhere else!

We launched our 2010 calendar way back in September so now that everyone has a copy it's safe to let you know about a few others (after all, even if you live in a studio apartment you've still got enough wall space for more that one calendar!) Wholesale manager Richard headed down to the Hard Rock Cafe on Tuesday evening for the launch of the Pin Up For Heroes Calendar. Pin Up for Heroes is a charity which supports the armed forces and is one we feel very strongly about. The calendar was styled by What Katie Did stockists Pandora's Choice and you'll see a range of our lingerie, as well as that of other retro lingerie designers in the calendar. The calendar can be purchased here.

Our second recommendation Sabina Kelley's pin up calendar. In case you didn't know, Sabina is a very well known American pin up model who resides in Las Vegas. You might be able to tell by looking at her legs that she's an ex showgirl! She's been on the cover of just about every alternative magazine around and also finds time to write a column for Car Kulture Deluxe. She's selected our Striptease ballet knickers and bralette to wear for the December page of her calender (if you want to see more of Sabina then don't forget to check out her pin up playing cards: edition 2 is now available).

Nicole and the girls at The Hourglass must be some of the friendliest pin ups around. Nicole runs a photographic make over service for aspiring pin ups and this is their third calendar. Even if you're all 'calendared out' be sure to check out the Hourglass forum which is full of interesting advice on vintage glamour.

Saturday morning saw me up far too early to catch the Eurostar to Paris for Mode City, a huge lingerie trade show. I grabbed the Saturday Times to read on the way and was excited to find that Liberty of London had included a magazine about their AW09 collections in with the paper. It was only included with newspapers in the London region so I was very lucky to be in London on that day. Inside they devoted two pages to their new lingerie ranges and included a full page on What Katie Did featuring our Glamour corselette. A smaller insert picture featured our Lulu lingerie.

Once in Paris I headed down to the show and was pleased to see a lot of small English boutique brands showing. Most of the other companies showing were rather bigger so it was nice to see so much innovation coming out of the UK. I picked up UK lingerie trade magazine Underlines to check out our advert and saw that they'd given us a little bit of editorial too.

Of course, all work and no play makes for a rather boring weekend in Paris. Luckily Gentry Lane of the Gentry de Paris Review  had timed the dress rehearsal  of her show for the Sunday evening so I headed to the historic Casino de Paris. The show was spectacular and I'm sure that Dita alone manages to keep Swarovski crystal afloat! I have to say though, that it was the boys that got the most applause, including Warren Speed who added a little English humour to the proceedings. It was also nice to catch up briefly with English corsetier Velda Lauder and 21CP Holli-Mae during the interval.  I'm not going to give too much about the show away as it's running until 17th September - if you are in Paris then please go and see it! If you're not able to see it then keep your eyes on 21CP as Holli-Mae will be doing a full review as soon as the run has finished.

Dita performing at Gentry de Paris Review.

If you want to find out more about the Katie behind What Katie Did then head on over to The Sassy Minx who have just published a new interview with me.

Those of you who have visited our What Katie Did boutique will recognise Ruka (pictured above). Until about a year ago Ruka used to run Sugarlesque, a burlesque accessories company famous for it's fans, pasties and merkins. Ruka has spent the last year working part time in our boutique whilst revamping Sugarlesque.
Sugarlesque was relaunched yesterday as a fully fledged lingerie company which focuses on cute burlesque designs. Her first collection 'Wunderland' includes some irresistible giant gingham prints and rather saucy cupless bras, all of which are hand made in London by her own fair hands. Although Ruka has had to cut down her hours a little in the What Katie Did boutique she can still be found busily making pasties, and will still have time for running her pastie and fasinator workshops which take place in our London boutique on various Sunday afternoons.

Last week I headed down to Liberty of London who have just started selling our lingerie. Being a very 'niche' brand I was a little worried about how it was being received by customers, but was pleased to be told that it was selling very well! Liberty didn't have a lingerie department for several years. They reopened it two years ago and although they came and saw us then, they decided to focus on more premium brands at that time.

The department is a beautiful long room decorated in purple, with vintage black lingerie cabinets (which I'm lusting after!)The women who work in the lingerie department are very enthusiastic about the brand and are very knowledgeable about all the brand they stock. Although they're in the middle of a large department store, it actually feels like you're in an independent lingerie boutique - but I guess that's the way you feel in any of Liberty's departments as they're a lot more personal than other department stores (I was
in the lingerie department of Debenhams in Plymouth last weekend and honestly, I have never been in a more depressing place in my life - it took all of the powers of the girls in the Kalmora Spa on the 2nd floor to give me back the will to live!)

We have had a few people ask about Liberty's pricing -  the WKD items they stock are at the same price as you'll find online and in our London boutique. Liberty have just placed their second order so it looks very hopeful!