Christina Hendricks in What Katie Did

A couple of months ago one of our stockists 'Pandora's Choice' got their knickers in a bit of a twist as US GQ called in some What Katie Did goodies direct from them for Mad Men actress Christina Hendricks. We rushed around to ensure they had the right sizes, but to tell you the truth I wanted to tell them not to get too excited as the vast majority of call-ins never get used. Well, it turns out that they were right to get excited as both the UK and US editions of GQ feature several pages of Christina looking very 'Joan Holloway' in our Glamour Merry Widow and Lulu Corselette!

All in all, it makes our UK September Vogue coverage more than a little weedy with just a hint of Maitresse Bullet Bra, and even less of our Harlow Bullet Bra!

Kylie's Bullet Bra

Kylie Minogue's new single 'All The Lovers' was released last Monday and it's accompanied by a suitably risque video in which Kylie wears some retro style lingerie you might recognise! Actually the bra and knickers aren't ours but made by a certain Mr Jean Paul Gaultier. However, our Padded Bullet Bra is very, very similar, as are our Maitresse Deep Knickers, and are a much more affordable option!

Viva Van Story photographs What Katie Did

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...

What Katie Did on This Morning

Those of you with sharp eyes might have noticed our Glamour Corselette featured on ITV's This Morning on Tuesday. This Morning did a feature on shapewear and well fitting lingerie in general and it was nice to see a variety of different sizes being shown. We're working on getting the clip online but we were 5 minutes into the film and only on for a second so by the time we edit it, there won't be much to see!

 

Weekend press round up

We were lucky enough to be featured in the Sunday papers not once, but twice yesterday! There's a great picture of our Maitresse bullet bra in NOTW's Fabulous magazine, whilst our Maitresse bullet bra and knickers made an appearance in The Sunday Times' Style magazine hot list. The Sunday Times bit of press was via Urban Outfitters who stock our lingerie and swimwear online (for some reason swimwear isn't showing up, but if you put What Katie Did in the search box it does show), in their Oxford Street, London store, and also (we think) Stockholm, Sweden store.

Last week our Glamour Longline Bra made an appearance on 'Angela and Friends' chat show on Sky 1 as part of an underwear as outerwear fashion feature.

French and German Press

Our press intern, Zara, has discovered our Jane bullet bra in last November's Paris Vogue. The bra had already been discontinued by the time they borrowed it, but you can't say no to Vogue. Stylist Carine Roitfield has just called in some more lingerie for August's Paris Vogue so fingers crossed we'll have something featured which is still available!

A big thank you to Jenny who brought a couple of German magazines who had featured What Katie Did into our boutique a couple of weeks ago. The first, Dynamite, features our Josephine corselette and Glamour girdle, both of which are available from German stockist ARS Vivendi, whilst Life & Style magazine featured our Sailor Bikini which is available from Rockabilly Clothing.

 

What Katie Did in The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail featured our Maitresse bullet bra in a 'push up bra comparison' feature: which is rather bizarre as the bullet bra is not supposed to push up at all! If anything it pushes out. Anyway, for this reason we can't be too disappointed with our 2 out of 5 rating: after all, they did rate us top in their bullet bra comparison feature a few months ago (I should think so too!) Here's what they have to say:

What Katy Did Bullet Bra, £27.50

With its its retro feel and Madonna-esque conical cups this bra certainly gives you a different shape to most others on the market. Cone-shaped bosoms are guaranteed to give you an attention-grabbing shape, whatever your bra size. But while it's great fun, I'm not sure this is really wardrobe staple - maybe great fancy dress party instead.
2/5

 

Gemma Arterton in What Katie Did

We were very excited to learn that our Harlow Bullet Bra would be featured in May's InStyle magazine, but when it came out a few weeks ago I couldn't see any sign of us! Yesterday I had an email from Fergus at Besame cosmetics (more news on Besame soon!) saying that we were in InStyle USA. Not only that Brit Bond girl Gemma Arterton is the model. Whilst this is good news it doesn't quite make up for the fact that the next Bond movie is on hold due to MGM's financial woes. Fingers crossed we'll see Daniel Craig back for his 3rd Bond adventure soon.

What Katie Did in Wonderland magazine

Whilst it would be nice to have a little break after the hustle and bustle of London Burlesque Week, things are still going crazy at What Katie Did: we've several developments in the pipeline for next month including a revamped search facility and checkout screen on our website and some new lingerie in early May with Besame cosmetics being added to our site in late May - plus the little matter of our head office relocation. In the meantime we've had some great press coverage in Wonderland magazine, including our cute little Deco waspie which hasn't made it in print until now!

Deco waspie

Glamour waist cincher

Harlow bullet bra and suspender

Glamour corselette

 

What Katie Did in Paris Vogue

May's issue of Paris Vogue gets rather saucy, with an 'Erotica' shoot by Steven Klein. It features Lily Donaldson in lots of lingerie and nylons - including our Deco knickers (which are in good company amongst all the Dior, Chanel and Valentino!) The stockings featured are 100% nylon seamfree rht stockings - find similar ones here.

What Katie Did, pin ups and wine (what more could you want?)

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.'

 

What Katie Did in Look magazine

This week's Look magazine features our Harlow Bullet Bra as part of an 'underwear as outerwear' shoot. Everyone seems to be going crazy for peach vintage style lingerie this season and our Harlow Bullet bra is flying off the shelves! The magazine also includes a cute picture of Dita Von Teese out and about at the Viva Las Vegas car show a couple of weeks ago - for those of you who couldn't see her through all the crowds!

Gywneth Paltrow in What Katie Did

Gwyneth Paltrow looks absolutely stunning in our Padded Bullet Bra and Maitresse Knickers in May's UK Vogue. The photography is by no less than Mario Testino and the interview was by one of my favourite journalists Christa D'Souza (we're on a big of a high here at WKD towers!)

Easter weekend saw our peach Ballet Knickers in the Sunday Times Style magazine as part of a colourful Spring feature.

What Katie Did and Liberty of London

Liberty of London's SS10 magazine has just landed on my desk and includes a rather splendid picture of What Katie Did's Josephine underwired bra. The exclusive tag doesn't apply to the bra, or the Vivienne Westwood dress, but the bracelet. It looks like Liberty has some luscious lingerie for SS10 including Bordelle's cage dress and some very saucy hosiery by Wolford and Bebaroque.

What Katie Did in Elle and I-D

We had our first appearance in British Elle this month which is very exciting. They've featured our padded bullet bra (which seems to be a favourite amongst the press - probably because it's good for models' smaller busts) and Maitresse knickers which are just peeking out from beneath a lovely peach corset (not ours, but if you'd like a similar one at a fifth of the price we recommend our Cabaret sheer Sophia).

We're also featured in the pre-Spring edition of I-D magazine, with our Morticia corset being worn by Pheonix Richmond (daughter of fashion designer John Richmond although she won't thank me for reminding you - but as I'm such a big fan of his work I had to let you know!)

 

What Katie Did in Fabulous magazine (again!)

Sunday saw is in News of the World's Fabulous magazine in an Alice in Wonderland inspired shoot. Our Maitresse bullet bra can only just be seen but we forgive Fabulous as the photographs are so beautiful! Last Friday also saw our lingerie appear on ITV's This Morning as part of a Underwear as Outerwear feature.

 

 

What Katie Did boutique update

We've been very busy revamping our London boutique this week and we're on schedule to re-open on Monday 1st March as planned. This week has been rather messy, knocking down walls and the like, so it was a good job our decorators Miss Miranda and Persia came suitably dressed for the job in their clean white overalls. It didn't take long for photographer Tony Nylons to suggest that perhaps they didn't want to get paint on their clean white overalls and quickly came up with a solution. These kind of things only happen at What Katie Did!

The hole in the wall: we've knocked a hole into the boutique next door (with permission!) which will give us more room. The new area will be used as a big, luxurious, dressing room.

Miss Miranda checks the door is level.

Persia starts work on our naughty wall which will be covered with images from Exotique magazine.

If you're free on the afternoon of Sunday 7th March between 2pm and 4pm why not come down to the boutique for the launch party of Peek magazine?

 

What Katie Did - in the press

Yesterday our Maitresse Bullet Bra was modelled by glamour model Nicola T in Celebs on Sunday magazine (The Sunday Mirror).

Whilst our Glamour Girdle is featured in Feb/March's Wonderland magazine.

Some of you might also have noticed our Josephine cheetah print lingerie on ITV's This Morning on Friday 12th February. For those of you with a saucier outlook on life check out Skin Two's review of our lingerie book (warning, their site is not work friendly!)

 

What Katie Did boutique revamp

It's been nearly a month since I last posted, but as usual, it's not that we've been lazy! I can't tell you everything that we've been up to (don't worry, you won't have to wait long to find out) but can let you know of our most immediate plans: our London boutique revamp.

The What Katie Did boutique can only be described as rather bijous, which means that at busy times it's not only our girdles that feel snug! We really do love Portobello and wouldn't dream of moving so have managed to persuade our landlords to let us knock down that wall between our boutique and next door. The result will give us more space which we'll divide into a dressing area and a little press office. The dressing area will be of most interest to you as you'll be able to book it in advance if you know you're going to need a lengthy fitting session, whilst your boyfriend can relax with a cup of coffee and the latest issue of Peek magazine away from the bustle of the main boutique. We're also taking the opportunity to revamp our existing boutique, giving it a more glamorous and opulent feel. Staff-wise things are also changing: our current manageress, Nicola, is leaving to concentrate on her make up career (she just done her first cover for Front magazine - out next month - and is a regular at LFW). Vicky (Nicola's ex boss!) is going to take over as manageress: you might have already met her as she's already done a few Saturdays for us.
Meanwhile Mam'zelle Maz will be joining Clare in what must surely be the most glamorous press team in London.

Unfortunately we don't have a magic wand and we will have to close for two weeks for the work to take place. We'll be closing at 6pm on Saturday 13th February, re-opening on Monday 1st March.

Make a note in your diary to keep Sunday 7th March clear. That's the launch date for Peek magazine, a new magazine devoted to stockings, fun and frolics! Join us at our boutique between 2 and 4pm to meet the Peek team and have a bit of a knees up!

Vintage lingerie in Vogue

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.