Scandale Dédicace is French lingerie with a sense of humour. Embroidered satin, suggestive phrases and a few things that are better left untranslated.
There is something wonderfully French about embroidering "Kiss Me, Stupid" across a pair of satin knickers. It's the kind of joke that works precisely because no one is trying very hard to be funny.
Dédicace is the newest addition to Scandale's Amuse Bouche collection, a range I knew was going to be exceptional from the moment I first saw it. An amuse-bouche is the little bite served before a meal, designed to wake up the appetite. As a name for fluid, minimal French lingerie, it was almost too perfect. We buy the collection deeply, and customers often come back for more than one piece.
But Dédicace caught me for a different reason.
I started looking properly at the embroidery, and then I realised what the knickers were saying. Because these knickers talk.
Dédicace High Hips Thong Black
A Little French Lesson
At first glance, Dédicace is beautifully simple. Black satin. Lipstick-red satin. High-cut legs, slender straps, softly gathered edges, and fluid little shorts with more than a hint of the retro tap pant about them. The satin skims, the elastic keeps everything light, and the shapes are simple enough to let the body do most of the work.
Then you notice the embroidery.
A few words across the satin completely change the character of each piece. Suddenly, choosing between them isn't only about the cut or the colour. It's also about what you want your knickers to say.
Embrasse-moi, idiot
Kiss Me, Stupid.
Possibly my favourite.
There is something brilliantly impatient about Embrasse-moi, idiot. It was the French title given to Billy Wilder's 1964 Kiss Me, Stupid, but embroidered across a pair of knickers it feels rather less like a film reference and much more like an instruction. It isn't coy. It sounds like what happens when the flirting has gone on for quite long enough.
On the black Dédicace Shorty, the words are embroidered in lipstick red across the back. The shape takes its cue from the classic tap pant, skimming rather than clinging. Until you turn around.
In red, the same message appears on the much skimpier Strap Brief. Same instruction. Entirely different delivery.
Lèche-moi tranquille
Lick me in peace.
Some things really are better left in French.
Lèche-moi tranquille is a play on laisse-moi tranquille (leave me alone), with laisse swapped for lèche: lick. It appears on two of the black Dédicace shapes: the classic Brief and the wonderfully fluttery Tanga.
On the Brief, the message is saved for the back. From the front, it is simply an uncomplicated pair of black satin knickers. Turn around, and there it is. The Tanga puts the same line at the front, tucked beneath its gathered satin.
Neither is taking itself terribly seriously, which is exactly the point.
Garde à vue
Held in custody.
Garde à vue is the French legal term for being held in police custody. Perfectly ordinary in the right setting. Embroidered across Scandale's sleek black Strap Brief and red High Hips Thong, considerably less so.
Rendez-vous
A meeting. An appointment. A date.
One of those expressions we barely need to translate.
On the red Dédicace Brief, Rendez-vous appears discreetly across the back in contrasting black embroidery. The rest of the piece is so quiet: red satin, a softly gathered waist, a classic shape. Then one little word changes the entire mood. An appointment? Perhaps. A date feels rather more likely.
Vos désirs font désordre
Your desires cause disorder.
Perhaps the most poetic line in the collection, embroidered in black across the front of the red Shorty.
It plays on the familiar French expression vos désirs sont des ordres (your wishes are my command). Only here, desire doesn't become an order. It creates disorder. The silhouette is relaxed and almost innocent, the satin soft and fluid. And then, in tiny black lettering: Vos désirs font désordre.
It sounds like something that should have been scribbled in the margin of a French novel. Instead, Scandale put it on a pair of red satin shorts. Quite right, too.
No Translation Required
Not every pair needs an explanation. Some of the briefs simply carry SCANDALE embroidered across the back. A signature rather than a message. In a collection full of instructions and mischievous little phrases, there is something very confident about that.
And then there is the long red satin Dédicace Ribbon, embroidered with the Scandale name and made for tying over the eyes, around the wrists or even around the ankles.
We'll provide the ribbon. What you do with it is entirely up to you.
Some things, apparently, are better said on your knickers.
Dédicace 'Scandale' Brief Black
Sarah Northey, Founder of Naughty Knickers
Sarah has spent over 15 years buying and curating luxury European lingerie, with a particular interest in French craftsmanship, independent houses and collection design.