About
The Brand
Bordelle is a niche and unique concept in women’s lingerie and bodywear that combines craftsmanship with ground-breaking designs.
The Bordelle aesthetic is characterised by body-con silhouettes and rooted in a proprietary technique that blends 24K gold plated hardware and customised satin elastic strapping with an array of luxury fabrics to create iconic, adjustable styles for the modern woman.
Since launching in 2009 at Selfridges in London, Bordelle’s offering has expanded to include an evolving Signature line and innovative, seasonal Mainline collections that continually push the boundaries
of lingerie design.
Bordelle is available to buy at handpicked department stores, fashion concept stores and specialist boutiques in over 25 countries worldwide such as TSUM, Luisaviaroma, Kadewe and Journelle to name but a few.
One of the only lingerie brands to be stocked alongside Ready-to-Wear labels, Bordelle continues to be designed and handmade by our teams of artisans in London and at Atelier Bordelle Productions, the brand’s modern production facility in Cluj, Romania.
The unmistakable aesthetic is developed and updated each season, while always remaining true to its original message: Memorable, provocative, and never without a reaction.
To find out more about the origins and development of the brand, visit Our Story
The Founder
Bordelle is the brainchild of founder Alexandra Popa who created the label to fill a gap in the market for experimental lingerie that blurs the lines between seduction and ready to wear. The concept was fuelled by a personal interest and preference in underpinnings with statement design, a luxury kink that appeared to only exist in vulgar form with poor attention to detail, fabrication and quality.
Armed with a degree and master in Economics and Management and a previous tenure at a small London based design studio, Alexandra developed the concept of Bordelle from her premises, independently financing it and working with freelance creatives to define and refine the luxury bondage aesthetic that has since become iconic. Having worked closely with designers in the past to bring her vision to life, Alexandra now oversees the collections with the guidance of her technical team, scrutinising and personally fitting every style during the sampling process. Her lack of formal lingerie training was a blessing in disguise as it forced Bordelle to think outside the box in every approach. The originator of a unique and unconventional sizing system, Bordelle has broken down existing technical boundaries as the first lingerie label to introduce new adjustment features to highly structured lingerie garments. This aesthetic and practical innovation enable Bordelle garments including structured bras, bodices and girdles to transcend a range of sizes and be customised by each individual wearer.
Our Values
As a small and tightly knit team we recognise that acting with integrity, respect and honesty is at the core of our development. We strive to create pieces that embody unique, bold and unconstrained innovation, which we are able to deliver through technical know-how developed over many years and unique to the brand. The success of Bordelle would not be possible without a fiercely collaborative approach in which the team are encouraged to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, sharing ideas across all aspects of the business and developing a firm appreciation for one another’s skill set. United by a true passion for lingerie, the Bordelle team enjoy a fulfilling and happy work environment, where they embrace curiosity and experimentation to become fearless in the pursuit of innovation and design.
The relationship between Bordelle and their clients is equally as important. We are driven by customer satisfaction, through product and through the Bordelle experience. We are thrilled to hear positive customer feedback; likewise we will happily take on board constructive criticism to elevate the brand. We assume an open-minded and personal approach to our customer service, winning the trust and the loyalty of our customers. We aim to go out of our way to make our clients feel at ease and special. Designed to incite emotion and empower the wearer, the Bordelle experience is about the way in which the pieces make the wearer feel.
Bordelle is committed to doing business responsibly. We respect and value our professional partnerships with clients, suppliers and vendors. Bordelle are advocates of timeless design, versatile fit and high quality production, ideas that allow products to last, an antidote to the seasonal nature of fast fashion and low-quality, disposable consumer culture. We are dedicated to maintaining and improving the quality of our products. Bordelle is devoted to refining the fit, developing cutting-edge materials and elastics and staying ahead of the curve to deliver innovative and original designs.
Craftsmanship
All designs and patterns are created and graded exclusively by Bordelle. Each product is sampled in our West London studio then carefully refined to ensure the highest quality and best fit. Samples are crafted from a blend of silk satin, soft mesh, Signature satin elastic strapping and 24k gold plated accessories. Each season the design team work with hand picked European suppliers to develop innovative elastics, bespoke Swiss embroidered tulle, and custom 24k gold-plated accessories from France. Bordelle products are characterised by the pioneering and distinctive use of strapping elastic in ambitiously constructed pieces that blur the line between lingerie and ready-to-wear.