Noelle Wolf and Ris Fatah on a new approach to lingerie

In the post-#MeToo era the lingerie industry has been well and truly shaken to its core. Almost over-night the hyper-sexualised Victoria's Secret aesthetic (and indeed the company itself) fell out of favour and brands and designers had to work quickly to land on a new approach that felt appropriate in an era when inclusivity and female empowerment were at the forefront.

But while the big players attempt to redefine themselves, an opportunity has arisen for new names to enter the market and Noelle Wolf is one such brand. It was conceived by US-based philanthropist, producer and former fashion publicist Noelle Wolf who has assembled a team both in the US and the UK, where design studio is based, to bring her vision to life.

The brand has just arrived in Selfridges on Oxford Street and for the next month will have pride of place in its lingerie pop-up space in its Body Studio before moving into the wider department where it will be positioned among other major brands including Agent Provocateur and Coco de Mer.

The Selfridges pop-up

It was at the latter brand where Noelle Wolf's British CEO Ris Fatah first entered the lingerie market and served as its managing director from 2007 to 2010. But it was the role he held before that, as operations and finance director of womenswear brand Ghost from 1993 to 2006, that ultimately led him to be united with Wolf on this project.

Wolf had previously been the US publicist for Ghost and when the avid lingerie collector decided to launch a lingerie brand for "the woman who dresses for herself" she contacted Ghost founder Tanya Sarne for advice. Sarne directed her to Fatah, and just 18 months later the brand was brought to market.

Noelle Wolf brand imagery

"It's a brand that speaks to women that is not too sexual but not too floral either," explains Fatah, "It's more sensual than overtly sexual and is very much more about the brain than the body."

The first collection comprises 60 pieces taking in bras, briefs, bodies, camis and slips made from high quality French silks and Japanese and Austrian lace, and created using innovative manufacturing techniques in factories in Morocco, Portugal and China. While it's unquestionably feminine, it also has a timeless and ageless quality to it. Pricing is premium but accessible with briefs starting at £26 and bras at £65.

Its inclusive pricing and its ageless approach are deliberate. This is a collection built for an attitude rather than a particular age demographic. "You don't feel like you have to play a role when you're wearing it. It's not intimidating," says Fatah. In the few days since the collection has been at Selfridges, women from teenage girls to women in their 50s and 60s have made purchases.

For Wolf who celebrated her 50th birthday as the Selfridges pop-up went live ("Isn't this a great gift?" she says from the VIP changing room where fashion writers and all trying out the product), the motivation to launch Noelle Wolf wasn't necessarily driven from a #MeToo backlash but from a desire to get women to start taking care of themselves and to shop more sustainably.

Wolf has collected lingerie all her life and laughs as she recounts how she always hand washes it and hangs it out carefully, even when travelling. The reason for collecting is simple: "because wearing nice lingerie always made me feel good".

For Wolf selecting your lingerie in the morning or before going out in the evening is a ritual and provides the foundation for how you feel. Seeing women spending their days in leggings and sports bras also got her thinking. "It felt like women and lost ownership of their sensuality and I wanted them to take it back," she explains.

Not that leggings and sports bras are a bad thing. A 24-piece athleisure collection is in the making (it has been created using sustainable fabrics) and Wolf would also like to turn her attention to swimwear and maybe add a fragrance.

The Selfridges pop-up

"The sky's the limit!" she jokes about her ambitions, but maybe that's no so ridiculous since the brand has only just launched and is already sold in Selfridges, Brown Thomas, Neiman Marcus and Luisa Via Roma, among others. Fatah explains that the brand has also been taken on by the Polly King sales agency which is taking the brand to show it in Paris to work on further wholesale accounts.

It's not just within the product that Wolf wants to champion women, but also in the work practices in the company, and this is something that Fatah, who divides his time between Ibiza and London, subscribes to. The company works flexibly and doesn't just encourage it but seems positivley evangelical about it.

"There are a lot of mums [in the business]," Wolf says, "so there are a lot of calls taking place when the kids have gone to bed."

And besides it's not just about availability and respecting boundaries, which are important, but creating the right frame of mind to produce great results, Fatah says. "We don't want people spending their time commuting. We say 'do the school run, do yoga, walk the dog, whatever it is, and then come to work'. We don't want people stressed because you don't get good work when people are stressed."

You also don't have a good day when you're wearing a bad bra, as every woman knows, and Noelle Wolf can certainly solve that problem for you. If it can also make you feel good about the ethics of the company you are buying from into the bargain then it should be set for success.