Violet Chachki, eat your heart out. Above and below are gorgeously provocative images of Parisian models in the ’20s and ’30s, posing in the latest in French fetish wear. If you were into kinky looks back then – iron bras, peekaboo undies, or chastity belts –chances are you got them from one of two of the pioneering companies that catered to the emerging fetish communities: Yva Richard and Diana Slip.
From Dangerous Minds:
Yva Richard was the husband and wife duo of L. Richard and Nativa Richard. Getting their start sometime in the early 1920s, Nativia was not only the talented seamstress making Yva Richard’s signature risque lingerie, but she also modeled much of the companies cheeky creations and would routinely appeared in Yva Richard’s popular mail-order catalog from which the kinky couple sold everything from masks to iron restraints.
The Richards’ biggest competition back in the 20s was Diana Slip—a fetish wear company run by Léon Vidal. Vidal’s collection while very much marketed to purveyors of kink had a slightly more sophisticated air and was not as overtly deviant as Yva Richard’s designs.
Unfortunately bothy companies went under in the 1940s when the occupation of France during WWII put an end on the booming fetish business.
Below, pics from both design houses.