More Than Sexy Lingerie

More than sexy lingerie: La Perla roars into Houston with new boutique for the luxe life

For more than 60 years, La Perla has been synonymous with luxurious lingerie, although until recently it has kept a rather low profile as it produced high-quality intimate apparel for a discerning upscale clientele.

But now, under new ownership, the Italian-based company is keeping quiet no longer.

In January, it hosted its first-ever runway show during Paris Haute Couture week, as Naomi Campbell and other top models strolled the catwalk in made-to-measure creations from the La Perla Atelier Collection. It features lace pants, satin basketball shorts and bodysuits, bras and suspenders adorned with crystals, feathers and embroidery.

"For us, location, location, location is everything," Biszantz said. "And Houston has an international element, which I love."

The brand now includes a sexy footwear collection, including jeweled sandals and colorful pumps, along with beachwear, perfume, sunglasses, menswear, and, in the fall, a new fine jewelry collection.

A few years ago La Perla never advertised in fashion magazines; now it's a regular in Vogue and W, with high-style campaigns shot by hip fashion phototraphers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot with models from the Elite network of modeling agencies.

Since Pacific Global Management, which owns Elite, bought La Perla in 2013, the company has expanded at a rapid clip, opening several new stores this year, including a sparkling new boutique in The Galleria, designed by architect Roberto Baciocchi, with a gleaming black-and-white marble facade, marble floors, mirrored alcoves and glamorous dressing rooms.

"The brand has undergone a transformation in the last two years," said La Perla North America CEO Suzy Biszantz, during a recent whirlwind Houston visit. "We’ve opened stores all over the world and renovated many stores. We have acquired some of the most premium real estate there is. It’s really been amazing."

Houston search

For more than three years, La Perla has been looking for a Houston location to showcase its new look, Biszantz said. When an opening came up at The Galleria, La Perla snapped it up, even though at only about 800-square-feet, it is smaller than other new stores across the United States.

"For us, location, location, location is everything," she said. "And Houston has an international element, which I love. And it seems like a lot is going on, in oil and energy and technology. I feel it’s a really robust business market as well. That brings in international tourism, the right kind of profile of customer for us, from Latin America."

"A lot of our top clients never step foot into the store. We bring everything to them."

While small, the store has room to showcase its beachwear for summer, lingerie and the new line of lacy, cutting-edge ready-to-wear pieces. "It's a marrying of what's inside can be worn as outerwear," she said.

"It's very high fashion and it’s doing very well here and everywhere. That’s really a departure from people coming in and looking for lingerie. I just watched a lady come in today and buy two of our beautiful pants suits and bustier to go underneath. Not one but two. Our job is to show people that we’re not the same than maybe what they thought about La Perla 20 years ago."

The store also serves as a beachhead for the brand in all of Texas, Biszantz said. "If they want certain pieces from our Atelier collection, some of which are made-to-measure pieces, we’ll find a way through a private appointment. We do that at other boutiques too. A lot of our top clients never step foot into the store. We bring everything to them."

From golf apparel to lingerie

Biszantz joined La Perla in 2008 after a seven-year tenure as president and CEO of The Greg Norman Collection, a premium brand leader in golf-inspired apparel. Are there any similarities between selling selling athletic wear and lingerie?

"Well, the similarity is Texas is a really important market for both," said Biszantz, who spent a lot of time in Dallas, Houston and Austin in her previous job. "In the golf industry and luxury and fashion, you need the right demographic in terms of the customer that cares about craftsmanship and cares about an elevated lifestyle."

When it comes to intimate wear, the American customer really isn't that different from European or Latin American customers, Biszantz said.

"Whether they are based in Latin America or Russia or Paris or wherever, the commonality is they’re an international client and they travel quite a bit. They really understand craftsmanship and they’re looking for quality of product. They feel good about buying an established brand where there’s a reputation there. We see through our own company research that our top clients shop in multiple boutiques of ours throughout the world.

"In every market we have a wide variety in terms of taste and demographics. There isn’t just one profile of one customer. So that’s a nice thing. A lot of times there’s a mom with a daughter. She’s been with the brand for 30 years and comes in with her daughter. I think that’s one of the benefits of being part of an iconic brand with a 60-plus year history. "

The interior of the La Perla boutique in The Galleria. Swimwear is showcased on the right.

Photo by Dave Rossman

The interior of the La Perla boutique in The Galleria. Swimwear is showcased on the right.

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Movie Review

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever wears its emotions on its sleeve

Photo by Annette Brown

Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

The Marvel Cinematic Universe and writer/director Ryan Coogler find themselves in almost an impossible position with the long-anticipated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The death of star Chadwick Boseman in 2020 left a gaping hole in both the ongoing MCU and in Coogler’s story plans for this film, which likely had to be mostly scrapped in the absence of his character, King T’Challa.

And so, like much of the MCU’s Phase Four films, Wakanda Forever feels tenuously patched together. Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole address the elephant in the room right away, starting the film with T’Challa’s (off-screen) death, a sequence that is as elegantly handled as possible. It is the first of multiple times in the film that characters like his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett) grapple with the loss, moments that never fail to bring big emotion into the film.

At first, it feels like the film’s main storyline will be successful, introducing a new group of beings, led by Namor (Tenoch Huerta), who live underwater in a country they call Talokan. Like Wakanda, they live in an area that’s rich with vibranium, which makes their deep-sea land a target for countries eager to be on a level playing field with Wakanda. Naturally, they defend their territory at all costs, with the mysterious nature of the Talokans leading to them being confused for Wakandans.

Early conflicts between the Talokans and Wakandans are suitably entertaining, with the Talokans – featuring blue skin, masks filled with water to be able to breathe at all times, and possible regenerative properties – seemingly indomitable. But as the film goes along, and especially in the final act, the battle scenes become repetitive and filled with subpar CGI that takes the viewer out of the necessary escapism mode.

The film works best when it returns to the personal aspects of the story. Without the presence of T’Challa, the film becomes mostly about the women of Wakanda, including Shuri, Ramonda, Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), and warrior Okoye (Danai Gurira). The way each adapts to their new or adapted roles is much more interesting than any of the fights. Coogler also takes time to give the history of Namor and the Talokans, making them deeper than other nemeses in comic book films.

When it comes time for a particular character to finally take up the mantle of Black Panther again, the reveal is not much of a surprise. But whether it’s the reluctance of that character, the appearance of the character in the suit, or the incoherence of the scenes showing off that person’s skills, there’s little that’s exciting about the newly-minted superhero.

It’s also disappointing that – after the world-building and addressing of real-life racial issues in the first film – this film doesn’t push harder in that regard. Coogler and the production team, especially costume designer Ruth E. Carter, make Wakanda as real as ever, but the implicit promise T’Challa makes at the end of the first film - that Wakanda would be a beacon for Black people around the world - is only lightly addressed.

There is little the filmmakers could do about it, but the film misses Boseman’s larger-than-life aura. Much of the film centers on Shuri, but Wright is better as a supporting actor than a lead. A better choice would have been Bassett, who is as strong as ever, or Nyong’o or Gurira, who are each compelling in their roles. Winston Duke once again makes the most of his brief appearances as M’Baku.

For all its faults, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is still the most watchable of the recent slate of MCU films. The central conflict doesn’t yield many rewards, but the film wears its emotions on its sleeve, giving fans permission to publicly grieve the generational talent gone too soon.

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in theaters on November 11.

Photo by Annette Brown

Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

movies film

historic discovery

NASA confirms stunning discovery of Space Shuttle Challenger artifact

Photo courtesy of NASA

A TV documentary crew has just made a startling discovery linked to one of the American space program's greatest tragedies, one that deeply resonated here in Space City. Divers off the east coast of Florida have found an artifact underwater that NASA confirms is debris from the space shuttle Challenger.

While searching for wreckage of a World War II-era aircraft, documentary divers noticed a large object covered partially by sand on the seafloor, one that was clearly crafted by humans. The team contacted NASA after analyzing the proximity to the Florida Space Coast, the item’s modern construction, and presence of 8-inch square tiles, according to the space agency.

Upon viewing the TV crew's footage, NASA leaders confirmed the object is indeed part of the Challenger, which exploded during launch on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members on board — all of whom trained in Houston.

A History Channel documentary depicting the discovery of the Challenger artifact is scheduled to air Tuesday, November 22. While the episode will screen as part of a series about the Bermuda Triangle, the artifact was found well northwest of the area popularly known as the Bermuda Triangle, researchers note.

NASA, meanwhile, is currently considering what additional actions it may take regarding the artifact that will properly honor the legacy of Challenger’s fallen astronauts and their families, the agency notes.

The Challenger disaster is now counted as one of American history's "where were you?" moments. The mission, dubbed STS-51L, was commanded by Francis R. “Dick” Scobee and piloted by Michael J. Smith. The other crew members on board were mission specialists Ronald E. McNair; Ellison S. Onizuka, and Judith A. Resnik; payload specialist Gregory B. Jarvis; and teacher S. Christa McAuliffe.

Space Shuttle Challenger crew 1986 The Challenger crew poses ahead of the mission in January, 1986.Photo courtesy of NASA

McAuliffe, a charismatic civilian with a bright smile, became an international celebrity, bringing everyman accessibility to the space program. She was beloved by fans young and old, and quickly became the face of the doomed mission.

Celebrating NASA's 25th shuttle mission, the spacecraft waited overnight on Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A sudden coastal cold front brought freezing temperatures, causing ice to form on the shuttle. Launch managers cleared the mission for launch at 11:38 am on January 28, despite concerns raised by some shuttle program employees.

A mere 73 seconds after liftoff, major malfunction caused the explosion that killed the seven crew members, a moment captured on live TV and watched by millions.

Later, a NASA investigation revealed that the unexpectedly cold temperatures affected the integrity of O-ring seals in the solid rocket booster segment joints, sparking the explosion.

Challenger's loss, and later Columbia with its seven astronauts – which broke up on reentry in February 2003 over the western United States – greatly influenced NASA’s culture regarding safety. The agency went on to create an Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, developed new risk assessment procedures, and established an environment in which everyone can raise safety concerns.

NASA also created the Apollo Challenger Columbia Lessons Learned Program to share these lessons within the agency and with other government, public, commercial, and international audiences.

“While it has been nearly 37 years since seven daring and brave explorers lost their lives aboard Challenger, this tragedy will forever be seared in the collective memory of our country,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a statement. “For millions around the globe, myself included, January 28, 1986, still feels like yesterday. This discovery gives us an opportunity to pause once again, to uplift the legacies of the seven pioneers we lost, and to reflect on how this tragedy changed us. At NASA, the core value of safety is – and must forever remain – our top priority, especially as our missions explore more of the cosmos than ever before.”

By law, all space shuttle artifacts are the property of the U.S. government. Members of the public who believe they have encountered any space shuttle artifacts should contact NASA at ksc-public-inquiries@mail.nasa.gov to arrange for return of the items.

a regal air about it

Celebrity and royal favorite fragrance house graces Galleria boutique with new must-have collection

Photo credit House of Creed/Instagram

Creed fragrances are made with 15 to 20 percent natural oils.

Photo credit House of Creed/Instagram

Creed fragrances are made with 15 to 20 percent natural oils.

Finding the perfect holiday gift can be difficult, especially for someone with a penchant for luxury. Fragrances are a go-to present, as they are readily available in hundreds of iterations and are almost universally enjoyed. The ideal fragrance can evoke a sense of place and trigger memories, so finding a worthy elixir is essential.

TheHouse of Creed is on every best-of list, and a whiff of the long-lasting perfume with nearly 15 to 20 percent natural oils, a rarity in the gone-before-you-know-it perfume world, will make a great stand-alone gift or addition to any Christmas list.

Consistently named one of the best luxury perfume houses in the world, Creed got its venerable start in 1760 when it began supplying Queen Victoria's court with its perfumes. The House of Creed then moved to Paris and started providing fragrances to the French, Russian and Hungarian royal courts and aristocracy from around the world. Fast forward over two hundred years, and Creed has been worn by the likes of Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Michelle Obama and Beyonce's husband, rapper Jay Z.

The niche luxury brand, available at the Houston Galleria, is an opulent holiday gift with scents for both men and women. Their latest offering, Cabinet of Curiosities, is a new collection made from Italian leather in a French navy blue hue with beige suede interiors.

A continuation of the brands' 2021 Leather Explorer Collection and inspired by the traveling trunks James Henry Creed saw on board the Empress of Canada in 1934, the collection includes sleek monogrammed Creed leather perfume sleeves and trunks made with leather and polished brass hardware.

For those not ready for a simpler idea, the brand offers gift sets containing three or five of their most popular scents at price points of between $215 to $345.

Rounding out the Cabinet of Curiosities collection, the brand's leather candle holders, refillable leather-bound travel atomizers and leather wallets make luxurious stocking stuffers. Creed also offers gift wrapping services and bottle, adding a bespoke touch to the already impressive experience.

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Creed, Houston Galleria across from Zara on Level 1, Monday to Thursday 11am to 8pm; Friday to Saturday 10am to 9pm; Sunday 11am to 7pm. For more information, call 281-910-3289 or visit House of Creed.