Underwear and Hipsters

Two things that are deficient in the UK: underwear and hipsters.

Ok, so there is lots of underwear in the UK, I really mean SEXY underwear. Lingerie. Corsets, bustiers, basques, babydolls. Thongs.

I'm getting married next week. I bought my dress a couple weeks ago, and now that some lovely Polish seamstresses altered it by bringing up the hem and fitting it about the hips, I needed something to go underneath it. Underwear. I had in mind a nice basque in white or ivory, with suspender straps for stockings, strapless top and matching panties. Is that too hard?

But no. We spent THREE DAYS -- FULL AFTERNOONS!!! -- shopping in Edinburgh.

Day 1 We went to EVERY shop on Princes Street, including Ann Summers and La Senza, and found one single basque that fit the requirements at Debenhams. Lots of black, red, purple, any colour you could want, very little available in white or ivory.

Day 2 we went to an enormous "retail park" (that's "shopping mall with retail box stores nearby" for you Americans) in Livingston, and found exactly 0 appropriate basques. (I did, however, find some nice shoes at New Look.)

Day 3 we decided to go to "specialty" shops: a sex shop, goth shops, and pricy lingerie shops. In the end, I lost all motivation to walk any further, and went into Debenhams and bought the same basque I saw two days earlier.

It appears that women prefer to wear horrible "slimming" foundation garments instead of actual lingerie. Or, even worse, some horrible swimsuit-like contraption that would involve snaps everytime I pee. And they always come in "nude". Yeah, that's attractive.

And lingerie sections are always in the back of shops! Why is that? Women should be proud of their undergarments! Have no shame in purchasing panties!

Part Two: Hipsters.

I hate hippies. I'm not too sure about hipsters. Hipsters in the US, well, they come with a "look", don't they? There's a "hipster look", right? We don't deny that hipsters proliferate in the US. But do they exist in the UK? I don't think they necessarily exist in the same incarnation in the UK.

Stereotyped American hipster:


UK Hipster?