‘There are divorcées who’ve lost confidence, women who have had cancer, women who just want to reclaim a little piece of themselves after years of raising their families. ‘The ladies who walk through the door of my studio are all different – skinny, curvy, young and older,’ she says. Part makeover salon, part therapy room, the aim of the boudoir studio, says Andrea, is to create a private space where women can indulge their sensual side without judgment or embarrassment. When I look at it I see a confident, happy and beautiful lady. I was so pleased with the pictures that I had one blown up and hung on my bedroom wall. ‘The experience was incredibly liberating, and when I drove back home I felt on an absolute high. She told me to bring a small selection of things I felt comfortable in to wear, so I took stockings and a silk chemise. But when I looked at the photographer’s portfolio I was reassured. ‘As the sort of person who is shy undressing in her own bedroom, I just couldn’t imagine stripping off in front of a stranger. He was convinced that it would make me feel better about myself. So he bought me a session as a birthday present. He’s always telling me how beautiful I am, but one tends not to believe it. He’s from the US, where boudoir photography is huge, and he suggested that I book myself a shoot.
You don’t feel so attractive sometimes I would look in the mirror and wonder where the old bubbly Lisa had gone. ‘My break-up left me feeling pretty bruised and battered, especially as I was just about to turn 50. She took part in a boudoir shoot with Louise Young last May as a confidence boost following her divorce. Mother-of-two Lisa Armstrong, 53, runs an upholstery business in Leicester.
Studios are designed to look like an elegant courtesan’s bedroom or dressing room – think soft pastel wallpaper, velvet-covered furniture and French dressing tables… Huge in the US for the past decade, boudoir photography – which starts from around £150 but can cost as much as £800 a session – is making its mark on this side of the Atlantic, with dozens of female-run studios springing up all over the UK.
Katherine, 36, who runs her own human resources consultancy, signed up for a boudoir photo shoot, a growing trend among women looking to capture their bodies in a way that’s sexy but still tasteful. It couldn’t be further from her usual trend-led look – but then that was entirely the point. Wearing a basque, stockings and eye-wateringly high heels, she is perched on the edge of a chaise longue, glancing cheekily up at the camera. Tucked away in Katherine Duff’s bedside drawer is a photograph album that makes her smile every time she looks at it. Kathryn Knight talks to women going for maximum exposure on both sides of the camera Price: $45pp, $80 a couple, $350 table of 8.More tasteful than tacky, the new trend for ‘boudoir’ photo shoots allows us to indulge our sensual side and boost our self-esteem. (Rosalinde’s admirer, for example, is an opera singer named Alfred, recalling the iconic tenor role in Verdi’s La Traviata and lampooning the clichéd persona of an operatic tenor in general.) The unique achievement of Die Fledermaus lies in combining these various elements into a delightful theatrical vision all its own. The themes of jealousy, disguise, adultery, and revenge are the components of tragic grand opera, but here served up with a lightness of touch that pays homage to the more serious art form even while offering graceful parody. The three-act journey from boudoir to ballroom to jail provides ample opportunities for farce and humor, but also for genuine human emotion and a surprisingly realistic view of urban life. Unknown to them all, the husband’s best friend, who is also a guest at the ball, is pulling the strings in the background to avenge himself for a humiliating prank played on him in the past. Also involved in the proceedings is the wife’s would-be lover. Its story centers on a magnificent masked ball, given by a Russian prince, that brings together all the main characters in various disguises-a wealthy bourgeois couple with marriage issues, the wife’s maid, the maid’s ambitious sister, and a prison warden. The supreme example of Viennese operetta, Die Fledermaus both defines and transcends that genre. Reading Liederkranz will offer additional meal options à la carte. Tickets: $45/each, $80/per couple or $350/table of eight
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