Domestic Sluttery does Bordello boutique

So, last Thursday, on a dark and dismal November evening in London town, some of the Domestic Sluts scampered into the depths of Shoreditch for a decadent night of wine, chocolate and saucy, sequinned underpants at the opulent Bordello boutique.

Organised by Qype, and with wine donated by the magnificently generous Book Club, we had a wonderful time getting tipsy, chomping so much chocolate that we felt a bit sick, trying on vintage feathered hats and tittering over the erotica and the dizzying range of adult toys and accessories.

We met our rather charming competition winners, who won extra brownie points for having travelled all the way from Portsmouth and Brighton to peruse fancy knickers with us. And Domestic Slut Gail even had a corset-fitting with the intimidatingly talent Kunza, of Corsetorium, a rather dashing Vivienne Westwood-trained corsetier with neon pink hair and a black lace veil.

Gail told me about it later: "I was the first person to have a fitting with Kunza, who's created bespoke garments for films such as The Duchess and Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. I tried on two, one made from Italian kid leather, and the second was Victorian silk. They were completely unlike any of the off the peg corsets that I've tried before and the different in quality was immediately apparent. They're things of beauty and unsurprisingly have corresponding price tags - about the £600 mark. Like most of the other items Bordello, add them to the lust list..."

Our competition winner, Becs, bought some of these Sailor Jerry-style Bebaroque pop socks. One of Bordello’s glamorous assistants was modelling some similar stockings, and we were all very smitten with them. And although at the time we teased Becs that pop socks just aren’t stylish on anyone other than kitsch little old ladies, now that I’ve seen them out of the packet, I retract that accusation, and would like to publicly assure Miss Becs that I’m sure she’ll look just as debonair in the ones she purchased. If you want to get in on the inevitable pop socks revival, you can bagsy the same ones for £18.

I became a bit obsessed with this pink glitter corset by Velda Lauder, which made me come all over all Moulin Rouge. But, I must admit that my ardour eased when I spotted the £300 price tag. I’m not sure anyone loves me enough to splash that amount of cash on letting me dress up like a glam-spangled circus girl. I might still put it on my Christmas list, though, just in case I manage to bag a rich secret admirer with theatrical tastes in the next few weeks. No harm in hoping, is there?

(First photo by Miss Rachelle Thompson)