GOING-GOING-GOING PLACES- AND
FAST- IS TERA PATRICK, THE ENTERTAINER
TURNED DESIGNER WHO OPENS UP TO
NUDE AMBITION FOR AN INSIDE GLIMPSE
OF THE HIGH FLYING LIFE OF ONE OF THE
SEXIEST ENTREPRENEURS WE HAVE EVER
MET. THIS MODERN-DAY WONDER WOMAN
LEFT US AWE STRUCK BY HER ENTHUSIASM,
GENUINE ENERGY. NO DOUBT THIS IS JUST
THE BEGINNING FOR THIS INTRIGUING LADY
AND WE ARE NOTHING LESS THAN THRILLED
THAT SHE HAS TAKEN THE TIME TO SHARE
HER THOUGHTS WITH ALL OUR NUDE AMBITION
READERS, ENJOY AND BE INSPIRED!
How did your love affair with lingerie begin?
I’ve always been obsessed with pin-ups. I love Betty Paige, gypsy Rose Lee and Blaze Star. I love those types of women. In my opinion they were the most glamorous and beautiful. When I was younger I was inspired to be like Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell and Patti Lamar, like those old movie stars. They were always wearing such beautiful dresses and lingerie. I always thought to myself, “I can design and wear something like that myself.” I wanted to create lingerie that I can wear. I have such a hard time finding things that fit me. Your typical cookie-cutter stuff like La Perla doesn’t fit me. So I decided to design stuff that would fit me. I have a board in my room and that is where I find all my inspiration. I cut out pictures of old movie stars, pin-ups, and I sketch. Hello Kitty is one of my inspirations because she is pink and cute.
What is your first memory with lingerie?
My first memory is from very early on when I was younger, probably a teenager. I remember I saw a Betty Paige movie, and she was wearing sheer see-through gypsy pants and a bra. And I remember thinking, “Wow, that’s so sexy and beautiful!”
More women are reporting that they dress in sexy lingerie for themselves. What do you think is the driving force behind this trend?
I think it is all about the confidence. It’s all about feeling good about yourself, feeling sexy and feeling like your own pin- up. I think there are a lot of women who want to feel beautiful just for themselves. it increases their self-confidence. We hear every day about body issues, body issues- everyone in Hollywood is thin, everyone in Hollywood is perfect, and women have their own idea of what they think is perfect for them. So I think that when you put on some lingerie, no matter what size, shape or color you are, you feel perfect. You feel pretty.
What are the color palates in your line, Mistress Couture?
The color palettes are pretty much hot pink, fuchsia pink and light pink. I do various different shades of pink, and black of course. I even mix it up with some lime green. I love lime green. I’ll do some designs with lime green, black, and pink for instance. I also do white, pink, and black, or hot pink, green, and black. I’m already working on a Christmas line and even spring and we’re doing a lot of pink fur with black. Black lace with pink ribbon trim is a mix we are using. We’re also doing royal blue with yellow. We’re punching it up a little bit and doing different color combinations, purples with pink and arrangements like that.
In what direction are you taking Mistress Couture?
You know my motto is, is along the line of: Who would you rather be? Mistress is the logo and Mistress signifies a few things, but I think that Mistress means that any woman can be naughty and any woman can be sexy and confident. When women put on Mistress Couture, when women put on Mistress Lingerie, I want them to feel confident with their body, a little naughty, and a lot fearless.
For what sort of occasions do women wear Mistress Couture?
I’ve designed pieces that you can wear in the bedroom and many you can wear out to a club. Women can definitely wear my designs on holidays, whether it is Valentine’s Day or Halloween. Some of the pieces you can wear over jeans and some of my pieces you can wear with a skirt. I’ve designed them with mix and match in mind. They will become popular for occasions beyond the standard lingerie occasions. They are definitely going to be big with the dancers. I specifically catered some of the pieces for the dancers because I’m a dancer myself. I like to wear kind of the burlesque sexy pieces–very burlesque. Burlesque is one of my favorite words and that is something that inspires me a lot when I design my pieces. One of my best friends, Carol, is a dancer and every time I see her I am so inspired. All those women inspire me and their costumes are just out of this world.
What do you think sparked the new boom in the lingerie industry?
Women just wanted something different. I think that women now come in all shapes and sizes. a lot more women have implants now and a lot more women have augmented their bodies. For many, many years lingerie designed by men was the norm but men don’t always understand a woman’s body. Now there are a lot more female designers, there are a
lot more designers that are female dancers, voluptuous female women, and we know what other women want. I think that women are seeing “cuter” stuff on the market, they’re seeing sexier stuff on the market and they’re seeing stuff that caters more to them on the market. So that is what has definitely inspired the boom. What do women want for Christmas? Shoes and lingerie-shoes, diamonds, and lingerie, those are the three greatest gifts you can give a woman.
While studying the lingerie industry were other designers supportive of your launch?
In the beginning, when I did my very first lingerie show, I didn’t really have much support at all. I found that I kind of ran up against a big brick wall. It seemed like people were saying, “oh yeah what is she going to do?” I felt as though they were intimidated. Then, during the second show that I did, people were coming over and looking at my designs kind of going “oh-ok that’s what she’s doing,” maybe they were doing it because they plan to knock it off or if they truly think, “Wow good for her–she’s got her own imagination, she’s creative and she’s doing what she does.” a big part of my creative process is my partner heather over at Lucky 13. She’s a big part in the design process. She is an amazing designer for Lucky 13. I really couldn’t have done any of this without Lucky 13. They took a big chance in taking me on and helping me out with the lingerie line. So, I have to give a big shout-out to them and thank them so much for giving me so much creative control and for giving me the license to run wild and work with their company and make women beautiful. I met with so many lingerie companies over the years because I have wanted to create my own lingerie line for so long and I ran up against so many brick walls. There are many companies that said, “We want to work with you, but…you have to do this,” or “your lingerie has to look like this” or “you only have this much control” or “you can only do this…” I wanted to work with people with a philosophy to allow me to do whatever I want as long as it’s in good taste.
What gave you the urge to start a lingerie line?
I wanted to do something that was beautiful for myself and for the many other women out there. A lot of my fans are female. I have a very large female following and I find that I inspire a lot of women. Women come up to me all the time every day whether I’m DJ-ing, doing a dance gig or doing an appearance or just out and about. Women come up to me a lot and say, “you inspire me and I love your clothes and I love the way you look.” It made me think, “Wow! How can I take that energy and channel it and give it back?” That is where the urge came from.
Lingerie fashion shows are increasingly popular in nightclubs. Has this been the introduction to the public for Mistress Couture? How are the patrons reacting to Mistress Couture?
Absolutely. We’ve done about 6-10 fashion shows all over from Switzerland to Miami to Canada to San Francisco. We’ve done Vegas a couple of times. I’ve kind of pinpointed all these different locations because I wanted to introduce Mistress around the world. The patrons have been reacting amazingly. It is so great to see the guys, the guys look at the lingerie and they’re like “yeah, that’s what I want my girl to wear.” and the girls look at it and go, “Wow, that’s really beautiful, that’s what I want to wear.” So it’s nice to see that it’s being universally accepted and that both sexes are looking at it and saying, “Wow that’s really sexy, that’s what I want to wear and that is what I like.”
Who is the stylist for Mistress Couture fashion events? What is the most exciting aspect of Mistress Couture’s fashion shows?
The stylists are heather, from Lucky 13, and myself. I think seeing it come to life is the most exciting part. Seeing the girls strut down the runway, seeing them really Feel beautiful and seeing them enjoy the clothes. Every time I pull out the clothes, all the girls that walk the fashion shows look at it and say, “Wow I want to wear that, this looks great, can I wear this, can I wear that?” They are so excited. Seeing it come to life and watching them walk down the runway and noticing the guys pull out their camera phones and go nuts is really fun.
You have quite the itinerary posted on social media. How does Tera Patrick balance her life?
I come into the office and it’s a lot of fun to come in here to work and be a part of the creative process. I travel a lot, and believe it or not, it sounds like it would be more stressful then it really is. But I enjoy traveling. I enjoy running around the world, per say, and doing all the things that I do, even taking relaxing vacations, like running away to Vegas for the weekend and just seeing different sceneries because it all inspires me everywhere I go. Going to a club and seeing how girls dress, going to another country and seeing how girls dress, going to furniture stores and looking at colors and samples, going to the beach and watching the sunset, looking at the trees and looking at the natural colors of the earth–it all really inspires me. So that’s kind of how I unwind and at the same time that is how I work. I guess I don’t unwind very much.
