We speak exclusively to supermodel Heidi Klum...
Heidi Klum knows a thing or two about good pants. She must have tried on every style available to womankind in her incredible 15 year career as a Victoria’s Secret angel (and looked pretty damn hot while doing so) and now she’s launching her own line, Heidi Klum Intimates, aiming to share her boudoir style and body confidence with us all.
Here, she talks us through her lingerie wardrobe and tells us why she loves her own figure, as well as Kim Kardashian’s curves…
‘The key to feeling confident if you’re just wearing your lingerie is simply to find the style of lingerie that you feel confident in. Experiment with different bras to find a style that you know you look good in. It’s so important to try things on while you’re in the store and get measured regularly. So many women wear the wrong bra size, I always hear ‘I swear I’ve been a B forever’.‘
‘I’ve been in the lingerie industry for over 15 years now and test-driven pretty much every style on the market. It was a long time to be intensely working with one of the biggest companies in the world [Victoria’s Secret] so that experience has definitely helped me to understand what makes for great underwear and what doesn’t sell.’
‘I’m personally not a huge fan of the push up bra, but I know it’s one of the biggest selling styles in the world. I understand that a lot of women do want that high cleavage and so I want give it to them – I’m going to be constantly reviewing what styles are popular.‘
‘I probably have more than 100 bras in my wardrobe right now. I always buy three pairs of panties for each so that I can wear the set more often. There was a time when I had maybe double that - I kept different sizes because I was pregnant so many times for so many years. It was quite complicated for a while because when I was breastfeeding my boobs were huge, then they shrank again and kept going up and down as I had more babies. Now sadly my bigger bras have gone, but I do have all gorgeous new ones.’
‘Having body confidence kind of comes with the job. You just have to be confident and have your body ready, always. You never know what outfit you’ll be asked to wear on a shoot - they may say it’s a fashion story and then hand you a bikini. I always have to be ready to take off my clothes – imagine if I wasn’t prepared.’
‘My biggest body prep task though is to pick a really good photographer. Honestly, it’s my best modelling tip - I pick someone who will actually tell me what I look like, if I need to suck my stomach in a little bit, change the angle or arch my back harder. Some people on a set are too afraid to say something, but I’d rather people were honest and told me what they thought as the results will always be better.’
‘I won’t ever leave the set until I have the shot. Especially with things that I control, like my brand or when I do New Balance. I become the art director for the day too. I get on the computer and look at all the film and we keep shooting until everyone’s happy. Sometimes they’ll take four pictures and I’ll be like ‘you’ve got it already, c’mon!’’
‘You get excited when you are written about in the papers, period. It’s especially great when you’re just starting out and you cut out all the articles and my magazine covers. I keep folders in my office of all the things I’ve collected over the years. Although when people write bad things, you don’t cut those out…’
‘I love pasta but I won’t have it all the time. I like to be on a thinner side, I feel fitter and it’s how I’ve always been. I like to be tight and firm and so in order to be my body weight, I don’t eat very many carbs and I do like to go on the running machine every once in a while. I think all women like to have a different body shape - I certainly don’t think everyone wants to be in my body shape.’
‘Kim Kardashian changed the look in the fashion industry, which is amazing and the media have totally backed her. I know that other women love to be more curvy - at the end of the day you have to live in a body that you feel comfortable in and that you love.’
‘I’m probably not going to be a lingerie model when I’m 60, but who knows – there have been a lot of amazing campaigns this season featuring older women. However old I get though, I’ll always be body confident. It’s just the way I am, I’m happy in my skin.‘
Heidi Klum Intimates is available now at Selfridges and on www.selfridges.com