Low waist, high slits, pure silk, wide belts: chic lingerie has never been so sexy. For men, that is.
Leano Lien (連宗旺) opened the boutique underwear chain Body Formula four years ago. His first shop was in Taipei's young, hip Ximending District (西門町), and has since expanded into the more mainstream East District (東區).
The simplest designs, starting at NT$700, provide a tailored cut that gives lift to the buttocks and definition in front. More creative options are as sheer as anything in the women's department and are accessorized with pendant medals and leather pouches. At the most basic level, the form-flattering skivvies are meant to be comfortable and hygienic. They're also meant to be seen.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF BODY FORMULA
And while Body Formula's underwear is intended to be sexy, Lien was eager to specify sexy-classy, not sexy-porn. Body Formula takes care to distinguish itself from sex stores.
"Many of our Japanese suppliers are meticulous in ensuring that their products are not degraded by being sold in sex shops," Lien said. With prices going up well into the thousands, these are clothing items aimed at giving pleasure to the wearer, and are anything but a party gimmick.
"The emphasis is very much on good cut and high quality materials," Lien said. "It overturns the conventional idea that underpants are not intended to be seen. Now they are as much a fashion statement as any other item of our clothing. They are an item of clothing that we must change regularly, so there is no reason why they shouldn't also be interesting from a fashion perspective."
Lien primarily imports Japanese labels such as Dugas, pointing out that these are more suitable for an Asian figure. "Asians can't always fill out the fuller cut in the buttocks of some of the US labels," Lien said, "and if they're baggy and ill-fitting, they really don't look good."
Lien started his business after returning from studying in Japan. "My friends would often ask me to bring back pants from Japan because they were not available in Taiwan." Now, such fashionable underwear has already made it into some of the hipper local department stores, and Lien is looking for new labels to add to his already wide section.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not