Where Do Adult Performers Buy Their Lingerie?

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all have a rolling rack of clothes appear before us at work, equipped with someone to help us dress for a hard day at the office? You know, celeb style or whatever. It turns out that a lot of adult performers are likely thinking the same thing. Fashionista reported today that most adult films have lost the budget to hire a wardrobe assistant or costume designer on their sets, so the people performing in the videos are responsible for providing their own costuming. This brings up two important issues: In the age of free porn basically everywhere, studios are losing money. As a result, loads of dudes in porn are wearing gross white tube socks. OK, well, the first issue is important — but I'm really only half-joking about the tube sock thing.In the piece on Fashionista, performer Chanel Preston breaks down her tricks for her on-set lingerie. Even on films where there is a costume designer, she often brings her own lingerie because fit is so difficult to correctly predict and timelines are tight. Where does Preston source most of this lingerie from? In my head, I guess I sort of always imagined that top-billed actresses like Preston were swimming in fancy designer lingerie and had closets lined with Agent Provocateur. I mean, if you're the best then you wear the best, right? My fantasy was shattered with her confession. Her main source is a little place your intimates drawer is probably not unacquainted with: H&M. She says that the matching sets at affordable prices make it irresistible, even if buying 20 matching sets is a "dead giveaway" of your profession.

The truth is, we probably have a lot in common with sex workers in all industries. You know why? Because they're just people who go to work to do something they may or may not love all the time. As this whole costume designer issue proves, sometimes our workplace gets budget cuts and we have to deal. Sex work is work like any other. So it's frankly quite silly that there's a stigma around people who do it. And that we maintain this idea that a person who works in an adult industry must be so different than we are. Female sex workers are simply women going to their jobs — only they have sex instead of input data, stock shelves or file motions. Sex workers are not always emotionally damaged and/or exploited like television and movies would have us believe. Human trafficking is real, but sex work and exploitation are two different things: We need to stop getting it twisted. Porn stars and other sex workers are predominantly professionals in an industry that's a part of many people's daily lives and that provides them with pleasure, fantasy, and emotional escape. They not only perform physically and emotionally strenuous work, but are intelligent business women. The fact that you buy your lingerie from H&M very likely isn't the only thing you have in common with adult performers, but it is a nice little reminder that these ladies put their mall brand bras on just like us: One boob at a time.

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