Life
Aliza Reger: Lingerie Queen
Aliza Reger is the daughter of Janet, the lingerie entrepreneur who changed the way women look and wear underwear. She told Tamara Corin her mother's story, and her dreams for the Reger brand.
February 9, 2017 17:07
Aliza Reger is the daughter of Janet, the lingerie entrepreneur who changed the way women look and wear underwear. She told Tamara Corin her mother's story, and her dreams for the Reger brand.
February 9, 2017 17:07My mother’s design career started very early in her life while she was still a child, designing and making clothes out of scraps for her younger sister’s dolls. She soon progressed to logo design, coming up with the emblem for the Sunday School Truants Club that had the limited attendance of her sisters and cousins.
She grew up in a large family in the East End of London but once Hitler’s bombs started raining down on them, the family moved to Reading. She was the oldest of four sisters. Her father, who had a textile business, bought up old parachute silk which was made into bras for Littlewoods and thereby inadvertently started her passion for beautiful and luxurious lingerie. My mother left school and went on to study Contour Fashion at Leicester Polytechnic, now De Montfort University, where her final collection was selected as the best of the year.
Various lingerie design positions in London followed with Marks and Spencer, Slix and Rosy of Paris but my mother was not happy in the gloomy and austere times of Post War London. It was time for a break. Her grandfather gave her a ticket to Israel where she soon learned Hebrew and met her future husband, my father Peter at the neighbouring Kibbutz.
It was love at first sight and after a whirlwind romance in the heat of the Middle East; it was soon time for both of them to return to Europe, her to England and him back to Munich. It soon turned into a difficult long distance love and they decided quickly to marry on New Year’s Day 1961. More life changing decisions and the young couple made their home in Zurich where my father worked as a bio chemist and my mother continued with the lingerie design work, this time as a freelance designer working with companies over Europe. I was born at the end of the year and followed into the business as soon as I was old enough (see exclusive interview in this week’s paper).
Due to circumstances beyond their control, my parents had to leave Zurich in 1966 and decided to return to London that was now in the midst of a youth-driven Cultural Revolution. The Capital of Cool. London epitomised ‘The Swinging Sixties’ It was the perfect time for them to set up their own brand, which started in the spare bedroom at our home and quickly moved to a dingy Paddington back street from where it rapidly grew into an internationally recognised lingerie brand.
When my mother launched her first collections, industry bigwigs laughed and scoffed that British woman would never buy such expensive fripperies in flamboyant and wonderful colours but British girls had had enough of dull utilitarian bras and huge knickers in horrid and uncomfortable fabrics and were desperate for something altogether more fun, glamorous and in keeping with the times.
By the 1970’s Janet Reger lingerie had become a fashion statement rather than simply underwear. In the decade that followed the industry that had been so scornful now copied, emulated and tried their best to recreate what my mother had pioneered. The Janet Reger label was the first to create matching sets of lingerie and sleepwear at a time when coordinated sets were unheard of and colours, other than black, white and ecru, were unthinkable. The business was built up on ornate designs in a wild array of colour and much of it sold in her own lavish retail stores.
In the 1970’s and 80’s life was a series of both personal and business ups and downs, the business itself grew hugely and went from a Paddington backstreet to a small Derbyshire village where my mother opened a small but beautiful factory set around a garden. My parents opened retail stores in London, Munich and wholesale accounts all over the world. My mother knew she had made it when a character in a Tom Stoppard play said ‘’ Don’t get your Janet Regers in a twist’’.
Life was extremely busy for the family but also very exciting. Many a Royal princess, actresses, film stars and celebrities proudly wore Janet Reger lingerie in the UK and worldwide. Princess Margaret was said to wear Janet Reger French Knickers to the beach in Mustique and Joan Collins wore a Janet Reger Basque in ‘The Stud’.
By the mid 1980’s, the company had grown so fast and was financially over-extended. my parents found living and working together increasingly difficult and the marriage was in crisis. They separated but tried to keep the business going. The company went into voluntary liquidation with debts exceeding £1million and my father spiralled into deep depression. This was indeed a dark time for the family, my father could no longer cope with life and was found dead after an overdose of sleeping pills. My mother and I were completely devastated. With the business in bits and my mother’s life in pieces, she was left with little choice but to pull herself up by her bra straps and carry on. With money begged and borrowed from family and friends, my mother was able to reopen both the Knightsbridge store and the Derbyshire factory, albeit on a much smaller scale but she was back in business by sheer force of determination and strength. I was now also working alongside my mother and was learning the business inside out.
This time around, although my mother was now very experienced and no longer the novice she was in 1967, the industry around her had also grown up and the competition was fierce with new brands hitting the market every season. Janet Reger Lingerie kept ahead of the curve expanding wholesale accounts and growing the licensing business. In 2004 I launched the equally outrageous and luxurious Naughty Janet brand that pushed boundaries even further, spearheaded a trend of high-end provocative lingerie that became quite the talking point with both customers and press. After the initial launch of a few select pieces, sales of Naughty Janet grew to almost half of the total production within a few years.
During the Nineties and Noughties huge changes were taking place in the world, fashion, trends and technology were moving at an ever faster pace and the company too changed with it. Production went offshore and my mother went with it making her home in Mauritius. Licencing deals became an ever more important focus of the Janet Reger Brand and of course retail went online. I was now running the business and growing the licensing aspect of the business. In 2001 a design collaboration with Debenhams launched Reger by Janet Reger to an initial forty stores which was quickly increased to an all store distribution and after over fifteen years continues to be the premium lingerie brand at Debenhams.
Despite being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991 my mother continued to display the same tenacity with the disease as she had throughout the decades with her business. It was life as usual and the collections carried on every season. Sadly in 2005 her health deteriorated rapidly and she died very shortly after arriving back at Heathrow from Mauritius. I had taken over running the day –to- day business now took the helm and despite the intense personal loss of both my mother and mentor, I managed to steer the company into a new direction of high end affordability.
Today, the Janet Reger brand remains true to its original core values and inspirations. The designs are elegant, extravagant and aspirational but instead of being only for the few, The Reger by Janet Reger and Reger Noir ranges are attainable luxuries widely available on the High Street and online. New ranges are added every six weeks and both the Reger lingerie and Swimwear collections at Debenhams grow from strength to strength each season.
Satin and lace trim in all combinations continue to be best sellers and all time favourites. Reger girls cannot get enough pink with black lace and all shades of grey have been best sellers for several years. Our customers love rich deep colours; ochre, purple, teal, bright and bark reds are important signature pieces every season and of course glamorous black never goes out of style. We’re also seeing a rise in bridal lingerie. The beautiful and delicate Reger bridal ranges have also become a popular choice among modern day brides.
In five years time I would like to see the label on a wider range of affordable but luxurious goods, I am currently developing some new ideas that I hope to launch in the UK next year. I would like to see the Reger label more widely distributed overseas and I would like to be working on more design collaborations. There are few 'Jewish' manufacturers I would particularly love to work with both the Israel and USA markets. I think many things are about timing and opportunity - being in the right place at the right time is key!
