Broad of the Month - Ciara

Ciara in July's GIANT magazine in DAMES & BROADS

Shooting up the billboards, Ciara has “1-2 stepped” her way into our lingerie (a gorgeous set you can get here) and into our hearts as our Broad of the month.

Who She Is: Ciara, best known as a R&B, pop, and hiphop singer-songwriter, is also a producer, dancer, actress, model, and music video director. On top of all that, she was named “Women of the Year” in 2004 by Billboard.

Why We Love Her: In 5 very short years, Ciara has managed to grow from a Georgia high school graduate to a major R&B icon, all while hooking-up (allegedly), with a number of Hollywood’s hotties. Most famously, her 1-year relationship with rapper Bow Wow, shows women everywhere there is nothing wrong with wearing those sexy stilettos, even if it means towering over your man (so Katie Holmes, there was no reason to slouch in that wedding picture).

Oh yeah, did we mention that she wore our goodies in a recent photo shoot (see picture above!)?

Extra Credit: Ciara example is testament that not all twenty-something year olds are crazy party-goers full of booze and drugs (put the pills down Lohan!). And, whether she is singing at “Stand Up to Cancer” events or dancing for “Make A Wish Foundation”, this do-gooder still manages to do it in style.

Trivia: Ciara’s middle name is “Princess” and a self-described “army brat” who looked up to girl group Destiny’s Child.

Ciara, we all wish we were “hot like you”! But in the meantime we will settle for supplying you with beautiful undies. When your ready, we will be here with more gorgeous bras by Clo and fabulous panties.

Much love,
D & B

The Power of Daily Candy

When we first learned that we would be in Daily Candy we were understandable thrilled. As far as we are concerned it is pretty much The Today Show of the Internet with over 2.5 million subscribers to their infamous daily newsletters. Our excitement was only mildly dampened when we learned we would only be a Deal and not featured and said Deal would only be made available to New Yorkers. We pouted and then decided to turn our frown upside down because ITS DAILY FRIGGIN CANDY for chrissakes!

Every time we told someone about the pending placement, our equally excited friends and family said "Oh My God, are you ready for that?? And we realized that we didn't even know what it meant really to be featured on DC. We have all heard the stories of sites being shut down by a mention on Oprah or TTS but what does a DC Deal really mean for traffic and sales?

Well, since DC does not publish local subscriber numbers and we had no idea what the open rate (% of emails that are actually opened by DC subscribers) was, and no idea how receptive their readers would be to Dames and Broads, we were clueless as to how to prepare. Since we wished we knew the impact of the placement and pondered it during many sleepless nights, we decided to share what it meant to Dames& Broads.

According to Google Analytics, in total we received 2100 visits on the first day of the deal with and additional 900 visits over the course of the week the deal was live. However that deal was "StumbledUpon" (A social networking sites that allows uses to share sites with others) and we received an additional 900 Visits from them.

While 4000 visits might be paltry to the big boys, it is fantastic for us small fish. We are delighted and thankful.

The promotion resulted in 400% rise in sales volume (week over week) however DC carts were at least 40% smaller in size. Which makes sense- there was a 25% coupon attached to the promotion and these users were testing us out for the very first time and were probably more apprehensive.

There was also a 25% increase to our newsletter subscriber list so that we can continue to contact potential customers.

Not to mention the countless emails from users asking why we dont carry larger sizes, other press wanting to cover us, and advertisers wanting us to run in their publications.

For a week, we were a "big deal" - PUN INTENDED. And now it's back to work...

Much Love,
D&B

Dont you wear panties????

Ok ladies, you are rebelling and I want to know why. Please explain it to me. I have searched the many corners of the earth to bring to you the best bras AND panties and still you insist on defying me.:) Why are you just buying bras?

This week we are running a promotion with Daily Candy (details to come) and were surprised that many of the orders are just bras. Now, we are not one to complain about orders (THANK YOU DAILY CANDY GODS!!!!), but we were baffled. Ok, sometimes we get it. You love the Else Basic Ultimate Support Bra from Turkey and lord knows you dont need another pair of black panties- even if they are fab. But what are you going to do with just the Miss Showgirl underwire bra??? Its sheer hot pink fabulosity! It will be lonely without the matching high waist brief or low rise knickers.. Just the thought of it by itself with some boring nude thong brings tears to our eyes...

Unless..... you all are channeling your inner Britney circa 2007 and are deciding to parade around in just your brasseire, which the broad in us wholeheartedly supports.

Hugs and kisses,
Dames & Broads

Dames and Broads - In her Shoes- Fly Female Entrepreneur

We are over the moon that the ladies behind one of our favorite blogs, In her Shoes, chose to interview Dames and Broads founder, Melissa Finney for their "Fly Female Entrepreneur" feature.

Check out the interview here...

Bookmark the site... there are good things here...

From one broad to another,

D&B

This month Dames & Broads is In Style...

We are so excited to be one of InStyle's Steals of the month!!!! All Instyle users receive a 20% discount as well as a free sample of Soyelle Lingerie wash with their next purchase.
Simply enter "Instyle09" at checkout.

And check out our other Dames and Broads press to date.

Smooches,
D&B

A picture is worth a thousand words

My publicist suggested I have pics taken to promote myself as a lingerie expert. OK she really just mentioned that it might be a good thing to do at some point in life. Since I am vain as hell and have been secretly dying to have my own photo shoot since Samantha posed for nude pics on Sex and the City, I considered her suggestion a proclamation and I immediately called photographer Hao Zeng and makeup artist Lazarus Jean Baptiste to make it happen. I was super excited and called my former roommate DJ Kiss who has some of the best promotional pictures I have ever seen.

She gave me fab advice which included scouring magazines and online image sites to pick out the images and poses that i wanted so that I would not leave without the shot I wanted.

Foregoing beauty sleep, I stayed up all night, rummaged through my closet and did my best to pick the sexiest, slimming, experty things I could. I arrived at the shoot, ready to give my best Samantha Jones.

And everything was wonderful until I looked at the first proofs- and I saw all my imperfections that good lighting and makeup could not hide. I was devastated. So much so the Laz- the Make Up Man had to booty shake to get me to smile for the rest of the shots.

I almost didn't recover- then there was an outfit change and I got to put on my lucky bra. I know it sounds stupid but this bra really is magic. Whenever I feel less than or unattractive, the pleated silk and eyelash lace assure me otherwise... Ahhh the healing power of good foundations.:)

Did I become an instant supermodel? No. But I got a few really good shots.
And I will post them soon... right after they airbrush out the rest of my flaws...

Melissa
owner, Dames and Broads

Lingerie PR

What happens when you are still passionate about your business but absolutely sick of talking about it? You break down and hire a publicist...

I still love the lingerie business. I still think my offerings are going to knock your socks (and hopefully your Hanky Pankies) off. I am just sick of telling you about it. Besides, we are past the sexy part. If you are my friend in real life or just on Facebook, you probably have already seen web site mocks, you heard all our globe trotting stories about the the great pieces we have found, you have seen logos and brand identity images. But now I am mired down in Fed Ex paperwork, projection forecasts, and accounts receivables. Trust me, you probably don't even want to talk to me right now. I am officially no fun. So I am hiring a publicist to be fun on my behalf.

I will let her tell you all about the differences between American and English lingerie, about why you deserve better than rayon and why your bottom will be writing us thank you letters after being softly caressed by our silk panties. I, frankly don't have the time. She can go though the motions of teaching men to stop buying crotchless panties for Valentine's day via media outlets while I simply roll my eyes and write them off as hopeless. See?! This will be better for the both of us.

Since I have the honor of being based in NYC, I can't swing a chanel bag without hitting a PR girl in her well coiffed and often blond head. But the question is, can I swing the monthly monetary commitment that it will take to get her to extol the virtues of Dames and Broads to all the glossies and blogs?

Don't get me wrong, there is money in the D&B coffers but the salesperson in me is only interested in marketing that directly results in sales and my inner control freak is terrified to hand over our brand identity to a stranger. But perhaps it is time to relinquish my grip on my wallet and let's somebody else do the talking. Anything that would allow me just a bit of time to shut up...