Standing on the living room floor of my childhood home, my mother hands me my first training bra. I clutch the soft cotton fabric in my small hands, huffing and puffing that I was ready for a “big girl” bra, eager to embrace a femininity I was far too young to understand. Though I had barely grown into my own body, I was already spellbound by the mysteries of being a woman, too impatient to relish in the stages of my fleeting girlhood. That tender moment marked the beginnings of my sexual expression, which I so deeply associated with womanhood.

To celebrate the birth of Porcelain World, we invite you to reflect on your own Beginnings. November’s theme is a nostalgic glance back to the sweet memories that first planted the seeds of our identity, expression, and inner worlds. It asks us to slow our forward momentum and appreciate the foundations of our future.

As for my childhood glamorization of the erotic, this beginning was far from unique—it’s a common rite of passage of girlhood through the ages, rooted in the evolution of lingerie. In its earliest days, lingerie was modest and functional, designed to conceal rather than reveal. Ironically, the modern exhibitionist take on lingerie linked to female sexuality actually started among men hoping to accentuate their goods during the late Middle Ages.

In the mid-15th century, King Edward IV’s parliament mandated that men cover their “privy Members and Buttokes,” leading to the birth of the codpiece—a triangular cloth pouch designed to conceal a man’s fly. In playful protest, men began padding and even lavishly embellishing their codpieces to draw attention to their “privy members,” turning a functional item into a sexy little statement piece. This early rebellion against modesty created the first instance of “underwear as outerwear”—a trend that would eventually shape the way femmes express themselves through seductive fashion.

Still, lingerie fashion remained a boys only club until Queen Catherine de’ Medici’s reign over France in the 16th century. She revolutionized lingerie’s purpose from one that obscures the body to one that celebrates the feminine form, lifting the bust and cinching the waist. Her influence catalyzed a movement that made possible the sexual expression we continue to seek in modern girlhood. Despite the differences of eras past, we were all just girls itching to put on our “big girl” underwear.

Lingerie continued to evolve past Queen Catherine’s reign into the 1960s sexual revolution, when lingerie had fully stepped into its role as an emblem of womanly power and autonomy. Later, brands like La Perla and Agent Provocateur would put luxury undergarments on the map, though their rise revealed the anti-femme dangers of the male-run capitalist business model. The liberative artform that sprouted from the labor of women was co-opted by companies profiting from female empowerment while disregarding the very women who created it, instead catering to the male gaze domestically while harming women of color in factories abroad, where working conditions are often deplorable.

At Porcelain World, we dream of a new era for lingerie, one that celebrates feminine beauty on our own terms, led by and for femmes. Together, let’s honor the sacredness of becoming, tracing the threads of our girlhood back to what was while looking toward the magic of what will be.

Welcome to the Beginnings issue.